You’ve heard the buzz. And now you’ve read the news: Serco Inc., the U.S.-based division of the international service company Serco Group plc, has just acquired SI International for $423 million. Still untold is what this acquisition will mean to the future of both companies — until now. In an exclusive interview with ExecutiveBiz, Serco Inc.’s Chairman and CEO Ed Casey lets us in on the back story behind the acquisition — his first major acquisition as CEO — plus he discusses his top priorities for the coming months, and how SI International’s President and CEO Brad Antle will be part of what many are calling a winning new chapter in both company’s lives.

This is your first major acquisition as CEO. Tell us how the deal came about and how you chose SI International.

Ed Casey: About a year ago we decided to pursue an acquisition strategy. We surveyed the entire marketplace — companies anywhere from $200 million to $2 billion in size. We created a shortlist of those we thought had the best strategic fit and the most promise. SI International was one of those companies. We pursued a couple of companies on that list and this one is obviously the one that got to the finish line. Basically I met Brad Antle [president and CEO of SI International] in March and that was the basis for some conversations that ultimately evolved over the last five months.

Tell us about your integration plan for the two companies.

Ed Casey: As we think through transition integration, clearly the number one priority is our people, the employees of SI International and Serco. Obviously when you have a situation where the two companies here in North America are almost equal size there are a lot of people who have a lot of questions and a lot of concerns. That will be without question our number one priority: trying to design the new organization going forward and to get the right people in the right roles. If we don’t get the people side of it right then really everything else suffers – our service to our customers, our results to our shareholders – so for us it’s all about the employees over the next 90 to 100 days, or however long it takes us to close the transaction.

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It’s a frightening statistic: The Washington, DC area leads the nation in the prevalence of kidney disease. But there’s hope. The Kidney Ball is the National Kidney Foundation’s largest one-day fundraiser, raising funds to support medical research and other critical initiatives. To keep the momentum going, Jim Duffey, a key voice in the area’s business community, is lending his name to the cause. This fall, Duffey will serve as chair of the 2008 Kidney Ball. In the following Q&A, Duffey shares details about the event and how it will help individuals and families cope with what is one of the most prevalent but overlooked health challenges in the United States today.

Why did you choose to chair the 2008 Kidney Ball?

Jim Duffey: My colleague Donna Morea from CGI asked me to serve on the Kidney Ball Executive Committee and through my involvement I became aware that kidney disease is a very serious public health problem that’s often overlooked. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, more than 13 percent of the population has kidney disease and most people don’t know it. They are also unaware that diabetes and hypertension are the leading causes of kidney disease—all three of these diseases are very pervasive in our community. As business leaders we have a social responsibility to the community at large. Working with non-profit partners, we can make a significant difference in the lives of many.

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As the government evolves in its use of information LexisNexis allows end users to locate, screen and authenticate individuals in the areas of entitlement, fraud, waste and abuse. “In an era of declining tax revenues it’s more important than ever to ensure limited resources are used efficiently,” says Haywood Talcove, CEO of LexisNexis Special Services Inc., (LNSSI). In the following Q&A, Talcove talks about how his company is staying at the forefront of this critical mission requirement.

Tell us about your job at LexisNexis.

Haywood Talcove: I came to LexisNexis Special Services for several reasons. First, content is the place to be in for the next 10 years. The government market is at an inflection in how information is used within public safety, tax and collections and social services. Leading governments are applying public records to meet their mission goals.

The second reason is LexisNexis is leading the transformation of public information in the government space. Our solutions provide public safety, social services, and tax and collection departments with the tools to locate, screen and authenticate. We transform government’s ability to capture felons, locate sexual offenders, find missing and exploited children, protect the homeland and reduce fraud, waste and abuse within entitlement programs.

The third reason was the opportunity to work with an experienced and dedicated team and a company that understands the unique needs of the public sector.

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Throughout his career, Dave Patterson has led a variety of businesses ranging from technical and professional services, to manufacturing management and consulting. Today he serves as president and CEO of Siemens Government Services, Inc. (SGS). In the following Q&A, Patterson talks about his overall approach to the federal space, his biggest challenge in business today, and how he’s helping create a little harmony in the world.

