WashingtonExec Series: Want To Be GovCon Executive Of The Year?
WashingtonExec, in partnership with the Fairfax Chambers of Commerce, kicked off a new series profiling government contractors nominated for the 9th Annual Greater Washington Government Contracting Awards. Interviewed nominees include small, mid-size and large “Executive of the Year” as well as “Contractor of the Year” finalists. The winners will be announced on November 1st at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner.
This quick bi-weekly series asks nominees direct questions as to how they achieved success and notoriety in the GovCon community.
This morning’s nominee interview is with the CEO of Sotera Defense Solutions, John Hillen. Hillen also previously served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.
Sotera Defense Solutions is nominated as “Contractor of the Year” in the $75 million to $300 million division.
WashingtonExec: How has the tightening of the lending market impacted you?
John Hillen: At Sotera we have navigated the choppier lending market and were recently successful in expanding our existing Term Loan to complete the acquisition of Software Process Technologies. The term loan expansion was completed through our existing lending group and included an amendment to further expand the facility for future capital needs, which shows their commitment to Sotera in a difficult lending environment.
WashingtonExec: Obtaining top talent in the private sector is fierce. How does your company not only draw top talent, but maintain it?
John Hillen: With over 1,400 employees providing expert analysis, innovative technology, powerful systems and secure operational support to meet the mission needs of our customers, our people are the most important element of our strong performance. Every day our goal is to attract, retain and motivate exceptional individuals from every background who share our commitment to our customers and passion for their national security missions, dedication to innovation and determination to achieve excellence in everything we do.
Part of Sotera’s attraction as an employer is the variety of ways in which we contribute to the safety of our nation, including the delivery of sophisticated cyber security solutions to mitigate the threat of cyber attacks, the delivery of counterterrorism and intelligence services to hinder the progress of those who seek to harm us, the delivery of efficient command and control systems that enable our military to achieve their missions faster and more effectively and the delivery of force mobility and modernization systems to support the health, welfare and readiness of our warfighters. The importance of the work we do and the passion that our employees bring to the workplace, and to the communities within which we operate, is what makes Sotera a dynamic, energetic, inspiring and overall great place to work.
WashingtonExec: In your opinion, how does a company stay nimble when it is in a period of large growth and expansion?
John Hillen: Sotera has been in an aggressive growth period for several years. We launched a successful IPO in 2009 and acquired our Cyber Solutions (formerly Zytel Corporation) and Assured IT (formerly Signature Government Solutions) businesses in 2010 to significantly expand our cyber intelligence and cyber operations capabilities. Just last month we completed our 3rd acquisition, adding Software Process Technologies to the Sotera family and further expanding our cyber arsenal.
Growth is part of our culture. We like being a growth company because opportunity comes with new growth. Underscoring this, agility and ingenuity are two of the core values upon which we have built our corporate culture. Supporting our customers’ national security missions requires us to constantly think one step ahead – constantly developing new solutions that allow us to address tomorrow’s mission challenges today. We apply the same innovative spirit to our entire business – never afraid to try a new approach or a new system.
WashingtonExec: People always talk about corporate culture, but what is something that your company purposely focuses on to emulate the ideal company culture?
John Hillen: The lynchpin of Sotera’s success is our unwavering commitment to treating our personnel, customers, suppliers and shareholders with the highest levels of integrity, honesty and transparency. We believe in a corporate culture that fosters strong values, dedication to our customers’ missions and a commitment to the various communities of which we are an integral part.
Sotera’s core values – agility, ingenuity, integrity, passion and performance – are the key to our vision to become a trusted mission partner delivering world class solutions that enhance the quality of critical national security decisions and enable our military to achieve or exceed their goals, wherever they operate. We reinforce the values in every element of our culture from employee awards to our corporate tagline – Agility.Ingenuity.Integrity.
Supporting the national security and critical intelligence missions of our customers is more than a job to Sotera employees, it is our passion. We celebrate that passion as part of our culture by identifying and acknowledging those team members who live our Sotera values, sharing information about new and interesting wins and empowering empower our employees to seek innovative solutions, technologies and know-how to stay one step ahead of our customers’ challenges.
We also recognize that commitment to our customers and dedication to social responsibility are complementary goals. Our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy contemplates an unwavering commitment to behaving ethically and adhering to the highest professional standards in all of our business operations and a commitment to fostering the development and achievements of those within our industry and the communities where we live and work. We also believe that good CSR combines financial philanthropy with physical effort so we work closely with employees to identify important outreach groups and develop a variety of unique and interesting volunteer opportunities that provide employees the opportunity to give their time and their talent the help our communities.