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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The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards Banquet is one of the world’s most prestigious awards for entrepreneurs. A year-long event, it’s the only entrepreneurial awards program that takes place on six continents, in over 50 countries and in more than 135 cities. This year’s event is being held on Thursday, June 19th at the Ritz-Carlton, Tyson’s Corner. Rene Salas, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program Director for Greater Washington, offers the details on this must-see awards banquet.

Tell us about the upcoming Entrepreneur Of The Year event.

Rene Salas: The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards Banquet is one of the world’s most prestigious awards for entrepreneurs. This year it’s being held on Thursday, June 19th at the Ritz-Carlton, Tyson’s Corner. The program celebrates entrepreneurs who are building — and successfully growing — dynamic and innovative businesses. The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program is a year-long and world-wide event; the only entrepreneurial awards program that takes place on six continents, in over 50 countries and in more than 135 cities.

Entrepreneurs compete regionally and the winners go on to the national event held in Palm Springs hosted by Jay Leno. From there, one overall winner is selected to represent the United States at the World event in Monte Carlo.

Who should attend and why? Where can you buy tickets?

Rene Salas: The Greater Washington Awards Banquet event attracts over 800 regional business executives and is a premier opportunity to network with C-level executives of high growth companies. Tickets can be purchased online at http://response.ey.com/?EOY_regForm. These tickets are reserved on a first-come
first-serve basis, as this black tie banquet sells out every year. The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards Banquet is a high energy, exciting event and offers attendees a great opportunity to network with hard to reach C-level executives.

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Some of you might recall when Time Magazine named YOU as their person of the year for 2006. My brother was applying for jobs at the time, and I suggested (partly in jest) that he should add to the resume that he was named Time’s person of the year for 2006. Sadly, the prospective employer was less than amused.

Washington Technology editor-in-chief Nick Wakeman isn’t anointing you person of the year, but what he did announce earlier this week is quite powerful: you the reader can be editor by suggesting story ideas or themes for upcoming coverage.

I like the way Nick has gone about this for a couple of reasons. One, I’ve always found, just by interacting in casual conversations with individuals at various levels of a government technology provider, that they often are seeing things the rest of us miss. As he references in the blog post, the editor-in-chief has always viewed Washington Technology as a community publication, and realizes that there is dynamic content and knowledge simmering out there in the government technology community - and this is a great way to tap into it.

So for those readers who have spotted a trend that you think the publication overlooked or perhaps another angle to approach an issue from, shoot Nick an email at the address he provides on the blog (or, has a few brave souls have done you can post them in the blog comments section). Skip the fluffy marketing pitch on why your company is the latest and greatest though, as no doubt his inbox is filled with plenty of those.

If you’ve got clients in the federal space, a Federal Computer Week piece, Government enters the blogosphere, should offer plenty of food for thought. The piece highlights a few benefits of the government opening up to the public through blogs. One of the main advantages: Greater transparency. “Strong reactions to government policies are not new,” writes FCW’s John Zyskowski, “but the rise of Internet-based public forums, such as blogs and social networks, means that such sentiments can spread quickly and dominate online conversations.” That’s where a quick counter-reply, by blog, comes in handy. So, how does an agency go about a tappig into the blogosphere. Here are some of the article’s key tips:

Be real
Blogs are probably the single most important interactive Web application that agencies can use to manage their online reputation because they let the blogger communicate directly with an audience, said Andy Beal, an Internet marketing consultant at Marketing Pilgrim and co-author of “Radically Transparent — Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online.”

Speak out, speak often
The more the merrier is a good rule for using interactive Web applications. Depending on the platform, that might mean more participants, more interaction, more content or all of the above. The best way to attract people to a community is by following the community’s rules.

Pick the right tool
Web 2.0 is a big umbrella that includes a diverse set of interactive Web applications. It is important to understand the problem you are trying to solve and the strengths and weaknesses of a particular application before trying to use it.

Back in 2001, Daniel Simpkins founded Hillcrest Labs with one mission: to create a revolution in entertainment. “People have been hungry for technologies that would let them interact with their televisions more than they can today,” says Simpkins. Today, his company stands on the cusp of reaching that goal; it has developed a sophisticated interactive television platform, HoME, which is a kin to an operating system for television. In the following Q&A, Simpkins shares the latest with this three-dimensional pointing technology, and how his company maintains its drive for innovation.

What prompted you to found Hillcrest in 2001?

