Back in August, Ed Casey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Serco North America, spoke with us about the acquisition strategy he had in the works for Serco Group plc. Now it’s official: Just this week, Serco completed the acquisition of SI International, a provider of information services, technology, and network solutions to the U.S. government. The acquisition is one more step in Serco’s efforts to deliver integrated solutions to the U.S. federal government market. Along with scale and increased resources to bid on larger U.S. government contracts, an increase in depth of capabilities, and access to higher growth areas, the acquisition opens the door to new customer relationships with every branch of the military, various federal civilian agencies, and the intelligence community.

“SI International has built a solid reputation of delivering creative solutions and substantial value to the U.S. federal government,” says Casey. “By combining the talents, skills, and dedication of Serco and SI International employees, we will be able to deliver expanded services to our existing customers and offer compelling solutions to new customers. We have great admiration for the high-quality work and excellent customer service that the SI International team provides to their clients. We welcome this highly-talented team into the Serco organization.”

What a year. From market meltdowns to a change in administration, 2008 will go down as a year of unprecedented change. Local businesses and leaders were no strangers to change, either, and ExecutiveBiz was there every step of the way, chronicling the key players in commercial and government markets. In case you missed any of our headline grabbers, don’t panic —  we’ve compiled a list of 2008’s most read and interesting articles. So, pull up a chair, relax, and enjoy a look back at the names that mattered most — and whom we’re sure to hear more from over the coming year.

New at the Top
ExecutiveBiz rang in January 2008 with a look at “new at the top” government contracting executives. Each arrived on the scene at a time when their employers were in the midst of aggressive growth and expansion efforts, and each stood poised and ready to take those efforts to new levels.
Read more

Global Strategies Group (North America) Inc.’s John Hillen
How could you not like a corporate president who insists that Anita’s is his favorite local place to eat and who likes to read Harry Potter to his kids? John Hillen, CEO of Global Strategies Group (North America) Inc., reveals he’s just like the rest of us — except he also happens to oversee some of the most complex and highly-classified international security issues. Read more

SRA’s Stan Sloane
By the time we sat down with SRA’s president and CEO, Stan Sloane, last January, he was busy crafting an ambitious plan to reach $5 billion in revenue by 2012. In an exclusive interview, Sloane discussed his growth strategy, the hot trends he was tracking, and a little side hobby of his: flying planes. Read more

EDS’s Dennis Stolkey
Over the past 22 years, Dennis Stolkey has made an impressive ascent through the ranks of EDS (now an HP company), and manages its U.S. government sector — a practice worth $3 billion. Last February, Stolkey sat down with ExecutiveBiz and shared a few secrets to his longevity. In a personal turn, he also offered an inspiring glimpse of how he refused to let a personal battle with dyslexia impede his rise up the leadership ladder. Read more

Top 10 COOs
Comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “I don’t get no respect.” One wonders if, in a previous life, Dangerfield was a chief operating officer. While the president and CEO are accountable for establishing an organization’s goals, over time it is the COO who is charged with delivering results on a daily basis. A company with a strong No. 2 holds a tremendous edge over its competitors. Read more

CSC’s Jim Sheaffer
As president of CSC’s North American Public Sector, Sheaffer is responsible for all of the business CSC does with government clients in North America — that includes United States federal and state governments, as well as Canada. In the midst of those responsibilities, Jim found the time to sit down with us back in March and discuss the company’s overall plans for growth. Read more

Northrop Grumman’s Linda Mills
Back in July, Linda Mills spoke with ExecutiveBiz about her role as corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman IT. Mills oversees the company’s $4.5 billion information technology unit in McLean, Va., and is successfully leading the IT services component of the largest, fastest-growing division of the company. Mills discussed the key strengths that have helped her navigate her past and current roles, and how she’s making sure her unit stays relevant in a competitive marketplace. Read more

The return of Download column
Remember the Washington Post’s Download column? Up until its hiatus in 2006, Download offered readers the inside scoop on the tech community’s major players and trends. This past September the column’s readers had reason to celebrate again; that’s when the Post’s Kim Hart kicked off the columns long-awaited return. Hart spoke with ExecutiveBiz about the column’s reentry on the scene (Update: The column will soon be weekly). Read more

Ted Davies on his new role at Unisys
Less than two months after Ted Davies assumed the ranks as president of Unisys Federal Systems, he spoke with ExecutiveBiz about his vision for the company. “I think we are going to get more excitement in the hallways here — and I think the industry is going to see that as well,” said Davies. Davies also weighed in on what the change in administration might mean for the government contracting community. Read more

Top 10 Business Development Executives
They come from a diverse range of backgrounds. Some came to the private sector from the military. Others made the transition from the government. Whatever their individual backgrounds they all share a common theme: Each has developed strategies that have driven their companies’ success. Read more

Ten Finance Executives to Watch
Last June, with the presidential election still looming, ExecutiveBiz went knocking on the doors of leading CFOs and finance executives. We wanted to hear from them, first-hand, how they were weathering not only a change in administration but an increasingly uncertain financial climate. What we found were executives with the kind of leadership skills and eye for strategy to move their companies forward. Read more

So, there you have it — a wrap-up of our top stories for the year. Who else do you think had a major impact on the DC’s area business and leadership in 2008? Who would you add to the list? Let us know!

