A capacity crowd filled the Skyline Room at the Tower Club on June 3rd. Over 60 Washington area executives converged to see ExecutiveBiz’s CIO Expert Panel event in our popular Government IT Series. This event, made possible by Peter Ostrow of Technical Communities, brought together some of the leading CIO voices in the government in an interactive session which spanned wide ranging, relevant topics such as outsourcing and Web 2.0. Former CIO of the Department of Commerce, Barry West (current Executive Vice President at SE Solutions), looked right at home moderating a panel featuring Bill Vajda, CIO of the Department of Education, Linda Cureton, CIO of NASA and David Zeppieri, CIO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Shiv Krishnan, president and CEO of INDUS, knows what it takes for a small company to rise to the top. Krishnan is the incoming chairman of a rapidly growing industry organization, Small and Emerging Contractors Advisory Forum. SECAF has more than 175 small businesses as members, and is focused on helping small businesses achieve success as government contractors.

How can a business persevere — and thrive — in the government contracting space?

Shiv Krishnan: When you’re starting in the federal government business, you first need to figure out your strength. Once you figure out exactly what your strengths are — what you know how to do exceptionally well — then start focusing on that. Then you will know who within the government maybe is looking to buy those kinds of services.

Also, another major support mechanism that you have available are large prime contractors: Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, SAIC, CSC, and several mid-tier companies, which are anywhere between $80 million to a billion in size. All of these companies have small business requirements that they look to fulfill by subcontracting to small businesses.

As for persevering: It is essentially the drive and the confidence in yourself that moves you forward. In my case I was completely aware I could totally fail and if I did, then I could always get a job.

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Today’s announcement that Stanley, Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Oberon Associates, Inc. for approximately $170 million in cash brings together two high-fliers that have experienced significant growth and success in the past few years. Stanley, a leading systems integrator to the U.S. Federal government, has swelled to 3,500 employees while Oberon Associates, which delivers engineering, intelligence operations and information technology services, ranked #1 on Washington Technology’s 2007 Fast 50 list with a compound annual growth rate of 191.75 percent.

According to the press release, the transaction should close during Stanley’s fiscal second quarter ending Sept. 30, 2008, subject to approval by Oberon’s shareholders. (Shareholders representing approximately 67 percent of Oberon’s common stock have entered into a voting and irrevocable proxy agreement to vote their shares in favor of the proposed transaction).

Manassas, Va.-based Oberon, with 600 employees spread across the U.S. and seven countries abroad, immediately strengthens Stanley’s capabilities in the intelligence and defense community, and bolsters expertise related to biometrics systems engineering, integration and operational deployment; intelligence community support; communications engineering; and information technology and enterprise data management. Oberon employees should certainly not find a drop-off in the workplace conditions, as Stanley is a regular on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

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Since his days at the U.S. Naval Academy, Dan Johnson has focused on solving problems and enhancing operations for DoD and civilian agencies. That focus has only grown with each and every successive role. In April, Johnson became president of General Dynamics Information Technology (IT), a tier-one government contracting company that supports clients across the spectrum, from defense to intelligence. In the following Q&A, Johnson talks about his goals for the year, where the greatest opportunities for growth reside, and what it takes to be successful in today’s government contracting space.

Tell us about your new role at General Dynamics Information Technology (IT) and what does that mean to the company?

Dan Johnson: As the President of General Dynamics Information Technology, I am leading a talented and dedicated team of professionals, continuing the company’s unwavering commitment to supporting our defense, intelligence and civilian agency, and commercial customers. We have grown significantly during the last few years and continue to add depth and breadth to our solutions. We have recently entered into a definitive agreement to acquire ViPS a healthcare IT company and through other acquisitions including Anteon, General Dynamics IT leverages more than 15,000 professionals who have the experience and expertise to provide fully integrated capabilities to support mission-critical government and commercial programs across the globe. As we move forward, we will continue to combine innovation with proven best practices to deliver value and results to our customers. As a tier-one IT and professional services organization with substantial growth opportunities we are very excited about the future.

Prior to assuming the role of president earlier this year, I served as the senior deputy to former General Dynamics IT President Mike Chandler. Mike and I worked together optimizing internal operations and focusing on service excellence. For the last 18 months, we collaborated with sister General Dynamics business units and worked within our own business unit to establish a strategy geared toward success alongside the largest IT and professional service providers in our market.

During this transition period, I also spent significant time with our customers as well as our operational division leaders and their respective program teams – the individuals that work shoulder-to-shoulder with our clients. I had an opportunity to work closely with each division within General Dynamics IT and the people that work tirelessly for our customers.

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CEO John Chapel incorporated AVIEL Systems, Inc., in January 2006 in order to bring AVIEL’s two subsidiaries, OPTIMUS and PMC, together under a single banner. “We were able to take a $33 million dollar company and grow it to about $75 million with a decrease in the number of overhead personnel,” says Chapel of AVIEL’s success. In the following Q&A, Chapel shares a few tips on moving a deal forward and discusses what’s next for him as he looks beyond his role as CEO.

Tell us briefly how AVIEL Systems came together and what your role in it was?

John Chapel: I joined OPTIMUS Corporation in May of 2005, not long after the CHM sale. Eric Adolphe, founder and majority owner of OPTIMUS, had previously discussed my joining OPTIMUS and once the CHM sale closed, it seemed like the right time to do it. Eric had some other interests he wanted to pursue, including spending more time with his young children. We came to an agreement where I would come in as president and part owner, with an option to purchase all of the company at a later date. My first tasks were improving OPTIMUS and looking for an appropriate acquisition. Through an introduction, I started negotiations with Performance Management Consultants (PMC), a provider of management services to DHS. We closed the transaction in September of 2005 and immediately began integrating the two companies.

