As senior vice president of solutions and innovations in the ESS Business Unit at SMX, Dawn Sedgley brings nearly three decades of guiding large-scale ERP transformations and, more recently, helping federal agencies navigate the promise and pressure of AI.
From co-founding Alta Via Consulting and leading it through two decades of federal modernization work to stepping into executive roles following its acquisition, Sedgley’s path has been defined less by a fixed plan and more by a consistent drive to solve meaningful problems at scale.
Today, she’s focused on helping agencies adopt AI responsibly and effectively, ensuring technology investments translate into measurable mission outcomes.
In this Q&A, Sedgley reflects on the pivotal moments that shaped her career, the evolving challenges facing federal customers, and why applying disciplined business practices to mission-driven work remains at the core of everything she does.
Can you provide a brief overview of your professional background and career progression?
My career began in 1995 at Price Waterhouse, where I discovered a passion for advanced costing methodologies enabled by ERP platforms, particularly SAP. In 1998, I left to co-found Alta Via Consulting, where we implemented SAP globally and co-authored a book on SAP and Activity-Based Costing in 2001. That publication caught the attention of federal agencies undergoing ERP modernizations, prompting my transition to the public sector in 2002 — the most consequential turning point of my career.
I co-led Alta Via through large-scale federal transformations for 20 years until its acquisition by cBEYONData in 2022, where I served as COO. After SMX’s acquisition of cBEYONData in February 2025, I transitioned to my current role.
Why was this the path you chose, and how influential was it to your career?
I didn’t so much choose the path as follow my strengths and let purpose guide the direction. What drew me to GovCon — and has kept me here for over two decades — is the scale and complexity of the challenges. I thrive at the intersection of business rigor and mission enablement, and the federal environment demands both.
The 2002 pivot from commercial to federal work was the most influential moment of my career, opening a domain where my expertise could create outsized, lasting impact.
Do you have a personal connection to the current mission you support? If so, please explain.
My connection is less tied to a single agency and more rooted in a deeply held belief about what this work means at a systemic level. The entities I’ve supported are not simply government bureaucracies — they are the operational backbone of services that affect millions of Americans. When systems are inefficient or misaligned, the downstream effects are real and human.
I’m not implementing technology for its own sake — I’m helping organizations unlock the capacity to deliver on their missions more effectively. In many ways, my professional mission and my personal one are intertwined.
What are your current top priorities and responsibilities? How do these relate to your company’s overall mission/growth strategy?
My primary focus is helping customers navigate AI adoption responsibly — identifying which tools are appropriate for which objectives, implementing them safely, and translating adoption into measurable mission outcomes. It’s not AI for AI’s sake; it’s about solving real problems and delivering lasting value.
In parallel, I’m driving an “AI everywhere” initiative internally at SMX — embedding AI into our own operations, workflows, and client solutions. This dual mandate — driving customer innovation while transforming internally — directly aligns with SMX’s growth strategy of becoming an indispensable partner for agencies navigating complex transformation.
What are your customers’ top pain points?
The most significant challenge is AI integration done right. There is immense pressure on federal agencies to adopt AI quickly, yet governance frameworks, data maturity, and change management capabilities are still evolving. The gap between AI enthusiasm and AI readiness is both significant and costly if not addressed thoughtfully.
Beyond AI, persistent challenges remain: ERP modernization backlogs, data quality and interoperability issues, and the difficulty of aligning technology investments with mission outcomes. We also see strong opportunity in helping agencies shift from measuring outputs to evaluating outcomes — determining whether modernization efforts are truly improving mission performance.
How are you and your team planning to address/prepare for these opportunities?
We are investing in scalable frameworks and methodologies for responsible AI deployment— building governance structures that give agencies confidence and partnering with providers aligned to mission-first outcomes.
Equally important, we are applying these principles internally by embedding AI into our own processes. This hands-on experience enables us to advise from practice, not theory — offering insight into change management, integration, and governance based on lived experience. We are also continuing to invest in talent, ensuring our teams are equipped to operate at the leading edge.
How important is mentorship and networking in GovCon?
Mentorship has been foundational — not just to my career, but to how I operate as a professional. My early mentors, who co-founded Alta Via with me, instilled core principles: do good work, give clients the right answer not the easy one, and be a good steward of every resource entrusted to you. Those values continue to guide my leadership today.
GovCon is inherently relationship-driven, but the most meaningful connections are not transactional. They are built on shared values, mutual respect, and genuine investment in one another’s success.
What is something most people don’t know about you personally?
Most people who know me well know that I love to travel. What fewer people know is the depth of purpose behind everything I do professionally. I fund and co-operate a charity whose mission is to help other charities thrive — specifically, organizations focused on disrupting sex trafficking by giving them what they often lack: the business acumen to run a mission-driven organization effectively. These organizations are founded by people with enormous heart, but running a charity requires strategy, operational discipline, financial stewardship, and technology — the same capabilities we bring to our government clients. That belief — applying business rigor to mission-driven work — is a throughline in everything I do.