Computer Sciences Corporation has acquired Log.Sec, a privately owned IT and logistics engineering company based in Manassas, Va that provides full test support services to government clients. The acquisition comes as part of the company’s strategic ‘Project Accelerate’ growth strategy in the public sector to invest in selected higher growth areas. CSC has been successfully acquiring and integrating companies with the CSC and it continues to look for attractive opportunities in the public sector.

CSC’s North American Public Sector, the company’s largest unit, is headed by Jim Sheaffer who is actively involved in the accelerated growth of the unit. In an interview with ExecutiveBiz earlier this year, Sheaffer credited his team’s success in their ability to focus, leverage, and collaborate across the company.

“The Log.Sec acquisition reinforces our growth strategy of acquiring select companies that complement our three-pronged strategy of growing our core business, investing in high-growth market segments and pursuing select state busines,” Sheaffer said.

To enhance its core offerings, CSC had relocated to Falls Church this year to consolidate its corporate leadership and effectively serve their North American clients from one key location. CSC is also expanding its global framework and operational capabilities to meet client needs with 60 centers around the world. CSC just recently bought Bulgarian IT services firm, Object Builder Software (OBS), and come spring the company will begin building a new and larger IT center in Tianjin, China.

Carleton Jones, recently profiled in Top 20 People to Watch, became President of INDUS Corp mid-November. He will continue to serve as Vice Chairman, a position he has held since May of this year. He was formerly the CEO of Multimax, bought last year by Harris Corp for $400 million, as well as former President of VanStar Government Systems, Inc. and Sysorex Information Systems, Inc. Settling into his new position, Jones offers us a glimpse into his future growth plans for this fast-growing company.

In assuming your new role as President what new directions will you take INDUS Corp?

Carleton Jones: We are not going to be heading in new directions, but we are going to be more aggressive in capitalizing on the company’s many strengths – including its superlative performance record and technical depth and savvy – to extend INDUS’ reach as a prime contractor across the federal customer base.

How will INDUS stay competitive in today’s markets?

Carleton Jones: INDUS will maintain a competitive edge by continuing to focus on developing and delivering highest-standard, competitively priced IT solutions and services responsive to the mission-critical requirements of Federal organizations.  IT is a key driver in the delivery of enhanced government services representing best value to taxpayers.  Government use of IT resources acquired from the private sector is a compelling proposition in an era of dramatically mounting budget deficits, civil service retirements, staff assignments to expeditionary billets, and increasing technical complexity.  INDUS is well-positioned to meet government requirements for these IT resources.

What are the projected revenues for 2008 and how do you think 2009 will look like?

Carleton Jones: As a privately held company, we do not publicize our financial results, but let me tell you that our solid performance during 2008 and our growth prospects for next year put us in the neighborhood of $100 million in revenues for 2009.

Any prospects for acquisitions in 2009?

Carleton Jones: We do not have any specific acquisitions under consideration at this time, but we continue to review opportunities and are prepared to move forward at such time as we identify a potential acquisition candidate that would strengthen INDUS in terms of core capabilities, customer base and/or geographic presence.

What is the single most exciting thing most people don’t know about your company?

Carleton Jones: Here is one such exciting thing:  From its inception, INDUS has had a focus on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Geospatial Solutions.  One of our earliest projects was to create digital maps of 2,000 cities around the world for an R.R. Donnelly company called GeoSystems.  GeoSystems was spun off into a different company and was then acquired by AOL for $1 billion for its most famous product – MapQuest!  INDUS continues to have a very successful practice providing Geospatial/Actionable Intelligence solutions.

We hear a lot about Web 2.0 technology and applications on the consumer side — think MySpace, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Less so on the government side. But that’s slowly changing. Recently, TIME Magazine listed A-Space among the top 50 best inventions of 2008. Launched in September by the Federal Government, A-Space is a “highly restricted Facebook-style website,” as TIME puts it, that serves as a platform of engagement for various intelligence agencies, including the CIA, FBI, and NSA.

