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WashingtonExec’s inaugural Top 10 Operating Executives to Watch list includes presidents, chief operating officers, general managers, line leaders and directors of public sector contributing to an impactful change in the GovCon space.
Why watch:
These leaders were able to describe in tangential terms the “why” and “how” of an executive milestone — milestones that often include generating revenue but in many cases go beyond that. These individuals were selected based on their key roles in their organization’s growth — both organically and through acquisitions. They are strategizing to find success with new technologies and shifting business approaches.
They’re not only riding the waves of change; they are, in many cases, making a change themselves. Selected executives were asked to describe key technology implementation programs, financial milestones within the organizations and key priorities for their organization in the new year. Overcoming professional challenges as well as integrating different generations in the workforce were also discussed.
John Fraser, President, ASM Research
John Fraser has spent his entire professional career at ASM Research, beginning as a software engineer in 1986 and working his way up the ranks through increasingly senior roles, including chief operating officer and executive vice president. In September, he was appointed president of ASM Research.
Why watch:
When ASMR became a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture Federal Services in 2013, both companies set on a trajectory from which they continue to reap benefits as they serve clients in the markets of military, health and beyond, Fraser said.
“Since then, we’ve evolved at a rapid pace to deliver innovation and value to our federal clients and operate effectively inside the Accenture organization,” he said, “all while maintaining our strong corporate cultural identity, which encourages skills advancement.”
Recently, those skills have shifted into robotic process automation and artificial intelligence, technologies ASMR applies both internally and for its clients. Look for ASMR leaders to continue implementing related solutions in the coming year.
“ASM is in a state of evolution aligned with changing technologies, and we’re proud of how agile we are as an organization,” Fraser said. “We change or adopt technologies, services and specialty skills both to meet customer needs and in anticipation of customer needs. Our ability to deliver effective solutions quickly into our customers’ hands means they reap the benefits quickly.”
Sandy Gillespie, Chief Operating Officer, NCI Information Systems, Inc.
Before assuming the role of NCI COO in May 2018, Sandy Gillespie served as senior vice president and general manager of NCI’s Agile and Analytics Sector. Her more than 30 years of executive IT experience includes a period as vice president of health and compliance programs for CGI Federal, as well as executive roles at Capgemini Government Solutions, GTSI, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and DynCorp.
Why watch:
Following its privatization as a result of being purchased by H.I.G. Capital in June 2017, NCI has upped its investment in artificial intelligence technologies — including its banner framework Shai (Scaling Humans with Artificial Intelligence). NCI also has appointed key leaders and realigned its business units to be more responsive to customer needs.
“Our intention is to be the driving force behind their [H.I.G.] growth in the federal market,” Gillespie said. “Our leadership team has been actively engaged in M&A opportunities, and we are very hopeful to be able to share success stories in 2019.”
Look for NCI to both focus on and expand its AI-as-a-Service offerings in the coming year, from AI-enabled service desks to full suites of AI solutions.
“Additionally in 2019, we’ll be focusing on what NCI brings to the GovCon community through our ‘Navigate, Collaborate, Innovate’ lens and tagline,” Gillespie said. “It embodies our commitment to bring new and innovative solutions (like AI) to missions of national importance. With this as our emphasis, we’ll be energizing and empowering our employees to better help our customers tackle the complex challenges they are facing.”
Damon Griggs, President and Chief Operating Officer, Dovel Technologies
Before coming to Dovel in 2016, Damon Griggs was president and chief operating officer of InScope International, Inc. Prior to InScope, he was senior vice president at Alion Science and Technology. Griggs served in multiple roles of increasing responsibility while supporting Alion’s growth from $500 million to $900 million.
Why watch:
Newly minted as a mid-sized company, Dovel is continuing its growth trajectory.
“As of 2016, a lot of our contracts were still classified as small business set-aside work,” Griggs said. “In 2017, we achieved a significant milestone by transitioning out of our remaining small business contracts so that all of our work was awarded on a full and open basis. In 2018, we continued our very strong growth, competing in the full and open market as a ‘mid-sized’ company and we crossed over the $200 million revenue mark.”
In 2019, Griggs expects to grow both organically and through acquisitions with plans to pace to a revenue of more than $500 million by 2023.
