2019 Top 10 Small and Emerging CEOs to Watch

In a highly competitive marketplace, contractors thrive when they bring to the table some unique combination of business savvy, technological expertise and an innovative management style. It takes a combination of all three to drive IT transformation in the federal space. The most successful companies who serve federal defense and civilian agencies are those where a strong leader motivates and energizes a highly skilled and diverse team of professionals.

It takes a firm hand on the tiller to steer the turbulent waters of federal contracting, to forge an energetic and forward-looking blend of people, processes and technology. The executives who made this year’s Top 10 Small and Emerging CEOs list each display, in his or own way, a unique ability to build a team, to chart a long-range course, and to move proactively in a rapidly shifting technology landscape.

In striking that balance between today’s resources and tomorrow’s needs, these emerging leaders demonstrate an ability not just to grow their own firms, but also to meet and often exceed the mission needs of their diverse federal customers.

Start Slideshow

Sandy Corbett, Chairman and CEO, InCadence Strategic Solutions Corp.

A growth-focused entrepreneur, Sandy Corbett has spent more than 25 years in the defense intelligence and engineering services space, with a focus on government contracting. In the course of a decade, she has taken InCadence from the start-up stage to a thriving technology-focused, services and products company.

In the wider community, Corbett also serves on the board of directors for the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and is active in her local Northern Virginia community, providing support for Fairfax County public schools,  technology and athletic programs. She also supports initiatives through the Northern Virginia Family Service organization to include the SERVE homeless shelter and Training Futures internships.

As she strategizes future growth for InCadence, Corbett emphasizes the critical security impact of her company’s offerings.

“We are focused on real-world and life-saving technology to support our military and citizens in all areas of the world, to include hazardous and high-threat locations overseas,” she said.

The company also makes it a point to be responsive to the actual needs of the security community.

“We take pride in the work we do and use our end-user feedback to raise the bar and improve our technology offerings to ensure the very best for our military,” Corbett said.

With over 100 employees in strategic locations worldwide, InCadence provides mission-critical defense intelligence and biometrics solutions to a select set of government and commercial clients for military, law enforcement and homeland security needs. The company boasts a growing list of national security customers including the U.S. Army, the Marines, the State Department and FBI.

Why Watch

As a leader in the mobile biometrics market, the company has been focused on creating momentum in the data solutions and cybersecurity industries, providing subject matter expertise and technology solutions.

Look for InCadence to continue driving innovation and expanding its technology offerings as they anticipate customer needs and address real-world evolving requirements. The company’s growing portfolio positions it for larger scale prime full-and-open contract opportunities and Other Transaction Authorities to streamline customer access and provide for longer-term continuity.

Sarbari Gupta, President and CEO, Electrosoft Services, Inc.

In 2019, Electrosoft saw its revenue increase 65% over 2018 levels, with organic growth and new market penetration propelling the company forward. The firm secured positions on some key federal contracting vehicles, notably OASIS SB, NITAAC CIO-SP3 SB and the GSA Centers of Excellence Discovery BPA.

Each award is notable for a different reason. By virtue of its selection in Phase 1, Electrosoft submitted one of the top 40 ranked offers on OASIS SB. For CIO-SP3 SB, the company’s on-ramp selection as an 8(a) firm should drive new business and help lower federal costs through the competition that small companies bring. On the Discovery BPA vehicle, Electrosoft was one of only 22 awardees overall and one of four small businesses selected to assist agencies in discovering IT modernization issues in the information security focus area.

Also in the past year, Electrosoft was named to Washington Business Journal’s Top 75 Fastest Growing Companies of 2019. It was selected for the sixth time to appear on the Inc. 5000 2019 list of Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America and named to the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s 2019 Tech 100.

Sarbari Gupta meanwhile was recognized by several key awards including a Minority Business Leader, the Stellar Award from the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce and an Impact Award from FedHealthIT.

The firm has established a special niche in the security realm.

“Our qualifications in cybersecurity are strong and deep — and growing more impressive every day,” Gupta said. “We’ve had the opportunity to participate in some major cyber initiatives in the federal arena and have delivered high-quality results.”

While technical competency undoubtedly is an important factor, Gupta says the corporate culture has been equally important in driving success.

“We go to great lengths to establish and maintain communication channels with every customer, seeking feedback on how we’re doing and what we could do better,” she said.

Right now, she is keeping a close eye on three technologies: cloud-based security monitoring solutions, enterprise visitor management solutions enabled with smart card authentication, and derived credentials on mobile platforms to enable strong authentication.