We spoke earlier about the differences between Siemens Government Services and Siemens Corporation, can you please elaborate?

Dave Patterson: SGS is a special purpose, wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens. The company itself was formed in 2001 in conjunction with a Siemens acquisition of a company holding federal contracts. In order to support these contracts, Siemens created a new, self-contained entity specifically designed to perform federal work. SGS maintains its own board of directors and acts as an independent, yet affiliated Siemens company. We are specialists in federal program management and integration, providing Siemens technologies and solutions to the federal marketplace.

What is your overall approach to the federal space?

Dave Patterson: We are what I like to call a “technology practitioner.” We implement customized solutions in conjunction with key strategic partners. In fact, some of the 4 x 24 member companies are organizations we work with to support federal customers. The technologies that we bring to the market are focused on infrastructure improvement — things such as building automation systems, fire and security systems, telecommunications, and other types of IT-enabled solutions. We also have extensive maintenance and logistics capabilities to install and service these systems across the U.S. and around the world.

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Tom Eaton was in the satellite industry for 11 years before coming to Arrowhead. Today he serves as president of Arrowhead Global Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of CapRock Communications. In the following Q&A, Eaton talks about the integration between Arrowhead and CapRock, a leading provider of remote communications, and how that integration has been going strong for more than a year now. He also shares insights on how to navigate some of the biggest challenges in business today and the hot trends he’s tracking that will affect his customer base now and into the future.

Tell us about your role at Arrowhead.

Tom Eaton: I am the President of Arrowhead Global Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of CapRock Communications and I’d been in the satellite industry for 11 years prior to coming to Arrowhead. I’ve been in the telecommunications industry for a number of years — more than 20. I’ve been on the hardware services side, satellite side and then in the government sector.

Tell us about Arrowhead and CapRock. How is the integration going?

Tom Eaton: It’s going great. In fact if you look at the three markets that we serve now — the energy market and their mining efforts, the maritime business which has expanded to serve other vessels beyond just energy transport, and Arrowhead, which serves the government sector – you’ve got a company in CapRock that’s serving very strong institutional customers. With the economic times that we find ourselves in, it’s good to be serving the oil and gas markets. Maritime is a booming area as well. On the Arrowhead side our primary focus is supporting the warfighters in their missions throughout the world. We have a good strong customer base that we are supporting today.

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When it comes to business it’s tempting to wait for a request for proposal to come down the pike, then act. Big mistake, says Shawn O’Brien, senior vice president of program/business development for ManTech. In the following Q&A Shawn O’Brien unpacks these and other business development tips, while sharing insights on how smaller and mid-sized businesses can compete with the biggest companies — Boeing, Lockheed Market, NGC — on the same field. He also lets us in on how ManTech tracks its own business devleopment needs so it stays on track to further success.

What does it takes to have a successful BD organization in today’s market?

Shawn O’Brien: There are at least 3 elements common to all successful BD organizations: First, you have to have the right people. Proven, skilled BD professionals in this area, at this time, are in short supply. So finding those people and then aligning their particular skills to the right portion of the BD lifecycle is critically important. Second, process. And by this I should say a customizable process. Having a defined capture and proposal process based on best practices that is customizable to individual opportunities can increase win rates. Third, focus. You have to have policies, incentives and tools that support collaboration and horizontal integration of the enterprise capabilities. Obviously this last part gets tougher the larger a company gets.

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You can feel the enthusiasm just talking to him. For the past four years, Rene LaVigne, president and COO of ATS, a division of Apptis, has been working to grow the company both organically and through a number of acquisitions. That move has paid off in a big way. In the following Q&A, LaVigne shares some of the restrategizing moves that have accompanied that growth, and lets us in on some hot trends that will affect anyone and everyone with a stake in the IT marketplace.

Tell us the latest at Apptis.

Rene LaVigne: Apptis has been on a significant growth spurt over the past four years — growing both organically and through the acquisition of a number of companies. While in the process of integrating those companies, we took a hard look at how we were positioned in the market. We determined that we had two unique businesses distributed across five vertical markets.

As a result, in late 2007 we reorganized our business into two distinct divisions: Apptis Services, which supports longer term service programs, and Apptis Technology Solutions (ATS), which is more project-oriented and focused on technology infrastructure.

