Grady Lincalis stepped into his role as chief financial officer at Freedom Technology Solutions Group during a turning point in the company’s growth.
As Freedom moved from a small business to a mid-market competitor, he drew on his GovCon finance career and small business roots to help drive the transformation.
In this Q&A, Lincalis shares his career path, his priorities as CFO and how he’s preparing Freedom to scale while meeting evolving customer needs.
Tell us a bit about your professional background and career progression. What ultimately landed you in your current role?
My entire career has been in the GovCon industry. I began as a junior accountant at a small business set-aside prime contractor supporting the Intelligence Community. That role provided more than just an introduction to accounting. The company invested in my development and supported me as I pursued my CPA license, CFCM certification and MBA.
One of the greatest benefits of starting in a small business environment was the breadth of exposure I received. In addition to accounting and finance, I gained firsthand experience in contracts, HR, recruiting, program management and proposals. That early cross-functional perspective gave me a strong appreciation for how all parts of the business connect. It also laid the foundation for becoming an effective enterprise-minded leader later in my career.
After nearly a decade there, and advancing to controller, I was ready for a new challenge and joined Freedom as controller. At the time, Freedom was at a pivotal inflection point, having just won a large prime contract that pushed it beyond small business status. Transitioning to a mid-market GovCon required a cultural and operational shift. The company faced new compliance requirements, maturing business processes, and the need to build a growth mindset to compete for full and open contracts. In that role, I was at the center of those changes, learning daily while helping drive the company’s transformation. Those contributions led to my promotion to CFO.
I have been fortunate throughout my career to gain diverse experiences and to work for owners, investors and leaders who recognized and valued my impact.
What are your current top priorities and responsibilities? How do these relate to your company’s overall mission/growth strategy?
As CFO, I am responsible for accounting, treasury, financial reporting, FP&A, program control, pricing and payroll, along with managing Freedom’s relationships with external auditors, financial institutions and investors. I also oversee contracts, procurement, IT and facilities.
The Freedom team has done an exceptional job maturing our business operations, which has strengthened our ability to serve both customers and employees. Currently, my top priority is preparing the organization to scale in alignment with our growth strategy. Sustainable growth requires more than added effort from people, which has natural limits. To create true capacity, we are focused on refining processes and leveraging better tools.
With the right balance of people, processes and tools, we will be able to maintain the high level of service our customers and employees expect while building the capacity necessary to support Freedom through its next stages of growth.
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?
We see the greatest growth opportunities in three areas: modernization, cloud optimization and data/AI. Our customers face increasing pressure to update legacy systems, adopt more flexible platforms, and unlock greater value from their data. These are all areas where Freedom can deliver meaningful impact.
From the customer’s perspective, the challenges are consistent. They must operate under tight budgets, address talent shortages in critical skill areas, meet complex compliance requirements and modernize in ways that do not disrupt mission operations.
For Freedom it is about being a trusted partner, helping customers do more with less and delivering outcomes that positively impact the mission.
How are you and your team planning to address/prepare for these opportunities?
To prepare for these opportunities, Freedom is focused on investing in the right talent and partnerships, particularly in cloud, AI/ML and systems integration, while also developing and leveraging commercial product solutions that accelerate delivery and reduce costs. We are positioning Freedom as both a developer and integrator of proven commercial platforms, combining our federal mission expertise with adaptable, off-the-shelf technologies to reduce customer risk and create growth opportunities.
At the same time, we are maintaining strong financial discipline to ensure our solutions deliver measurable ROI through cost efficiency, speed to mission and reduced sustainment burden. Together, these efforts position Freedom not just as a services provider but as a modernization partner that delivers faster and more cost-effective outcomes for our customers.