“We are also focused on investing in and developing advanced technologies and capabilities such as AI/machine learning, natural language processing, big data and blockchain,” Griggs said. “While many companies are working on similar technologies, we are specifically focused on applying these technologies within the health, life sciences and grants domain areas, where we have deep subject matter expertise.”
One example of where Dovel has been successful?
The company launched a pilot program within GrantSolutions.gov using machine learning to gather, clean, analyze and present data from more than 10 public sources to help dramatically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of grant-making. These advances were recognized with a Washington Technology/GCN/FCW Government Innovation Award this past November.
“These tools give federal grant managers new insights into the organizations they are funding and provide for increased efficiencies,” Griggs said. “Work that once took hours or days can now be completed in seconds.”
Dawn Halfaker, Owner and CEO, Halfaker and Associates, LLC
After overcoming a severe injury while serving as a military police captain during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Halfaker launched her own firm in 2006 with the mission, “Continuing to Serve.”
“As I recovered, I knew I wanted to stay connected with the military and started to focus on what I had rather than what I had lost,” she recalled. “After seeking a perfect fit with other companies and internships, but not finding what I was looking for, I decided to forge my own path and start Halfaker and Associates.”
Why watch:
Over the past three years, Halfaker has seen 420 percent revenue growth, become a notable contender for large-scale prime contracts and grown its workforce to more than 500. In the last year alone, the firm doubled its number of employees and hired a new chief operating officer, chief financial officer and chief growth officer.
As Halfaker has grown over the years, work has shifted from smaller, limited-scope contracts to larger prime contracts geared toward systems modernization, cloud solutions and cybersecurity. Along the way, the firm has reorganized a few times to meet changing needs.
Recent large, strategic, prime contract wins like the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Cyber Security Operations Center Next Generation, valued at $185 million, have bolstered Halfaker’s already robust track record, making it a proven mid-tier prime.
“Major mission-oriented wins like CSOC that require scalable, highly specialized technical teams have prompted us to evolve our organizational structure into more specialized portfolios of work — which will be critical as we branch beyond small business opportunities into the full and open space,” Halfaker said.
Halfaker’s Corporate Agile Delivery Center and enterprise-level agile delivery framework drive rapid application development across multiple teams and product lines through shared services and automation tools. Applying these leading-edge engineering and delivery techniques to large-scale cloud modernization initiatives and emerging areas of focus like customer experience measurement is a key component of Halfaker’s technology strategy that sets the company apart.
Out of more than 3,000 competitors, Halfaker has been ranked as the eighth most successful small business under the IT NAICS code since 2016. Halfaker is the No. 2 small business and No. 4 company overall on the T4NG contract and currently ranks No. 4 overall out of 141 CMS SPARC vendors in total contract bookings.
“We have made targeted investments in areas where we feel we can make the most mission impact to our customers,” Halfaker said. “We have been fortunate that our focus on deepening these technical offerings has also allowed us to sustain a healthy growth rate.”
In the coming year, expect Halfaker to build on its core capabilities in software engineering and cybersecurity into more specialized areas such as machine learning, health analytics and artificial intelligence.
Jerry Hogge, Senior Vice President, Military and Veteran Health Solutions, Leidos
Jerry Hogge joined Leidos in August 2012 to serve as deputy general manager for the Health Solutions Group. In this role, he oversaw strategic business development activities that led to above-market growth and profitability for the organization. In 2016, the company acquired Lockheed Martin’s former Information Systems & Global Solutions business, a $5 billion transaction that required the company to undergo a significant reorganization to integrate the expanded portfolio of capabilities.
Following this change, Hogge was selected to lead the Defense and Veteran Health Solution organization, the largest operating unit within the Health Solutions Group. Prior to Leidos, he held leadership roles at various federal contractors, including senior vice president of strategy and business development at QinetiQ North America and vice president of business and strategy development for SAIC. Hogge is also a licensed patent attorney and practiced patent law at the firm Birch Stewart Kolasch and Birch.
Why watch:
Despite the challenge of navigating within the hypercompetitive federal health IT marketplace, Leidos Health has continued to see significant growth.
