As executive vice president of loan and grant programs at Allocore, Tom Coleman draws on years of experience in public finance across both government and industry — culminating in deep expertise in federal lending and grant programs, administrative law and government efficiency.
“My career path has been defined by the semi-reckless pursuit of opportunities to do work that is both 1: interesting; and 2: impactful,” Coleman told WashingtonExec. “I learned quickly that a fulfilling career does not need to follow a straight line, and that a mix of curiosity, humility, courage, and integrity can lead to success across a wide variety of disciplines.”
Prior to joining Allocore, Coleman had “immensely rewarding stints” in federal procurement. He served in leadership positions at the Treasury Department, including chief financial officer for the Federal Financing Bank. He also was chief operating officer and general counsel at RiverNorth, Inc., a stay-at-home-dad and small business founder.
Today at Allocore, Coleman is working to modernize the federal loan and grant programs he spent the majority of his career supporting as a federal executive and later as a consultant.
Below, he shares more about his career path, his connection to Allocore’s mission, where his team sees growth opportunities in the future, why mentorship matters in GovCon and more.
Why was this the path you chose, and how influential was it to your career?
My path largely chose me, and I have been along for the ride. To the extent my path has been influential, it is because I sought out difficult challenges, which in turn attracted wildly talented and purpose-driven people. I have been influenced greatly by those individuals whether I worked for them, worked alongside them, or was responsible for leading them.
Do you have a personal connection to the current mission you support?
As Treasury’s former Director of Federal Lending and CFO of the Federal Financing Bank, being able to assist federal agencies to modernize their lending programs enables me to use modern technology to solve the problems I faced earlier in my career. When I work with my government counterparts, I honestly share their excitement having been in their shoes for the majority of my career.
What are your current top priorities and responsibilities? How do these relate to your company’s overall mission/growth strategy?
My top priority is to partner with federal agencies to assist them in understanding how the commercial-sector banking technology Allocore provides can revolutionize the way they interact with their borrowers and prevent fraud, often at a fraction of the price of legacy custom-coded solutions.
Where do you and your team see growth opportunities in your current field or portfolio you support, or what do you anticipate to be your customers’ top pain points?
Currently, there is an incredible opportunity across the federal IT sector to rethink the way we implement systems and how we share the risk of delivery with the government. This addresses the key pain points our customers have of expensive maintenance of aging government systems and wanting to move away from large System Integrator contracts with uncertain outcomes and ever-expanding costs.
How are you and your team planning to address/prepare for these opportunities?
Education and Trust-Building is the key. The concept of outcome-driven, value-based contracting isn’t terribly unique. The private sector has been doing this for decades. The challenge is to thoughtfully engage with executive branch leaders to understand (1) that Allocore offers a different approach to loan and grant system modernization; and (2) how to remove real and perceived barriers to modernizing their systems and using outcome-driven contracting to achieve this end.
How important is mentorship & networking in GovCon? Were they influential to your career?
Relationships are everything in GovCon (and the federal government). Government cannot do its job without industry, and often industry cannot do its job without strong relationships with complementary firms. The opportunities and successes I have experienced in the private sector often stemmed from a panel discussion, happy hour, or industry group event as opposed to a well-crafted capture plan.
The deep niche experience and institutional knowledge needed to support nuanced agency missions is scattered across D.C., knowing where to find it, and having the established trust to attract partnerships is critical to the success of any GovCon venture, and ultimately a long career in GovCon.
What is something most people don’t know about you personally?
I decided in my 40s to get full tattoo sleeves. I always wanted them but hadn’t accumulated enough wisdom earlier in my life to design something worth making permanent.