Daniel Simpkins: I started a company called SALIX Technologies, a VoIP leader, in 1990 and ran if for a decade and sold it to a company called Tellabs in 2000 for $300 million. Then, I became a GM at Tellabs for a little over a year or a little and unfortunately the tech bubble was collapsing. I decided to leave.

I actually had a plan to write a book called “The 10 Laws of the Entrepreneur” about how to make a great start-up. But in talking to my Tellabs management team, as the bubble was collapsing, I saw a greater need to be filled; I didn’t think I could fill it with a book. As the bubble collapsed, it left many entrepreneurs without opportunities in a high tech world. I really wanted to create an opportunity for my former team at SALIX to stay in the technology world and to do something groundbreaking.

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“Our Good Name: A Company’s Fight to Defend Its Honor and Get the Truth Told About Abu Ghraib,” opens appropriately with the Victorian poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley. Experts have interpreted the work as a powerful expression of stoicism; that one must rely on his own resources and remain true to his convictions through the darkest of hours.

J. Phillip “Jack” London and the CACI team faced more than a few hours of darkness watching the Abu Ghraib prison scandal play out mercilessly on the front pages. Those who know Dr. London were likely not surprised by the choice of poems, and those who read the book - unveiled during a book signing hosted by ExecutiveBiz on behalf of Dr. London and the CACI authors last week at the Tower Club - will find a man whose conviction refused to waver during a crisis that threatened to unravel a company built over 40 years ago in a matter of weeks.

In brief but spirited remarks at the book signing, London relayed that the CACI team drew from the 1982 Tylenol scare (hence my cryptic title) in preparing its aggressive crisis response strategy - part of which included the book. During the Tylenol crisis, product tampering with Extra Strength Tylenol in Chicago led to several deaths, dropping Tylenol’s market share from 35% to 8%. But Johnson & Johnson was lauded for its quick and aggressive response to the crisis, and in short order Tylenol was dominating the market.

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All of Jim Regan’s basic leadership skills were honed in the Navy, and that’s something he’s carried into his role as CEO of Dynamics Research Corporation. A mid-sized company, DRC brings its A-game to every new business item on its hit list. In 2007, it booked $135 million in new business, and continued its win rate of 40 percent. Regan shares some of the secrets to DRC’s proven management support and logistics expertise, and what it takes for a small business to partner with his team.

Briefly tell us your background and what is going on now.

Jim Regan: I began my career in the technology management business with the United States Navy — I am a retired Naval Officer. I entered the industry in the mid-1980s during a pretty exciting time. A great deal of development was happening with technology during this time in the Department of Defense.

What does your company, Dynamics Research Corporation, look like today?

Jim Regan: DRC is a mid-sized, dynamic company, with about 1,400 employees; we’ve been a prominent player in the market for over 50 years. Headquartered in Massachusetts, our major customers are the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and other federal civilian agencies as well as state and local governments. We provide mission-critical technology management services to federal civilian, defense and state government agencies whether the technology is in development, acquisition or maintenance.

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As one of the government’s leading providers of innovative technologies and solutions, ManTech International’s success is apparent; this year alone, it is expected to bring in nearly $2 billion in revenue. A big part of that success comes down to its ability to recruit and retain the most talented professionals. In the following Q&A, Robert Coleman, president and COO of Mantech, talks about the future of the company, trends in A-Space and other applications, and emerging opportunities in the market space for ManTech and its collaborators.

ExecutiveBiz: Tell us the strategy of the company of where it was in 2001 and where it is today?

Bob Coleman: In 2001 we developed a strategy to focus on the high-end intelligence segment of the DOD community. That strategy, and our execution of it, has put us in an excellent position. Going forward, we will continue to broaden our base in Intel and DOD, staying focused there, but stretching those lanes a little to include the civilian agencies. For example, historically when we looked at acquisitions we would have only done an acquisition that was pure Intel or DOD. Now we are considering acquisitions, and McDonald Bradley was a great example, that have a strong Intel and DOD focus, but also a civilian component. We believe there are significant synergies between our DOD and Intel efforts, and a civilian agency business. With McDonald Bradley, for example, we have taken their civilian sector and merged it with our IT organization and have created a civilian IT component that we believe has significant growth potential. Diversifying our base to include civilian business will help to position us if the markets shift in that direction. It also helps us balance our resources and workloads. The current demand for our skills and services is very high – we have approximately 700 openings, most of them for cleared personnel. A civilian agency business would give us a mechanism to bring into the company non-cleared personnel who are highly skilled, allow them to work on non-cleared programs while they go through the clearance process, and then later when they get their clearance, to transfer to classified work.

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