A key player in the successful launch of A-Space has been Bob Coleman and the ManTech team. “There have been a lot of solutions developed over the years for the analytical community to help them collaborate and share information, but none of them has fully exploited modern networking techniques such as Web 2.0 and social networking concepts like MySpace or Facebook,” said Coleman in an interview with us earlier this year with us. “The new generation of analysts will want to work with tools that they are familiar with, similar to those they use on the Internet. ManTech is developing key components of A-Space, including the collaborative tools and capabilities that were being developed by McDonald Bradley before we acquired them.”

Just in the time for the New Year, ExecutiveBiz, the area’s largest e-Magazine, has compiled a list of the “Top 20 People to Watch in 2009.”  At a time of economic and political change, these tried and true veterans of the government’s public and private sectors stand poised to take their companies and stakeholders to greater success in 2009.  Through demonstrated drive and business and political acumen, all 20 forged ahead and drove value to their organizations and the industry as a whole. As we look ahead, these respected names are sure to be ones that will make headlines in 2009.

Paul Leslie
President & COO, Apptis

Ever since Paul Leslie came on board Apptis as President and COO in 2007, he’s helped this leading IT solutions and services provider reinvigorate its image within the federal marketplace. Under Leslie’s leadership Apptis has streamlined operations by focusing on “best of breed” IT solutions and revamping other areas.  Apptis is owned by New Mountain Capital, a private equity firm.

Paul Leslie is no stranger to driving value to the company. Prior to joining Apptis, Leslie was President and CEO of Apogen Technologies, which was later acquired by QinetiQ, and this avid Red Sox fan was a key player in its organic growth and ultimate sale.  What’s in store for Apptis with Leslie at the helm?

Read the rest of this entry »

Local Tech Leader Ted Leonsis interview on CNBC

Following the 4th largest single day fall in points on the Dow Jones Industrial average, Ted Leonsis appeared on CNBC’s morning edition of Squawkbox. Leonsis believes that the growth of online media will outpace more traditional methods as we see “consumers become merchants.” 

According to a CNBC interview, Ted Leonsis, Washington Caps owner and Vice Chairman Emeritus of AOL, believes that we have yet to bottom out of the financial crisis. Leonsis also said:

1. “Washington is really becoming the new capital for the economy”
2. “Commercial Real Estate will start to suffer”
3. “…not seeing the kind of recession the rest of the country is seeing”
4. Google has 5,000,000 advertisers and consumers are the long tail

Area residents should take heart, as Washington D.C. has managed to weather the crisis better than many other areas in the country.  According to Leonsis, this trend will continue given the furor of activity surrounding the incoming administration.  The future of new media will focus on  working smarter by placing media directly at the point-of-sale.  Click here to read more on Ted’s take.   

Do You Know Anthony Robbins of Sun Microsystems?

ExecutiveBiz recently had the opportunity to sit down with Anthony Robbins, Vice President of Sales at Sun Microsystems.  Robbins joined Sun following a 20 year career span in the government sector.  Despite the ruling economic climate, Robbins believes that the government will focus on using the most efficient products and services; something which Sun prides itself on providing.  In terms of weathering the financial storm, Robbins believes that the government will seize this opportunity to use corporate best practices as a guide and gain the best ROI by improving efficiencies.  One of the ways to do that might be in the adoption of open source.  Click here to read more. 

Financial Guru Headlines Event

Don’t miss the chance to meet Knight Kiplinger, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on financial forecasting, planning and wealth retention. The event will be hosted by the Potomac Officers Club on December 11th at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Members click here to read more about Knight Kiplinger and here to reserve your seat.

Cyber Security Breakfast with Melissa Hathaway

ExecutiveBiz is proud to host a rare public appearance by Ms. Melissa Hathaway, Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Cyber Coordination Executive. The event will be held on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 from 8:00 a.m.- 10:00 a.m. More details can be found here .  Click here to register.

Tom Davis Joins Deloitte’s Federal Government Services

Well known Congressman Tom Davis  will not only be teaching the eager minds at George Mason University, but will be teaching the folks over at Deloitte’s Federal practice and their clients quite a bit about how to effectively work within the challenging requirements of Congress. Davis has a remarkable career in the Congress and earned himself significant respect from his constituency, peers and the government contracting community.

Unisys gets new head of Federal

With two months under his belt in his new position, Ted Davies told ExecutiveBiz what the future holds, not only for Unisys Federal Systems, but also for the government contracting industry as a whole.  Davies has served as Managing Partner for Unisys’ Federal Systems’ Civilian Agencies for the last five years and is credited with its significant growth during his tenure.  Davies, along with Unisys’ new CEO, Edward Coleman, represent the new face of the Unisys administration team.

Davies talks further about the impact of the administration change on the industry as well as emerging trends.  Read more here.

Top 10 Unfortunate Political One-Liners

They say hindsight is 20/20, but that brings little comfort to these politicians, whose gaffes get prime time coverage due to their positions .  Click here to see who made the Top 10.

