Top Industry Execs to Watch in 2026: DMI’s Rocky Thurston
Rocky Thurston CEO, DMI Rocky Thurston’s biggest recent achievement was building a company customers trust to listen and respond when things don’t go exactly right. Over the past year, he has focused on tightening execution, improving responsiveness and giving teams clearer authority to fix issues quickly. That work rarely makes headlines, but it shows up
WATCH: DMI’s Rocky Thurston on Greater Washington Region Heart Walk
WashingtonExec’s Rachel Kirkland sits down with Rocky Thurston, CEO of DMI, to discuss his role as chairman of the 2025 Greater Washington Region Heart Walk. Thurston shares how heart health has shaped his life, reveals surprising stats and previews one of the region’s top charity events.
DMI Elevates Meghan Askham to VP of FDIC
DMI promoted Meghan Askham to vice president overseeing its Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. work. Since joining DMI in 2021, Askham has led efforts to transform service delivery and improve customer satisfaction each year, the company said. In her new role, Askham will drive innovation and ensure DMI delivers solutions that streamline processes, solve agency challenges
DMI Announces Strategic Divestitures
DMI announced the divestiture of its commerce, marketing & strategy, and digital engineering services segment to digital engineering services provider Encora. The divested segment mainly served commercial clients domestically and internationally. DMI will keep its managed services offering for public sector and commercial clients. After the sale, DMI will focus solely on technology solutions for
John Hillen’s Newest Book ‘The Strategy Dialogues’ Draws Industrywide Praise
Executive leaders came together Jan. 15 to attend the book launch for “The Strategy Dialogues: A Primer on Business Strategy and Strategic Management.” The book, authored by Dr. John Hillen, discusses what it means to think strategically, how to set the right direction for an organization, and how to turn strategic aspirations into reality. Hillen
DMI Elevates Peter Carlson to CFO
DMI has appointed Peter Carlson to its executive leadership team as chief financial officer. “Peter’s new role as Chief Financial Officer is an important development and marks a significant milestone in DMI’s journey toward continued growth and success,” said DMI CEO Rocky Thurston. “Peter goes beyond the nuts and bolts of finance. He is a
Top Execs to Watch in 2024: DMI’s Rocky Thurston
Rocky Thurston CEO, DMI Less than 18 months ago, DMI was mainly a group of separate businesses. Rocky Thurston is very proud of how the company transformed into a unified entity, working as one integrated organization. This integration involves sharing resources, knowledge, insights and ideas. As a result, the company isn’t only attracting top talent
Measuring Success: How Mac Curtis’ Leadership Helped Turn Others Into Leaders
In government contracting, we usually judge leaders’ success by their company’s growth, mission success and reputation. But shouldn’t we also ask how good they are at turning others into leaders? For Mac Curtis, making leaders out of his team is a big sign of his leadership success. Five leaders once a part of Curtis’ leadership teams are
New DHS AI Policies and Their Impact on GovCon
New Department of Homeland Security policies aimed at managing the risks of artificial intelligence while harnessing its benefits are part of a growing shift toward responsible AI use as the technology proliferates, according to DHS contractors. “The policy direction announced by DHS will likely have a significant impact on how companies and teams address the
WATCH: DMI’s Rocky Thurston Discusses New Role as CEO
WashingtonExec’s Amanda Ziadeh sits down with DMI CEO Rocky Thurston to discuss his new role. The company announced in May he would succeed Sunny Bajaj as CEO, so Thurston shares how the transition has been thus far from his previous role of chief operating officer. He also talks top priorities, previous experiences and what he
Gary Wang Named DMI CTO
Gary Wang has been appointed as DMI chief technology officer to lead its technological vision and strategy, drive innovation and deliver impactful solutions to meet customers’ business and mission objectives. “With years of experience at the forefront of digital transformation, Gary will be a tremendous asset to our leadership team,” said DMI CEO Rocky Thurston.
