Meet the Executives Behind the CGI/Stanley Merger
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 by Jack Mann | No CommentsIn the wake of the CGI’s recently-announced acquisition of Stanley, Inc., we thought we’d introduce you to some of the leadership team behind CGI and Stanley.
George Schindler, President of CGI Federal
As president of CGI Federal, George Schindler is responsible for leveraging market-leading services and offerings into a managed services model in conjunction with federal government partners. The results speak for themselves: CGI has had robust growth leading up to its acquisition of Stanley last week. In his 2008 Q&A with ExecutiveBiz, Schindler talked about his five-year plan for the company, and how he planned to fulfill it. From the interview, “While growth is critical to us, and acquisitions are an important dimension of our growth strategy, for CGI it has to be the right company at the right time with the right fit — and the right price. We are always in the market looking for companies that can enhance what we bring to our customers and add additional scale to our operations.” It looks like they found that “right fit” at the “right price” in Stanley, Inc., and apparently they truly are “always in the market looking for companies that can enhance what we bring to our customers and add additional scale to our operations.”
Donna Morea, President of U.S., Europe and Asia Operations for CGI
Donna Morea, President of U.S., Europe and Asia Operations for CGI, was one of ExecutiveBiz’s 20 People to Watch in 2009. Looks like we were one year off. Morea’s division exceeds $1 billion in annual revenue and makes for 34 percent of CGI’s total revenue. Morea told ExecutiveBiz in 2007 that CGI was looking for the right acquisition. “We look for a company that brings us additional complementary capabilities, clients and contracts. These companies must be within our core industries because we want to stay focused on what we do best. That is what makes it work on paper. What makes it work in reality is a common approach to the market and to our three stakeholders—employees, clients and shareholders.” Stanley, with its major market footprint in U.S. government contracting, was the right fit. Also, she’s active with charitable causes, notably helping out with the 2009’s Kidney Ball. Check out our video coverage here.
Brian Clark of Stanley
Brian Clark is Executive VP, CFO and Treasurer of Stanley, Inc., and one of ExecutiveBiz’s 10 CFOs to Watch in 2010. In April of ‘06, Clark joined Stanley Associates, at that time a $285 million federal IT services contractor, to oversee its initial public offering. Seven months later, Stanley was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and since then, it revenue has tripled to over $850 million annually. Also, Clark helped Stanley achieve Sarbanes Oxley compliance a year ahead of schedule. His forecast for 2010? “We’re faced with an environment that’s going to become increasingly pressured from a regulatory standpoint…needless to say, there’s a lot that we as a company can’t control, so we will focus on what we can control—namely performing for our customers, and sound financial management. In these times of uncertainty, it’s important to be passionate about taking good care of your customers and your employees. In our business, they’re our greatest assets and ultimately the most significant factor in driving our future success.”
Cheryl Campbell of CGI
Cheryl Campbell, Vice President of CGI’s National Health Industry and one of ExecutiveBiz’s Healthcare IT Game Changers to Watch in 2010, will survey the healthcare market from a pretty unique vantage point after CGI’s merger with Stanley is finalized: her business unit’s work will span even more federal, state, local, and commercial markets than it did the year before. “Our ability to work across this ecosystem helps us keep a macro view on issues, challenges, and opportunities,” she told ExecutiveBiz earlier this year. Over the past year, CGI helped Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) modernize Medicare.gov, a web-based ombudsman that provides access to information about the program. Among the tools implemented by Campbell’s team include the Hospital Compare and Nursing Home Compare, which combines quality of care information for care providers collected by CMS with geographical data from Google Maps. Also, she has been involved in charitable undertakings, notably the 2010 heart ball. Check out our video interview with her here.
Dr John Loonsk
Dr. John Loonsk, VP and Chief Medical Officer for CGI and one of ExecutiveBiz’s 10 Healthcare IT Game Changers to Watch in 2009, has been a game changer since his days in government. As associate director for informatics at CDC, Loonsk helped to develop the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) and helped implement the first public Health Information Network (HIN). As director of the Office of Interoperability and Standards at ONC, Loonsk sketched out the framework for the National Health Information Network (NHIN). As VP and CMO for CGI, he has advocated for the inclusion of “technology and policy engineering to guide the thousands of electronic medical record systems and participating organizations into becoming a coherent and secure infrastructure to support health and health reform.”
Phil Nolan of Stanley
Phil Nolan is chairman, president and CEO of Stanley, Inc., where he has led the company successfully through a number of acquisitions. Following the announcement of the merger with CGI, Nolan said “This is a great transaction for all stakeholders, as it provides Stanley employees with additional growth opportunities as part of a global IT services player and our clients with a powerful combination of highly-skilled employees and additional scale to enhance value.” In 2008, following Stanley’s naming by Forbes as one of the top “Best Small Companies,” Nolan told ExecutiveBiz, “The continued success and growth of our company is directly attributable to the dedication of our employees, to their work and to our customers’ missions.” Back in 2007, Nolan was named as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He joined Stanley following a successful career in the U.S. Navy, serving as a submariner.
George Wilson of Stanley
George Wilson is executive vice president for strategic operations and a member of the board of directors for Stanley, Inc. Wilson served in the U.S. Navy as a submariner and joined Stanley around the time Nolan did. Back in March, Stanley won a major contract to provide support to the Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. Wilson told ExecutiveBiz, “This award affirms Stanley’s business strategy and demonstrates the confidence and trust our customers have in our ability to consistently deliver the highest quality products and services.”