“Information security is all-important in this age of cyberattacks,” she said. “However, security encompasses more than preventing cyberattacks. It extends to assuring that people seeking to gain both physical and digital access are who they say they are as well as limiting opportunities for breaches by moving toward self-contained means of authentication such as mobile platforms.”

Why Watch

Heading into 2020, Gupta says her primary focus will be adding more depth and breadth to the corporate organizational structure to sustain and energize the present growth trajectory.

“We are steadfast in our resolve to maintain the core values of integrity, customer service and excellence  that have brought us this far,” she said.

She also plans to supplement organic growth through a strategic acquisition.

“We recognize that achieving our goal of $50 million in annual revenue by 2022 will require us to add niche capabilities and/or strategic customers,” she said. “We are well-poised to pursue this avenue if the right acquisition opportunity presents itself.”

Navneet Gupta, Founder, President, CEO, SNAP, Inc.

With its vision of “Moving Forward with Technology,” SNAP provides professional services that empower clients to address tomorrow’s challenges through better alignment of technology with their mission and business objectives.

Since founding SNAP in 1998, Navneet Gupta has been responsible for creating and implementing the company’s vision, building up SNAP to become a leading provider of enterprisewide information technology and learning management solutions in the government, Defense Department and commercial markets.

He leads a team-oriented, collaborative organization, with a collegial atmosphere that encourages participation, innovation and entrepreneurship. In an ever-changing environment, the company puts a heavy emphasis on the voice of the customer.

“SNAP continues to reinvent itself to align our products and services with our customer’s most pressing needs,” Gupta said. “Understanding their requirements and delivering innovative solutions and services to improve their systems, programs and processes is Job #1.”

This effort to stay abreast of emerging technologies is central to Gupta’s efforts.  Along those lines, he’s led the effort to establish a matrix of internal Centers of Excellence along specific markets and technologies. By focusing on areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process automation, SNAP works to steadily improve it delivery platform, solutions and execution programs, thus enhancing its overall value proposition.

For government customers striving to keep pace with changing technology capabilities and requirements, Gupta keeps his firm focused on the horizon, tracking important evolutions and keeping abreast with emerging capabilities.

“We continue to see trends toward modernizing infrastructure, applications and processes across the entire sector,” he said. “In monitoring the pulse of the market place, our leadership team focuses on retaining a flexible, scalable and adaptable organization that can rapidly spin up technology cells to deliver on changes in strategic direction of our federal and DOD customers.”

While technology is front and center, Gupta is equally focused on the human element of the work.

“People and relationships are the core of our business,” he said. “SNAP promotes a culture of mutual respect, trust, integrity and professionalism in every action we take, each teaming partner we engage, each customer we partner with and each associate we employ. It’s not just a business strategy . . . it’s the right thing to do.”

Why Watch

By making investments in people, the company is able to meet today’s needs and position itself for tomorrow’s requirements.

“With new technologies comes the need for skilled staff, training and certifications,” Gupta said. “SNAP consistently reviews opportunities to grow our team’s capabilities through investing in their personal and professional growth.  Empowering our associates leads to higher retention, stronger program delivery and innovative solutioning for our customers over the long term.”

RJ Narang, President and CEO, Renegade Technology Systems, Inc.

The year 2019 brought major changes to Renegade Technology Systems. It was a year of corporate cultural transformation, with institutional evolution leading to the expansion of the business base into four additional states, while increasing total income by over 30%.

Established in 2004, Renegade is a privately held end-to-end IT service provider to the federal government.  A Small Disadvantaged, Minority-Owned, Virginia-based company, the firm prides itself in being small, agile and client-focused.

The company has sought to differentiate itself by putting a heavy emphasis on the individuals who make up its talented workforce.

“In a competitive service-based environment, and overlooked by many small businesses, our key differentiating factor quite simply is our people,” RJ Narang said.

These skilled personnel are responsible for the day to day execution of client and partner-based requirements.

“Collectively, we work to build and maintain  trust, always act with  honor  and deliver  results  to proactively adapt to the evolving challenges our customers are faced with daily,” he said.

While always keeping an eye on emerging technologies in support of the federal mission, Narang also looks to the big picture. It’s not just about the technology itself, but rather how the new and emerging tools are put into play.

“More important than just a specific technology or tool, we work to integrate tools and techniques which enable us to aggressively respond to the ever-changing cyber needs and challenges faced by our customers in an age of information warfare,” he said.