The ATS side of the business is focused in three principle areas: Our most significant business area is converged networking and communications; followed by our data center management and client optimization practices.

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In his work for Software AG, Tod Weber and his team help organizations integrate disparate systems to extract more value out of their existing IT investments — a key step in an environment overrun by streamlined budgets. In the following Q&A, Weber talks about what brought him to Software AG, and how his team plays to continue carving out a strong presence in the federal space.

Could you tell us a little bit about your background.

Tod Weber: Sure, I have an aerospace engineering degree that I received from the University of Maryland in 1985. I actually started my career in the engineering world working on the F-22, which is the fighter aircraft that’s replacing the F-15. Then I moved into the software world in 1990.

I joined a software company called Parametric Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: PMTC) — it’s referred to a lot as PTC these days. The company was in the product development space and when I joined we were doing about $11 million in revenue. Eight years later we had the company up to $1 billion in revenue. So it was a very dramatic period of growth for us and it predated the dotcom hype — we did it by delivering 41 consecutive quarters of increasing profits and shipments. It was quite an experience to be a part of that.

Tell us about your growth at the company over the course of that 13-year period.

Tod Weber: I actually started with the company as what was called an applications engineer; I demonstrated the software for my first year, and then I moved into a sales rep position, and then I moved into a national account manager position, and then a district manager, and then a regional director, then an area vice president, then a sector vice president and the last title I had was a senior vice president.

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Linda Mills has an impressive track record with Northrop Grumman. These days, as Corporate Vice President and President of Northrop Grumman IT, Mills oversees the company’s $4.5 billion information technology unit in McLean, Va. While times are uncertain for many in the government contracting space — due, in large part, to shrinking federal budgets and a looming presidential election — Mills is successfully leading the IT services component of the largest, fastest-growing division of the company. In an exclusive interview with ExecutiveBiz, Mills shares some key strengths that have helped her navigate her past and current roles, and how she’s making sure her unit’s technological initiatives stay relevant — and meet the challenges — in areas such intelligence, military, health care, and homeland security.

Your background speaks to a diverse array of business and management accomplishments — can you share a few highlights of your career before you joined Northrop Grumman in 2002?

Linda Mills: I have been fortunate to have held a variety of positions at Northrop Grumman — in both staff and operational roles — at corporate and sector levels, and on the east and west coast. This experience gave me an understanding of the breadth and depth of the capabilities of Northrop Grumman and its predecessor companies. One of the early development programs was a Navy Command and Control program which although bid out of our Space Park facility in California, was performed here on the east coast. Subsequent to this program, we established our sector headquarters for a sister sector that we now call Mission Systems, here in Virginia. It was exciting to be a part of seeing the whole company blossom and grow from its heritage and roots on the west coast to the east coast. It was history in the making.

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As one of the world’s largest information technology management software companies, CA focuses on the management of enterprise-wide IT. Pat Gnazzo is helping keep the momentum going as the senior vice president and general manager of CA’s public sector business. In this position, Gnazzo heads up all operations for CA’s federal, state and local business including management, administration, and regulatory matters, as well as government relations. Less than a year into his new position, Gnazzo debriefs with ExecutiveBiz readers on how his work is going, and lets us in on upcoming trends related to IT services in the federal space.

Tell us about your latest role at CA?

Pat Gnazzo: I am the senior vice president and general manager of CA’s public sector business. That includes federal, state and local government, and education.

You have had various jobs at CA; briefly tell us your background and how you got to where you are now?

Pat Gnazzo: My previous job was at corporate headquarters for CA, where I was CA’s first chief compliance officer (chief ethics officer). I did that for about 2 ½ years. Before that, I was with United Technologies Corporation for about 25 years, where I had various positions in operations, ethics and government Contracting. I was president of United Technologies International and head of UTC’s Government Relations organization in Washington, D.C. I was also at Pratt & Whitney, a division of UTC, where I was deputy general counsel, and VP of Contracts. I was also VP for litigation and counsel at UTC . My career began with the Department of the Navy, where I joined as a litigator on their commercial business, and left as the chief trial attorney for the Navy and Associate General Counsel, so I managed an organization of litigators handling cases on the commercial side.

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