Call it coincidence. But every company Michael Bolton has joined over the past decade has either gotten acquired or flexed its own purchasing power within three years. That’s true this go-round as well, with the expected acquisition of ACS by Xerox. “It’s been a change environment for sure,” says Bolton, CFO of ACS’ Government Solutions Group. “I really enjoy going places where I can make a difference and can work with a lot of talented people to improve and help a company grow,” he says. That’s been no easy task, especially over the last year as state and local customers experienced strong budget pressures. Still, Bolton helped guide ACS Government Solutions Group toward 8 percent growth. The company is now expected to see $1.9 billion this coming year.
For Marilyn Crouther, the past year brought more than its share of change. The company she’d worked for over the last 21 years, EDS, was acquired by Hewlett Packard. Under a new banner — HP Enterprise Services —Crouther has been busy continuing her role as U.S. public sector CFO for the organization. This isn’t the first time Crouther has been in the midst of rapid industry change. “Throughout my career, I’ve had the unique but challenging opportunity to work in areas where emerging technologies were driving dramatic changes in the industry.” For example, during the consolidation of the telecommunications, long distance and cellular companies, Crouther was instrumental in the execution of merger and acquisition strategies within the communications industry group. During the consolidation of healthcare payers and providers, Crouther was instrumental in the growth and new business strategies for the healthcare industry group. And now with the increased focus on cyber security and healthcare reform, public sector will be at the center of industry change.
Doing the right things. And doing things right. These two mottos have guided Bill Milligan in his seven years as chief financial officer of High Performance Technologies, Inc. That approach has paid off, particularly over the past year. At a time when the industry has been facing its share of critics, HPTi has been collecting nods. The American Business Ethics Award recently honored HPTi in its mid-sized business category. On the process improvement front, HPTi received the Medallion of Performance Excellence by the U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award for Virginia— the first company in Virginia to receive the distinction since 2006. Meanwhile, business is growing. HPTi recently captured one of its largest wins to date: a 10-year, $147 million contract for User Productivity Enhancement, Technology Transfer, and Training from the Department of Defense’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program Office. That’s 20 percent of HPTi’s business in one fell swoop.
The economy is still wobbling, but that’s not stopping Tom Mutryn from thinking big. “We’ve laid out two major financial goals,” says Mutryn, chief financial officer of CACI. “One is to continue to grow our organic revenue mid- to high single digits, the second is to grow our earnings per share double digits — 10-plus percent.” If past performance is any indication, Mutryn is well on his way. For the past seven quarters, Mutryn has steered the company toward double digit organic growth. Over the past year in particular, that growth has come, in part, from addressing investor concerns about the federal budget deficit, insourcing, and organizational conflict of interest. “We’ve been working closely with investors to explain how we’re well-positioned to weather these issues,” he says.
Well before he was tapped CFO of SRA International in June 2009; Rick Nadeau had been a familiar face at the company. Back in 1988, Nadeau was an audit partner at Arthur Andersen, and, as fate would have it, his first client was SRA. “I served the company as its audit partner for 10 years,” says Nadeau. Along the way, Nadeau made his own career switch, from public accounting to chief financial officer. “I thought I would like to change chairs and be the buyer rather than the service provider,” he says. These days, as SRA’s CFO, Nadeau has been busy helping SRA build upon an already solid balance sheet. “This is an opportunity,” he says, “to build something extraordinary.”
How’s this for nimble: Vangent gets a call on a Wednesday. It’s from the Department of Transportation, and it’s about the Cash for Clunkers program. Thanks to the stimulus program, DOT is ready to process 400,000 vouchers for rebate credits to car dealerships. Only thing missing: manpower. That’s where Vangent comes in. By the following Monday, the company has already hired 2,000 people to do the work. “That’s a testament to how nimble we are,” says Jim Reagan, the company’s senior vice president and chief financial officer. Ever since coming on board the Arlington, Va.-based company in September, 2008, Reagan has been strengthening Vangent’s internal controls so it can more quickly seize opportunities across the U.S. federal government. All of which may push Vangent one step closer to a goal many industry insiders have been buzzing about: becoming a publicly-traded stock company over the next few years.
It’s been a busy last few months for Noel Samuel. In November, Dell wrapped up its acquisition of Perot Systems. As vice president of finance for legacy Perot Systems’ government services division, Samuel has been helping smooth the integration ever since. This isn’t Samuel’s first time helping the business navigate change. In 2007, Samuel helped steer the acquisition of QSS. The largest acquisition by the legacy Perot Systems organization in its 21-year history, it effectively doubled the size of the government services unit overnight. Now, on the heels of Dell’s acquisition of Perot Systems, Samuel is putting systems in place to continue that growth trajectory.
He’s been an investment banker. He’s started his own company and sold it. He’s been CFO of a few companies, too. What unites Dan Smith’s experience, across the board, is the ability to take an early stage company to the next level. Smith’s focus up until now has been non-federal businesses, everything from a psychiatric hospital he helped guide through a management buyout to a GPS technology firm he helped attain significant growth. Now, he’s bringing his entrepreneurial edge to government contracting. In August, Smith signed on as CFO of Eclat LLC, which grew out of assets purchased from BearingPoint’s bankruptcy. With financing wrapped up, Smith is busy focusing on the next goal: adopting policies and procedures for the company’s long-term growth while at the same time looking for the right acquisitions.
Every executive has a defining moment. For Tom Weston it occurred mid-career. A company he was working at was about to be acquired. “On day one, new management came in with a thick manual, plopped it down on everyone’s desk, and said, ‘This is the way things get done,’” recalls Weston. It’s a tactic he’s vowed not to repeat in his current role as CFO of QinetiQ North America. Since coming on board in 2006 — he’d previously served as CFO of Apogen Technologies, then QinetiQ North America’s third acquisition — Weston has helped QinetiQ continue its growth both organically and through M&A activity. The company has since acquired 12 more firms, while growing at an average 15 percent a year. The secret to that intergration, says Weston: Increasing the maturity level of the combined entity.