Why Watch

In the coming year Narang said he expects to redouble his internal focus. He’ll look to further elevate his personnel, while simultaneously building the organization in support of their needs. All this should benefit the company’s federal clients.

“Our primary areas of focus for 2020 will be the organizational relationships, growth and empowerment of our workforce,” he said. “Through being attentive to the needs of our organization — employees, consultants and business partners alike — we enable and drive success for the evolving needs of our customers, their missions and the organizational growth needed to expand our services.”

Hany Malik, President and CEO, Suntiva

Suntiva built up a strong head of the steam in 2019, with a range of new initiatives and corporate achievements.

The company launched a proprietary solution called the Adoption Accelerator, which represents the culmination of nearly 20 years of combined IT and workforce transformation experience. Suntiva also had major wins, including a $100 million blanket purchase agreement with the Food and Drug Administration for large workforce transformation initiatives, and two contract awards supporting major DOD cloud and artificial intelligence initiatives.

Dr. Hany Malik said Suntiva aims to be the business transformation company of choice, delivering innovative solutions with exceptional results.

“This came directly out of my own professional experience and passion for improving the performance of organizations through people, process and technology in significant, measurable, and sustainable ways,” he said.

Malik said it was his unique background in business and psychology that led him to combine the latest technological innovations with applied behavioral science. The idea grew out of Malik’s early experience, when he and an accomplished group of IT professionals witnessed several large IT initiatives at previous organizations fail, not because of a flaw in the technology, but because of poor organizational adoption. Change management added to IT projects, while valuable, was not enough.

“Implementing traditional change management practices alone did not drive to full IT adoption,” he said. “Our unique understanding is that sustainable technology adoption requires change management integrated with a deep knowledge of how people and organizations work.”

Suntiva’s team of technologists, change and project management specialists, and behavioral scientists evolved this concept over time into the Adoption Accelerator platform, which is now used successfully by government clients and partners to implement major technology and workforce transformation initiatives.

Why Watch

Malik said the advancements in both IT and applied behavioral science — modernization, cloud, AI, RPA, change management, and the physiology and psychology of change — have significantly bolstered Suntiva’s core offerings and solutions, and are integrated into Suntiva’s transformation framework.

“In 2020, we will be focused on supporting clients and partners as they implement IT modernization and transformation strategies, helping them get the most from their employees through innovative technology and human capital planning practices,” he said.

“At Suntiva, we all feel passionate and committed to enabling success in our government, everyone for their own personal reasons,” Malik added. “For me, as a first-generation immigrant, I have a deep sense of gratitude for being fully embraced and given every opportunity to succeed in this country. The work we do supporting government leaders every day gives me and other Suntivans a profound sense of meaning and purpose.”

Sumeet Shrivastava, Chairman and CEO, Array Information Technology, Inc.

In the past year, the company marked its first full year of operations following the exit of its founder and majority owner after 20 years in the business. In this time of transition, the management team helped to lead Array from its past as a predominantly small business-based revenue contractor toward its future as a firm that could legitimately claim full-and-open competitive status.

“A big part of this transition has been our hyperfocus on what we do and form whom we do it — which is what helps us differentiate,” said Sumeet Shrivastava, who joined Array in 2008 to help navigate the company out of the SB/8(a) program and establish it as a full-and-open, competitive government contractor. Shrivastava and the management team executed a management buyout in 2018 of the founder and majority owners.

Prior to joining Array, Shrivastava was senior vice president for North America sales and marketing for Keane, Inc (now part of NTT Data) and formerly, SVP for public sector.  He started his GovCon career working at ANSTEC in the 1990s, ultimately leading the company’s exit to Keane in 1999. He currently sits on the board of trustees of the George Mason University Foundation, sits on Mason’s Business School Advisory Board, and is the incoming GMU Alumni Association president.

As the company moves into this new phase of its development, Shrivastava said he is taking a keen look at the business model to be fully aligned with client needs.

“Our focus is on DOD client-intimacy and the unique missions they execute and having a ‘solutions-lead’ business model, where we focus on merging our functional, programmatic, and technical capabilities to solve complex mission problems helps us differentiate from others,” he said.

“In addition, we focus mostly on the application layer — usually where client and mission intimacy meet technology,” he said. “As a result, despite having solution offerings revolving around application technologies — cloud, agile/DevSecOps, cyber and data — we are typically hired as the trusted partner for complex, enterprise-level programs.”

In that role, “we know how to stitch together the myriad of technologies, solutions and partners required to execute and more importantly — to modernize from within,” he added.