Rocky Thurston Succeeds Sunny Bajaj as DMI CEO
DMI’s founder Sunny Bajaj is stepping down as CEO after 21 years, to be succeeded by the company’s Chief Operating Officer Rocky Thurston. Going forward, Bajaj will remain on DMI’s board of directors. “It has been a privilege to build and lead DMI since its founding 21 years ago,” Bajaj said. “Since OceanSound’s investment, we
DMI Wins Recompete Work with NIH
DMI has won the recompete for the Cybersecurity Modernization II Initiative for the National Institutes of Health Office of Director Office of Information Technology contract. Worth $24 million over three years, the win will build on DMI’s two previous contracts with the NIH OD to provide cybersecurity modernization services. “This win validates the National Institute
Chief Officer Awards Finalist Rocky Thurston: ‘Build or Join a Team with People You Trust’
The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards were announced March 17, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person May 10. Next is Chief Operating Officer finalist in the Public & Private Company category Rocky Thurston, COO of DMI. Here, he talks about learning from failures, taking professional risks,
Top 35 Execs to Watch in 2023: DMI’s Rocky Thurston
Rocky Thurston Chief Operating Officer, DMI Rocky Thurston’s biggest recent achievement was DMI’s transformation into what is it now calling DMI 2.0. DMI underwent an extensive organizational transformation that included several steps such as reorganizing its commercial business, acquiring and integrating two government contracting firms, acquiring a managed services company, and developing new corporate and
DMI Buys Simplex Mobility
DMI has acquired Simplex Mobility, a provider of asset and expense management software. “DMI will disrupt the market with a first-ever, fully-packaged managed service offering that goes beyond mobile and allows customers to manage, monitor, and transform their assets, inventory, and expenses through one seamless experience,” said DMI Chief Operating Officer Rocky Thurston. With the
Rocky Thurston Joins DMI as COO
Rocky Thurston has joined DMI as chief operating officer to lead operations and program delivery excellence to drive strategic growth across commercial and federal segments. Thurston was most recently president of citizen security and public services at Peraton. “DMI has the talent and capabilities to help our clients take on any challenge. Rocky’s leadership, vision,
‘Givers of GovCon’ Podcast: Peraton’s Rocky Thurston and the American Heart Association
In this episode of “Givers of GovCon,” Rocky Thurston, president of Peraton’s Citizen Security and Public Services sector, shares why he’s passionate about sitting on the leadership of the American Heart Association’s Greater Washington Region Heart Walk. Tune in to learn how employees are also getting involved, and why others should join Peraton in supporting
Perspecta Lands $98.4M Award from Education Department
Government services provider Perspecta Inc. has received a follow-on award to continue supporting the Federal Student Aid Information Center 2020 program for the Education Department’s Office of Federal Student Aid. The award extends over three years and has a ceiling value of $98.4 million. Perspecta is to operate an omni-channel FSAIC contact center to handle inbound inquiries
Perspecta Awarded $112M DHS Contract
Perspecta Inc. has won a new Data Center Two Support Services contract by the Department of Homeland Security. The contract has a 2-year base with two six-month option periods and a potential value of $112 million. “This award reinforces our standing as a premier provider of end-to-end next generation managed IT services,” said Rocky Thurston,
WATCH: Perspecta’s Rocky Thurston on Supporting Customers, Employees During COVID-19 Pandemic
Senior reporter Amanda Ziadeh is joined by Rocky Thurston, a senior vice president and general manager of Perspecta’s civilian, state and local business group, to discuss how Perspecta’s customers changed how they conduct business during the pandemic. Thurston explains how the civilian, state and local business group came up with innovative ways to support its
Perspecta Wins $277M Award from Labor Department
Government services provider Perspecta Inc. has been awarded a prime contract from the Labor Department for operations and maintenance support of the enterprise general support system. The award comes from DOL’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, Office of the Chief Information Officer and has a 1-year base with six 1-year option
Perspecta Wins $810M Deal to Provide Enterprise Infrastructure Operations Support to State Department Office
Perspecta Inc. has been awarded a task order in support of the State Department’s Consular Affairs Enterprise Infrastructure Operations, or CAEIO, program. Awarded under the General Services Administration Alliant 2 contract vehicle, the deal represents new work for the company. It has a 1-year base with six 1-year option periods and is potentially worth $810 million. Under
Top 10 Civilian Executives to Watch: Rocky Thurston, Perspecta
Since Perspecta’s launch in June 2018, the company has worked to become a leading systems integrator with deep mission knowledge and premier IT capabilities, and brings that same expertise to its civilian, state and local customers daily. The group’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Rocky Thurston is most proud to have joined this team
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