This summer, WashingtonExec is reaching out to leaders in government and government contracting who’ve had success to learn more about their habits, experiences and perspectives.
Scott Goss is chief financial officer at Knight Point Systems, LLC, as well as Trowbridge and Trowbridge, LLC, and advisor to the board for Preferred Systems Solutions, of which he was formerly president and CEO.
WashingtonExec: What is on your summer reading list?
Goss: I’m reading “The Twelve Rules for Life” by Jordan Peterson. It talks about some different approaches to life from the perspective of looking back at things when you were young and looking ahead now that you’re at a different point in your career and your life. It introduces some “rules” that you would not normally think of, such as to always stand up straight. It’s an interesting read now that I’m at a different juncture in my life.
Goss: When I came into SIGNAL Corporation in 1996, it was a really tough time in government contracting. We had recently come out of a government shutdown. Funds were tight. Companies in the ‘90s were coming off of being public as opposed to post-9/11 when the government had some good vibe and momentum coming back and companies were going public once again. I really had to stretch myself then and decide on a career path because I had an IT and accounting background.
At SIGNAL, I started out as a vice president of accounting and very quickly grew to become the CFO and CIO and grew a material business within SIGNAL. When I started, they were running at $30-some million, and I ended up doing the deal to sell the company to VERIDIAN for $227 million.
It was a lot of hours. My first-born child, my daughter Kayla, was born the week before I started at SIGNAL. I was living in Germantown, Maryland, commuting to Fairfax, Virginia, and I had to do a lot of things. When you grow a company organically in six years or so from that size to $260-plus million, there are a lot of things you have to do to stretch yourself in your career.
I implemented CostPoint. I personally developed a package called PM Reports which today is called DataCall and is sold through a number of government clients including companies like Novetta and Serco. I ran an accounting department, I grew a whole business outsourcing and implementing financial systems and reporting systems. Back in ‘96 and ‘97, I was one of the first people to take Deltek’s electronic timecard system and make it work over the internet remotely. Back in ‘97, we were one of the first companies to have internet reporting available to all of our managers throughout the whole company. They could get real-time data on their employees and their programs through systems I had developed. That was basically three hats I wore at the company let alone developing software, and I really had to stretch myself during that time.
WashingtonExec: If you could go back and give your younger self career and/or life advice, what would you say?
Goss: As you grow, sometimes you tend to become less patient. If I could go back, it would be to remind myself that patience is a virtue.
WashingtonExec: What is your favorite city to visit? What do you enjoy doing there?
Goss: I won’t say that I honestly have a favorite city. I moved from Tysons Corner five years ago to Delray Beach, Florida, and I love it there and all of South Florida. For visiting, I like New York City, I like Las Vegas, and I like Nashville. I like places where there’s music and entertainment and things that you can see that you can’t every day.
It’s not a city, but I just came back from the Bahamas with friends, and it’s one of my favorite places to go because I get to go to places that you can only go to in boats – not cruise ships – but smaller yachts with even smaller venture boats that take you to explore things many will never see in a lifetime. I just swam and dove under Thunderball, which is where they filmed the old Bond movie, into the caves. I drove to a pool that’s stuck in the middle of the island that’s probably hundreds of feet deep, I fished for tuna, mahi, snapper, grouper and more and ate off the catch.
The Bahamas are probably on some of the nicest water and have some of the most amazing things you’ll ever see in your life. Other than that, my heart loves Italy and Greece. I won’t even say cities as I love all of it!
WashingtonExec: Tell me about an app, device or type of technology you personally love and why.
Goss: Because I travel all the time, I like apps that keep me connected to my house and apps that automate my life. Things like Alexa, the Amazon Echo, I love. I’ve also connected it to my house so I can tell it to raise my blinds if I want to. I use IFTTT (If This Then That) to program different things, such as my TV, or telling my blinds to raise or lower at a certain time, or turning my lights on or off. I love the Nest app that lets me have cameras in my house or the Ring app that lets me know when somebody is there or somebody is walking by and protects the house. They keep me connected when I’m traveling and they keep me automated – all from my phone.