Why Watch

Now that the company has crossed that threshold from small business to the full-and-open marketplace, Shrivastava is looking to 2020 as a time for growth.

“I expect we will be far more aggressive in pursuing larger, and more complex, solution deals, while continuing to invest in deepening our mission, functional and technical roots,” he said.

Gautam Ijoor, President, Alpha Omega Integrations, LLC

The firm has simultaneously been building capacity.

“We hired several executives who will ensure Alpha Omega has the structure it needs to grow,” Gautam Ijoor said. “Our new staff hires will help our team meet the goal of scaling up operations to handle future growth, a workforce increase of over 33%.”

In 2019, the firm also won its first tech challenge procurement at Department of Homeland Security, in the area of Integration Testing and DevOps Services.

“This contract has increased the size of our company by 20% [and]it also brings new opportunities for future higher-end digital services contracts and important corporate recognition,” Ijoor said.

He credits Alpha Omega’s success to a culture of excellence.

“We are high-energy, passionate and innovative in everything that we do. You can feel this as you walk through our offices,” he said. “Our environment is one where employees come to build their careers and our executives all have mentor relationships with their direct reports.”

On a technical level, Alpha Omega builds high-quality, secure IT applications and infrastructure solutions for its clients. It is one of just a handful of US 8(a) small businesses successfully appraised at Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development Maturity Level 5, the highest rating from the  CMMI  Institute.

“Alpha Omega leverages the visual configuration available within low-code platforms as an alternative to programming,” Ijoor said. “We seek avenues to significantly reduce development costs and increase speed of delivery for our customers.”

The firm’s expertise spans across front-end user interface, database applications, microservices and process flows. It is leveraging innovations such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and blockchain, all increasingly accessible through low-code platforms.

Why Watch

As Ijoor looks to 2020, he is considering the lessons of 2019 and adjusting his strategy based on both the wins and the setbacks.

“We lost one of our recompetes in 2019, but we gathered ourselves and protested the decision,” he said. “This loss has helped me reflect and refocus on customer  intimacy.  We will keep this question in mind: How can we truly provide value to our customers by leveraging our customer intimacy?”

To that end, he will be taking a fresh look at areas such as client services, sales and recruiting.

“Our mission is one of providing customers with reliable services at a competitive price and delivering an exceptional, total solution based on customer needs,” Ijoor said. “The Alpha Omega team will keep our eyes on the market, evaluate and test trends while we push our own innovative processes in search of delivering unique customer solutions.”

Sonu Singh, Founder and CEO, 1901 Group

A leading provider of innovative IT services and solutions in the public and private sector market, the firm achieved three major milestones over the course of the past year. 1901 Group hit its 10-year corporate anniversary in 2019. The company also broke ground on its new 45,000-square-foot operations facility.

Also in 2019, the firm passed the 300-employee threshold. All of these milestone moments “highlight how our commitment to our customers, our people, and our community is working,” Sonu Singh said.

The company delivers cloud, cybersecurity and enterprise-scale managed services to transition customers from traditional on-premise IT infrastructure. It supports hybrid cloud solutions that improve performance and reduce costs.

In a crowded marketplace, the company continues to stand out with its strong emphasis on the potential for automation to radically transform the IT space.

“We continue to invest in technology and process automation to improve performance and security within our Enterprise IT Operations Center,” Singh said. “We feel that the next frontier in IT service delivery will be driven by cloud-based automated platforms.”

This emphasis on automation has been a hallmark of the 1901 Group’s approach to federal technology problems.

“Our team has been using various forms of technology and process automation throughout our 10-years of operations and is now using artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotic process automation to help our customers improve IT operations, applications development and cybersecurity posture,” Singh said.

Why Watch

As Singh looks to 2020, he is keeping an eye on the emerging IT workforce. With technology talent ever in short supply, he plans to put special emphasis on building and growing his team.

“To continue to deliver quality IT services for our enterprise customers, we must continue to build engineering talent,” he said. “The IT market as a whole is facing a talent deficit, so we will continue to focus on expanding our tech-talent pipeline.”

To that end, Singh will be looking to invest in its people throughout the coming year.

“2020 will include more education and training programs, more community outreach with partnering organizations, and more career development and advancement incentives for our staff at every level in our company,” he said.

Satya Akula, President and CEO, Amyx

In terms of corporate growth, Amyx had landed 13 contract wins by late fall, including six DLA JETS task orders, making it the second most successful awardee on the contract to date. The firm also secured awards of the OASIS Unrestricted indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity and ENCORE III Small Business contracts.

