As chief transformation officer at BryceTech, John C. David oversees government program divisions spanning space, defense and health. He draws on over 30 years of bioscience and technology experience supporting defense and federal organizations.
David began his career as a U.S. Navy officer, planning operations on a warship that often operated independently with a small crew. He later transitioned within the Navy to microbiology, applying his degree to clinical testing, research and biodefense work.
After leaving the service, David supported federal agencies at small businesses and later worked at larger firms like LMI Consulting and Parsons Corp., where he gained experience in business operations and corporate leadership.
“One of the important areas I worked on was process management, with a specific focus on developing streamlined approaches that help increase the efficiency and impact of services delivered to the federal government,” David told WashingtonExec.
He was drawn to BryceTech’s mission to deliver high-value support for government R&D in “hard tech” fields such as aerospace systems, biotechnology and CBRNE defense.
“BryceTech was growing rapidly and wanted to incorporate processes to support client success without losing the responsiveness and ‘small business’ focus that made it successful — a challenge that encompassed all the things I enjoyed throughout my career into one,” David said.
Today, he focuses on technology trend assessment, driving innovation and integrating tech into product delivery. Below, David shares insights on his career path, top priorities and why mentorship matters in GovCon.
Why was this the path you chose, and how influential was it to your career?
I enjoy strategy, plans, and operations and have found those elements foundational to my career aspirations and achievements. My path began in operations: learning, demonstrating, and teaching how to get things done from the deck plates to the manager level. During my time in the Navy, this was straightforward: meeting the operational demands of a warship requires a relentless focus on detailed planning and exacting execution while underway. Working with infectious diseases in laboratories required the same level of planning and precision with a whole new skill set.
When I left the service, I translated these skill sets to deliver value to client organizations. My next step was to learn to apply my command skills in a business setting, moving from daily operations to planning, forecasting, and process control. The final step in my path was reaching the executive level, where I am developing overarching corporate strategy with a focused team and mentoring and leading the company around that strategy. This path is agnostic of any technical field; mine happened to be in science and technology but required acquiring skills in management and leadership.
What are your current top priorities and responsibilities? How do these relate to your company’s overall mission/growth strategy?
My top priority is ensuring sustainable growth for BryceTech as a high-quality source of technical support to the US Government. In my role as the Chief Transformation Officer I focus on defining, developing, implementing, and improving business processes that elevate our people, empowering them to deliver for our clients. I specifically focus on how we improve the day-to-day work experience of our staff members, putting them in a position where they can be more responsive and efficient in delivering high quality, mission-critical support.
All of these are processes we have done for years and now the need is to make them repeatable, sustainable efforts that carry that vision to every new employee and opportunity. Like every Government contractor, we are updating our toolkit. Generative AI and advanced data analysis capabilities create opportunities to deliver high-quality, high-impact support with significant reductions in cost and service time.
Consequently, I spend a significant portion of my day assessing and overseeing the implementation of new technologies, coordinating a team of highly experienced specialists in areas such as data science, and aerospace and defense technology. My second role is Head of Federal Operations, where I oversee client delivery. This role fits inherently into the CTO priorities. It is in operations that the processes we install impact the quality, communication, and collaboration of all our staff, teammates, and clients daily.
Providing the very best results to our clients through these measures is the company’s overall mission and feeds our growth strategy.
How important is mentorship and networking in GovCon? Were they influential to your career?
My experience in GovCon has shown that this work environment is fundamentally about people, so mentorship and networking represent key components to building a successful career. People, whether they are clients or contractors, are an invaluable resource for learning. You can meet some people at the office but to really expand your network, you need to take advantage of connection opportunities, like those sponsored by WashingtonExec.
A natural extension of networking is mentorship. Formal and informal mentorship opportunities set the stage for early career growth for junior professionals and the opportunity to stay engaged with industry changes for senior professionals. Throughout my career, networking and mentorship have helped me learn new skills, sharpen my capabilities, and identify my next career opportunities. Once a challenge is undertaken, networking and mentorship have made me successful.