Get your finances in order before it’s too late

Don’t miss the chance to meet Knight Kiplinger, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on financial forecasting, planning and wealth retention. The event will be hosted by the Potomac Officers Club on December 11th at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Click here to read more about Knight Kiplinger and here to reserve your seat.

Cyber Security Breakfast with Melissa Hathaway

ExecutiveBiz is proud to host a rare public appearance by Ms. Melissa Hathaway, Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Cyber Coordination Executive.  The event will be held on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 from 8:00 a.m.- 10:00 a.m. More details can be found here and you can register here.

Local CEO Identified as Possible New CIA Director

The Washington Post and other sources have identified John Brennan as a possible replacement for current CIA Director Michael Hayden.  Mr. Brennan is currently CEO of The Analysis Corporation (TAC).  TAC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Strategies Group (North America) Inc, run by Dr. John Hillen.  Mr. Brennan has had an illustrious career with the intelligence community, and serves as the Chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, as well as an intelligence and foreign policy advisor to President-elect Barack Obama.  Read the full story here.

Secret Service chooses “Code Names” for the Obama family. 

The Secret Service is known for it’s creativity for choosing code names for those they protect (However, Al Gore’s code name was “Al Gore”) Click here to get the Obama codes.

White House Comes Under Cyber Attack

As we move past the furor of the election year, it is sobering to note that a blitz of cyber attacks continue on governmental infrastructures despite our best efforts.  According to the Financial Times, the computer network of the White House was infiltrated on more than one occasion, with Chinese hackers gaining access to official email correspondence.  Wired Magazine reported that both presidential campaigns were hacked. Seems like this is something democrats and republicans can all agree on.  Read more here.

The U.S. government is fighting back, unveiling a plan this past February for a National Cyberspace Strategy.  The new administration has definitely chosen to harness the latest in cyberspace, as evidenced by their unprecedented campaign.

On October 28th, 2008, the Potomac Officers Club was proud to host newly-named Obama Transition Team Chief Technology Advisor Julius Genachowski, and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.  Genachowski spoke to a crowd of DC area executives on the technological expectations of the new administration.  Click here to read more!

Top 10 most irritating phrases. Are you unknowingly irritating people?

In veritably blunt fashion, Oxford University has collected the Top 10 most irritating phrases.  Unfortunately, the corporate world is not immune to overuse of expressions such as the time-honored, “synergy.”   Is one of your favorite phrases highlighted?  Click here to find out!

Do you know Tom Grissen of Daon?

ExecutiveBiz recently had the opportunity to sit down with Tom Grissen, CEO of Daon.  Grissen stays focused on identity assurance, as he believes that the future will demand it.  In fact, as we move further in technology and truly break down the map-drawn boundaries, who people think you are will determine your access level in even the most mundane areas.  In an age which has seen cyber attacks on all fronts, including the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, cyber security remains at the forefront for both the government and corporations.  Tom Grissen addresses how Daon is tackling this pressing issue.    Click here to read more!

Knight Kiplinger Headlines POC Event

In a truly timely and powerful event, the Potomac Officers Club is proud to host famed business forecaster, Knight Kiplinger.  Kiplinger is Editor-in-Chief of the oldest economic newsletter in the U.S., The Kiplinger Letter.  Kiplinger is slated to speak on the troubled economic climate and how DC area executives can safeguard their assets.  According to Kiplinger, “The dynamism and heft of the US economy will be tested but not defeated.”  Register Here!

After serving Virginia’s 11th congressional district for 13 years, Rep. Tom Davis decided to step down from his congressional seat this year and will make the switch from governmental office into the corporate world.  As reported in the Washingon Post, Rep. Davis has also elected to serve as a director of Deloitte’s DC area operations.  For Davis, this represents a return to his “corporate roots.”  In fact, this was the line of work he was in prior to running for public office.  Read more here.

In addition, Davis has found the time to finally set his sights on academia. This fall, for the first time, he has begun teaching a senior seminar in the Department of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University. The “Southern Politics” class of a strong twenty-five students is exploring the cultural and electoral changes in the south over the past century and the recent reactions to the election of an African-American president.

In a recent interview with the Mason Gazette, Davis explains his decision to teach. “Thinking is something that not everybody is forced to do as a part of the learning process. I want them to learn to think and challenge and that is what I’m trying to bring out in them.”

Davis has been an ardent supporter of economic growth and friend to the government contractor community in northern Virginia. In Congress, he has notably served as the first Chairman of the Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy as well as Co-Chair of the Information Technology Work Group. He has been the recipient of numerous industry awards and in 2000 was inducted into the American Electronic Association’s High Tech Hall of Fame.