In 2015, Leidos was awarded the $4.3 billion Defense Health Management System Modernization contract, a technology and health care transformation program designed to standardize the delivery of health care for the Military Health System. In his current role, Hogge is responsible for the Leidos Partnership for Defense Health, a team composed of more than 30 industry partners, including Cerner, Accenture and Henry Schein One.
The Leidos partnership recently launched the first deployment wave of MHS GENESIS, a fully interoperable and secure electronic health record system designed to improve the delivery of health care for nearly 10 million service members and their families.
“We are incredibly proud of the MHS GENESIS solution and are discovering new and innovative ways the system is enabling clinicians and healthcare providers to deliver safe, high-quality health care,” Hogge said. “Our No. 1 priority in 2019 is to continue delivering sophisticated technology that enables our customers to provide the best possible care and safety to patients. We take great pride in meeting the needs of our Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs customers, as they are fulfilling the ultimate mission, which is to serve those who have bravely served and sacrificed for this country.”
Chris McCall, Vice President of Operations, LGS Innovations
With a background in management consulting and education, Chris McCall joined LGS in 2008 and worked through increasingly senior roles in business operations. When LGS transitioned from a corporate subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent to an independent company five years ago, McCall directed efforts that resulted in streamlined business operations, more accessible internal data and increased agility. He was appointed to his current position in December 2017.
Why watch:
This year, McCall will be working to manage growth challenges while increasing the firm’s agility and responsiveness to customers’ needs.
LGS has seen double-digit revenue growth in recent years, generates a lot of intellectual property and typically produces a new patent approximately every two weeks. To keep pace with this growth, McCall will continue to focus on business case diligence, recruiting and fostering the LGS culture of innovation as his highest priorities.
“Today’s millennials are just as attracted to the culture of an organization as they are to the kinds of science and engineering projects they’ll be working on,” McCall said. “So, one key priority for 2019 is to continue to attract tomorrow’s engineers and program managers with flexible work schedules, teleworking options, tuition assistance, incentive awards and — most of all — growth paths so they can anticipate a career at LGS, not just a job opportunity.”
McCall will also be working this year to help speed the process of packaging LGS technologies into marketable solutions tailored to customers’ needs. As part of the LGS strategy for growing the LGS culture of innovation and its corporate efficiency, he plans to increase skip-level meetings with his own team and with those on other teams.
“Our customers’ missions must be considered in every aspect of the business if we are to be successful,” McCall said. “The time I spend working with our operations teams and other customer-facing groups within LGS provides the most valuable insights into the true functioning and operational needs of the business.”
Rebecca Miller, Sector President, Health and Civilian, Salient CRGT
From a sales pedigree developed at Oracle to business development director at SAIC to various senior leadership positions at SRA International, CSRA and General Dynamics Information Technology, Rebecca Miller has a track record of success in growth and corporate strategy. She came into her current position in July 2018.
Why watch:
Significant revenue growth has been a hallmark of Miller’s general management career, and that was particularly notable through the 2015 merger of SRA and CSRA. At SRA, her team achieved 25 percent year-over-year growth in the health market and turned around business development efforts in the civilian market posting new wins for the first time in a few years.
“At CSRA, the revenue size of our group was over $1.5 billion, and we owned a significant portion of the health and civilian marketplace,” Miller said. “My team was able to achieve 10 quarters of consecutive year-over-year growth during a budget-constrained federal contracting environment.”
Salient CRGT leaders expect to capitalize on recent strategic hires in operations, delivery and business development to poise the company for growth in 2019.
“We anticipate making great strides in white space accounts and augmenting our existing footprint across the health and civil marketplace,” Miller said. “My team and I have achieved great success in winning business in white space accounts and we have already won a significant amount at Salient CRGT since taking over in July.”
Adam Rudo, Senior Vice President, General Manager of Security Solutions, ManTech International
Adam Rudo was named senior vice president and general manager of ManTech’s Security Solutions business unit in September. The unit is part of ManTech’s Mission, Cyber and Intelligence Solutions Group. Rudo previously held senior roles at GDIT and Lockheed Martin.