In January of 2006 I exercised my option, bought the other OPTIMUS owners out, and became the sole owner of OPTIMUS and its subsidiary, PMC. A couple of months later, I recapitalized the company and formed AVIEL as the holding company for OPTIMUS and PMC. Integration of the two companies was a natural fit. OPTIMUS had too large a back office and PMC had no back office. We started out with about 40 people on overhead, and when we sold AVIEL we had 37 people on overhead. We were able to take a $33 million dollar company and grow it to about $75 million with a decrease in the number of overhead personnel.

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In the bowels of today’s American corporate culture that prides itself on innovation and autonomy, “Skunk Works” may not be considered a revolutionary concept. But when Skunk Works® was coined in 1943 by an engineer at Lockheed Martin to describe its Advanced Development Programs responsible for advanced aircraft design, it operated in rarefied air.

As Skunk Works was founded 65 years ago this month (see full history here), Pete Barlas of Investor’s Business Daily penned an in-depth column examining the birth of Skunk Works and the man who founded and built it - Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. As Barlas reports, Johnson was a true visionary in the aviation industry, designing more than 40 planes during his 42-year career - many of which were jet fighters used during WWII and spy planes considered invaluable to the U.S. during the Cold War.

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As president of Fulcrum IT Services Company, Jeff Handy oversees the company’s growth in the technical services arena. In the following Q&A, Handy talks about Fulcrum’s long-term growth initiatives on behalf of defense, civilian, intelligence and commercial customers.

What is your background?

Jeff Handy: My personal background is engineering. I started at the Naval Research Laboratory and moved to operational technology as I assumed executive level positions.

You used to be president of GMRI, now you are President of Fulcrum IT. How did that take place?

Jeff Handy: GMRI had a rich 18-year legacy of product reselling. I came on board to help with the transformation toward IT and professional engineering services, which was my personal background. After a few years of that, we divested of the product business through an asset sale including our name, thus we renamed the remaining professional services business Fulcrum IT Services Company. The name was chosen by our employees.

What is your focus now?

Jeff Handy: It is the application of IT and engineering services in vertical markets, primarily in enterprise outsourcing, web enablement, data management and IT security.
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Some 25-year-olds are just getting started in their careers. Not Wes Cruver. At the tender age of 11, he co-founded a non-profit company called Kidz Online, which focused on video technology. Then, in 2007, after 15 years of pioneering work in the video market, Cruver decided to start a new company that would sell a product instead of services. Over the past year, KZO Innovations has been doing just that. In the following Q&A Cruver talks about the latest news with KZO, and some of the hot trends he’s tracking in software development.

What led up to your founding of KZO Innovations?

Wes Cruver: KZO Innovations was a long evolutionary process. It started with a non-profit company I co-founded when I was 11 years old, called Kidz Online. So, I have been into technology for over half of my life. We founded Kidz Online as a way to pair up affluent suburb kids who had access to technology with inner city underprivileged youth to “bridge the digital divide.”

How did we get from Kidz Online to KZO?

Wes Cruver: Working with Kidz Online was a great experience which allowed me to make a lot of great contacts and get to know talented young people who had enthusiasm and interest in technology. As time went on we turned Kidz Online into more of a services-based company where we were making money selling services related to training and video technology. In 2007, after 15 years of pioneering work in the video market, we decided to start a new company that would sell a product, instead of services. I think that we worked in the nonprofit world for so long that we were just excited to try something new.

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Recently retired Dr. Renato A. DiPentima can point to an established track record of eyeing early opportunities to enter fast growing markets. As President and CEO of SRA International, Dr. DiPentima (Renny) helped to steer the federal systems integrator to explosive growth past the $1 billion milestone before handing the reigns over to Stan Sloane.

So ears perked up Monday when DiPentima joined the Board of Directors at Liquid Machines, Inc., a rising star within the fast growing Enterprise Rights Management (ERM) space. According to ABI Research, the ERM market is poised to hit annual revenues of $450 million in 2013, reflecting the growing need for organizations in both the public and private sector to more effectively safeguard sensitive information. Unlike other approaches to IT security, ERM operates at the document level by attaching rights and privileges to individual files.

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As president of CGI Federal, George Schindler leads a team that leverages market-leading services and offerings into a managed services model in conjunction with federal government partners. The results speak for themselves; CGI is tracking to double digit growth for this fiscal year. But Schindler has even bigger plans for CGI Federal. In the following Q&A, Schindler talks about where he sees the company in five years, and what it needs to do to reach that point. He also weighs in on navigating the uncertainties associated with the natural cycles of government, especially during an election year.

Tell us about your role at CGI Federal?

George Schindler: I am the President.

How large is the business unit?

George Schindler: About 1,100 members. We refer to our employees as members because we are all considered to be owners of the business.

How is CGI Federal different from CGI overall as a company?

George Schindler: CGI is a Canadian company, based in Montreal. CGI Federal was created as a wholly owned U.S. operating subsidiary of CGI in order to allow the company to more effectively sell to the federal market and pursue work that requires security clearances. At the same time, our goal is to leverage the full depth and breadth of CGI solutions and capabilities globally.

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