Jim Rittinger
General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Empower AI
Jim Rittinger transformed Empower AI’s legal, contracts and compliance functions into proactive partners in business growth, helping the company quadruple profitability while strengthening trust and accountability.
By including contract professionals in business development teams and modernizing governance processes, his team improved pursuit execution and customer confidence. That transformation continues to scale as the company grows.
“With the speed at which the federal market space has evolved and transformed over the past year, to succeed, companies must be agile and adaptive,” Rittinger said. “This is especially true for risk management and compliance functions, which must quickly innovate to navigate a rapidly shifting regulatory landscape.”
Why Watch
In 2026, Rittinger and his team are focused on further integrating legal, contracts and compliance into Empower AI’s growth strategy to enable faster, lower-risk mission delivery for federal customers. They are also supporting disciplined expansion through improved past performance management, M&A readiness and responsible AI governance. The goal is to help the business move faster while maintaining integrity and trust.
Empower AI delivers mission‑ready innovation that advances the administration’s priorities to reduce costs, streamline operations, and improve government efficiency. The President’s Management Agenda calls on agencies to eliminate waste, strengthen accountability and leverage modern IT, data and AI to deliver better results for taxpayers. Empower AI meets this mandate through a vendor‑agnostic, outcome‑focused approach that modernizes legacy systems, automates manual processes and avoids costly vendor lock‑in, he said.
He said that strategy also aligns with OMB Memorandum M‑25‑22, which emphasizes performance‑based AI acquisition, competition and interoperability to protect taxpayer value.
Fun fact: Rittinger enjoys rucking — strapping a heavy pack on his back and hiking five or six miles at a stretch. It’s great exercise, he said, but also time alone to think, plan and strategize.