Satya Akula has also put a heavy emphasis on employee development.

“We are investing in our employees and service offerings to further distinguish ourselves in the market,” he said. “This includes implementing significant advancements such as institutionalizing our Human Capital Plan that will be fundamental to further developing our subject matter experts in areas such as cybersecurity, DevSecOps and other leading-edge technologies.”

The company continues to support the veteran community.

“Approximately one-third of Amyx employees are veterans and we have been recognized with the Virginia Values Veterans designation,” Akula said.

Amyx also boasts a longstanding tradition of giving back to the community through Backpacks for Kids, AARP Meal Pack Challenge, Heroes Care and many others.

Akula credits the success of the past year to a strong customer-centric philosophy.

“Everything we do centers around our customers,” he said. “ This includes equipping our employees with a strong back office infrastructure and a funded employee professional development program.”

Akula looks to customer input as a benchmark of success. Amyx’s executives solicit feedback from all their clients, and the firm reports having received hundreds letters of appreciation and kudos this year.

“Additionally, Amyx’s contracts have exceptional and very good [Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System] ratings and all of our clients say that they will continue to use Amyx again in the future,” he said.

Akula has leveraged a wide range of technologies to help meet the needs of his government clients.

“Amyx is developing leading-edge technologies to include non-invasive cyber supply chain threat monitoring, cloud migration, secure mobile device management, [industrial control systems]/[supervisory control and data acquisition]technologies and drones/[counter-unmanned aircraft systems],” he said.

“Our Communities of Excellence then share critical lessons learned from their experiences by introducing industry’s best practices across civilian and DOD agencies.”

Why Watch

The company plans to focus on three primary areas in 2020. Akula is looking to pioneer new solutions to make clients more successful. He is looking to continue Amyx’s successful growth through strategic relationships with other companies; and he also aims to continue keeping out ways to better support customers.

“We have developed a comprehensive growth strategy and corresponding account plans to bring Amyx’s capabilities to DOD and federal civilian customers,” he said. “Lastly, we are exploring relationships with best-in-class leading-edge technology companies and small businesses.”

Rahul Pandhi, CEO, CollabraLink Technologies, Inc.

“Finding ways to intentionally push myself into areas of discomfort is something I try to do each year through some sort of specific event or endeavor,” he said,

As CEO, Pandhi leverages such personal milestones for professional growth.

“These experiences teach me a lot about myself . . . and create resiliency as I navigate life as a CEO,” he said. “I’ve come to learn that for me as a CEO, professional achievement is inextricably linked to my personal growth. I’m a much better CEO and we tend to hit our CollabraLink goals when I’m pushing myself to achieve on the non-CEO front. CollabraLink is just one, albeit important, facet of my life.”

These extraordinary experiences outside the workplace have helped Pandhi to shape CollabraLink into an exceptional organization.

The firm had a unique start, running out of Chicago with a commercial sector base before moving to D.C. to become 100% federally focused.

“As a Beltway outsider, I fundamentally believe we tackle problems differently and we think about our business differently,” Pandhi said.

The commercial-side experience taught Pandhi the to deliver rapid ROI around emerging technologies.

“These qualities are now baked into our DNA as a firm, as is a general culture of noncomplacency,” he said. “This heritage in commercial forced us to maintain agility and lean into emerging tech back when it was in its infancy stages.”

Today, he brings that same vision to the federal sector, delivering real, quantifiable, digital modernization programs that meet specific agency needs. In particular, the firm focuses on intelligent automation using low-code application development platforms.

“We are using tools like Appian and RPA coupled with DevOps to deliver modernized case management, grants management and acquisition lifecycle modernization, among others,” Pandhi said.

Why Watch

CollabraLink has set up a technology office focused specifically on continued exploration of emerging technology to further support its customer missions. The company’s latest research has yielded insights on effectively using cloud coupled with Serverless Computing (AWS Lambda) to drive cloud infrastructure savings.

“We are close to securing our first pilot to modernize a major cabinet-level agency mission application using utilizing serverless technology,” Pandhi said. “What I love about CollabraLink is that our technologists are truly ‘geeks’ for this stuff — they love playing with technology and finding new ways of implementing truly groundbreaking advancements.”

In 2020, the company plans to continue seeking out those agencies that exhibit a strong appetite for intelligent automation and low code. Pandhi is looking to align himself with federal chief information officers seeking to drive enterprise-wide modernization programs, those who have embraced the digital services playbook and mindset.