Why watch:
“One of the things that attracted me to ManTech was that the company’s cyber solutions were already in place at some of the most critical agencies across the DOD and intelligence community, putting ManTech in a key position as an innovator and thought leader driving our customers’ mission success,” Rudo said. “A 2019 priority is to increase awareness of these capabilities across a larger customer base and to provide solutions and services to those who will benefit from them.”
Examples of this success include a $669 million award from the Department of Homeland Security to provide continuous diagnostics and mitigation for nine federal civilian agencies.
One very important strategic goal will be to build on the company’s record of attracting and growing what Rudo calls “some of the most talented people in this industry.”
“ManTech’s approach is to focus on those individuals — many of them veterans and millennials — who seek work that is more than just a job,” Rudo said. “The people we hire are driven by the positive impact we have on national security and the customer mission. They like our collaborative atmosphere, where great minds come together to shape exciting technologies into practical, goal-oriented solutions for customers.”
ManTech’s partnership with Purdue University Global is one key part of how this environment benefits customers and employees alike. Employees enroll in company-paid, college-certified degree programs in cyber and cloud that provide the skills they need to resolve customers’ toughest challenges. Customers benefit from ManTech people who are up to speed on the latest advances in these fields, he said.
“The important thing to remember about cybersecurity is that it’s never a ‘one and done’ deal,” Rudo said. “You must evolve ahead of the opponent. As cyber threats advance to include bots and automation and expand their assault on the internet of things, customers must be ready with cyber defenses that preempt and disarm attacks on contact.”
Pat Tamburrino Jr., Vice President, Health Market, LMI
A Navy veteran, Pat Tamburrino Jr. has dedicated more than 40 years of his life to public service. Most of that time was as a senior executive for the Defense Department, including most recently as chief of staff for the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. He has twice received the U.S. Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive and was once presidentially recognized as a meritorious executive. He has been in his present role at LMI about five years.
Why watch:
Tamburrino’s extensive federal experience give him a unique perspective as he advises agencies such as NASA, the General Services Administration, the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In the last few years, Tamburrino has seen his business unit grow between 8 and 10 percent annually.
“There are huge opportunities within an evolving and shifting government policy and spending environment,” Tamburrino said. “The government has no shortage of issues and challenges. The key is to create offerings that add value and advance thinking in new and innovative directions.”
He’s already seeing success with LMI’s extensive use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to make sense of large sets of data. Tamburrino sees his team’s “great strides in the area of healthcare quality measures,” and he expects to continue in that direction in the coming year.
“We are a widely known vendor in the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services space with a great reputation,” he said. “With our recent win of the Measure and Instrument Development and Support IDIQ and other upcoming opportunities, we are placing a large bet on becoming a major player in the quality measures space. It’s an exciting time for our health market and the organization as a whole.”
Scott Willis, Chief Operating Officer, HighPoint Global
Scott Willis joined HighPoint in 2013. A privately held company with 350 employees, HighPoint focuses on helping government agencies improve “the citizen experience.” Willis’ more than 30 years in the telecom industry includes experience as a senior manager at Sprint, where he increased customer issue resolution from 85 percent to more than 90 percent and supported more than 17,000 government contracts per month.
Why watch:
Willis joined HighPoint during the four months when the company grew from just eight to 350 employees.
“During that time, we quickly and efficiently worked to set up the organization to meet this scale and future growth and deliver for our clients,” Willis said. “Over the last five years, we have grown and adapted to agency priorities initiated under the Obama administration and amended under the current Trump administration.”
Following its acquisition of Primescape Solutions in late 2017, HighPoint has continued on a trajectory of improving its service offerings and has seen its customer base and contract vehicles expand accordingly.
“The acquisition was recognized by the ACG National Capital 2018 Corporate Growth Awards as the Deal of the Year Under $50 Million,” Willis said. “It has certainly been an exciting year for us at HighPoint.”
Willis’ role has recently expanded to include business development responsibilities in addition to operations, and he says he’s “laser-focused” this year on growing the business and top-line revenue with new and existing customers.
“We want to continue our high performance with current customers while expanding our reach in agencies including CMS and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and new opportunities with the VA and DHS,” he said. “We are dedicated to government priorities around the President’s Management Agenda with citizen services and customer experience as well as IT modernization.”
