A Conversation with Robin Lineberger

November 6th, 2009 by Ellen Scott

We sat down with Robin Lineberger, the CEO of Deloitte’s U.S Federal Government Services, on October 20, 2009. He spoke to us about his new role at Deloitte, the challenges and benefits of the transition, as well as some of the charities he is involved in. Click on the video below to hear more about his charitable endeavors.

Frankly, that was surprising. We expected the business to trim down and in fact we’ve grown nearly four percent over that time frame. – Robin Lineberger

ExecutiveBiz: There is a lot of change going on at Deloitte. Can you tell us about your new role as CEO?

Robin Lineberger: I feel very fortunate to be appointed as the CEO of the new Federal Government Services at Deloitte. This role entails leading the combined Deloitte federal business, which preexisted the acquisition, as well as the core federal business that was part of BearingPoint’s public services business. My responsibilities will include leading the Federal Government Services to market; focusing on further integrating the two businesses; and getting Deloitte’s four functional areas of tax, audit, consulting and financial advisory services more integrated within Federal Government Services seamlessly. Additionally, I will be assessing the business’ infrastructure breadth and scale to ensure it will operate effectively now that we are significantly larger than the pre-acquisition business at Deloitte.

ExecutiveBiz: What is your biggest challenge right now in this transition period?

Robin Lineberger: One personal challenge I have is learning my way around the Deloitte organization. Deloitte’s revenues are over $10 billion in the US and $27 billion globally so learning the ropes in order to be effective is in some sense a personal challenge. Second, is bringing together two large businesses that preexisted the acquisition. One which was $450 million combined and another a $730 million business to really stitch together, in a very short period of time, a billion plus dollar business. And third, getting to know the assets we have and how we can go to market together. It’s the scale which is the largest challenge.

ExecutiveBiz: Where are the areas that you see the biggest potential for growth over the next 12 to 18 months?

Robin Lineberger: For us the biggest areas of growth are around helping the government execute the financial stimulus in its various forms. Whether it’s assisting in the spending transparency or helping to track the bank losses for the FDIC. As they execute those short, middle and longer term activities our services are very well aligned particularly with our core financial management capability that the business is built on.

ExecutiveBiz: I know the headquarters is moving from DC to Rosslyn. Can you talk a little about that as well as the transition you’ve had for your employees?

Robin Lineberger: We evaluated what we call the “Greater Washington area real estate plan” and as a result we’ve taken five and a half floors of the Corporate Executive Board Building near the Key Bridge in Rosslyn. It’s about 270,000 square feet. This represents an exclamation point on the end of our integration. While we are still working through some human capital integration, back office business practice development and other minor activities, we are physically integrating this core federal business in Rosslyn. As a result of this major move, we are reshaping our footprint and moving other staff in what we call our satellite or project offices around the Washington area.

ExecutiveBiz: Can you tell us about Tom Davis’s role going forward as Director?

Robin Lineberger: Tom leads Deloitte’s Federal Government Relations team and is the point person in helping us better understand the federal legislative landscape.

ExecutiveBiz: Has the issue of in-sourcing or employee poaching by the government impacted your business? Can you give us your thought on that?

Robin Lineberger: Yes in-sourcing has had an impact on our business, but I wouldn’t call it profound or threatening. The government is thin on internal staff for certain jobs that are viewed as augmentation. However, there are other areas where the government has determined that they want to bring the work back in-house because they want that competency back in government. We continue to monitor this trend and assess its impact.

ExecutiveBiz: You have a long history of working in the non-profit world. Can you talk about what efforts you are involved in currently?

Robin Lineberger: I support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of the National Capitol Region and I am on the Executive Committee. My youngest brother is a cancer survivor so we are pretty passionate about this cause. I’ve spent a lot of time on everything from selling raffle tickets to selling tables to help generate the revenue to continue the research. There is another organization that my wife and I are involved with called the Fishing School, which is an after school and summer program for under privileged youth in the District of Columbia. An interesting point on that is, the Fishing School was chosen for the Extreme Home Makeover show on ABC. It is one of the very few times they have done a community building, so we were very fortunate this past August to have a beautiful, new facility built by Burch Builders and many other volunteer organizations.

ExecutiveBiz: Did you think of any personal anecdote that you’ve been going through over the last 12 to 18 months?

Robin Lineberger: I think there are a couple of things that I have learned over the last 18 months. One is keep your team focused on customer relationships and service your customer in a high quality way and that will serve you well. I can’t reiterate enough how well that has served us. Our clients really looked for ways to support the teams during the very difficult times at BearingPoint, and the result was that we now have a larger federal business than what we went into with last year. Frankly, that was surprising. We expected the business to trim down and in fact we’ve grown nearly four percent over that time frame. I think that’s attributable to the great client service. Second is communications. I believe a major factor in our success was our internal and external communications. We kept employees and customers up-to-date on the events as they transpired and let them all know our alternatives. As a result, the uncertainty and fear were eliminated and they stuck with us. I can’t over emphasize the importance of open and honest communications.

Tags: Deloitte, Robin Lineberger
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