They come from a diverse range of backgrounds. Some came to the private sector from the military. Others made the transition from the government. Still others started out directly in the commercial space and worked their way on up. But whatever their individual backgrounds they all share a common theme: Each has developed winning strategies that have driven the success of their companies.

It is that record of excellence that has led each to be named to our Top 10 Business Development Executives list. From defense to IT, all bring to their positions unique industry expertise — and the experience needed to forecast long-range opportunities. As we look to a change in administration and a new economic climate, these Top 10 executives weigh in on what’s ahead for the government contracting community — and what other area executives can do to help their companies rise to the top as well.

Howard Ady, Stanley Inc.

In his spare time he’s a fan of volksmarching — a noncompetitive form of walking — but get Howard Ady in a board room and you’ll find nothing noncompetitive about him there. Backed by a strong team spirit, Ady serves as vice president of federal accounts for Stanley, Inc., an Arlington, Va.-based company that provides systems integration and professional services to U.S. defense and federal civilian government agencies. Having been at the company a little under a year, Ady is currently leading several major GWAC initiatives and assists with positioning Stanley for larger, more strategic opportunities down the road.

“Howard brings both a distinguished federal career in key CIO and CFO positions and a decade of industry IT expertise to Stanley,” says George Wilson, Stanley executive vice president. “We are glad he chose to join our team and assist us in further developing our customer relationships.”

Long before he ever joined Stanley, and before that BearingPoint, Ady was heralded for his work within the local IT community. Having been with the federal government for 33 years with DOD, Navy, GSA and OPM organizations, in CIO and CFO roles, Ady made it a point to establish closer ties between the public and private sectors once he left for the industry sector. That commitment has won big praise from leading association groups, such as the American Council for Technology, which honored him in 2003 with its prestigious Janice K. Mendenhall Spirit of Leadership Award.

These days, Ady is making sure that business development goals for Stanley take into account both the change in administration and challenging economic climate. “We are concerned about delays in confirmations for agency political positions and will continue our strategic planning to better position Stanley for success,” says Ady, outlining a few of his objectives for the coming year. “We are hopeful that new political leadership will strive to fill the vacuum caused by the retirement of the Honorable Tom Davis; we expect the two-front war to continue to draw on scarce resources in a troubled economy causing continued consolidation in the federal, state and local IT community; and we expect to be on the frontlines of what we anticipate to be avid support by [the new] administration to support cybersecurity.”

Read the rest of this entry »

In order to better service its’ existing multinational and local customers, Falls Church based, Computer Science Corporation (CSC) will open a new information and technology (IT) services delivery facility in Tianjin, China by next spring. For now, they’ll operate from a temporary location for delivering services such as applications development and maintenance. CSC also plans to build a data center facility near Tianjin to support its demands for technology hosting and managed services in the region. Five hundred CSC employees are expected to be employed in Tianjin by 2011.

“We are pleased to announce the establishment of our new China delivery center,” said Michael Laphen, chairman, president and CEO of CSC. “Strengthening our global delivery framework and expanding our presence in Asia are key elements of our multi-year growth strategy.

Jim Sheaffer is the President of CSC’s Federal Sector and runs the company’s largest business unit that provides business and mission solutions to US federal government agencies worldwide. Jim’s extensive IT knowledge, and past international business experience in Asia Pacific, Latin America and Europe, helps advance operational and financial goals to both CSC and their clients.

Information Technology company and mega-prime contractor Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) announced last week that it would be moving the company’s headquarters from El Segundo, Calif., to Falls Church, Virginia.

As the press release states, the corporate executive team and global operational headquarters will be consolidated in Falls Church, a practical move given that more than 30 percent of its $15.5 billion in sales came from government contracts last year while 11,000 of CSC’s 92,000 employees are based here. The move was no doubt helped along when Michael Laphen - who lives close to the Falls Church location - took over as president and chief executive in 2007 and remained in the area.

CSC is already one of the region’s largest employers and ranks number eleven on Washington Technology’s 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors. The HQ shift does not involve a seismic employee migration, (the El Segundo location only employs about 200) but, as the Washington Post story pointed out, CSC eyes opportunity for faster growth in the smaller consultancy projects to address heightened competition for the massive technology projects both here and abroad.

While the nexus of power may be further consolidating inside the Beltway, the company’s announced higher-than-expected profit for the third quarter of its fiscal year was in large part due to strong demand in its commercial business. That said, James W. Sheaffer, president of CSC’s North American Public Sector business unit, continues to drive impressive results and has his unit registering big wins, such as the recent $544 10-year contract to provide facility support services to NASA’s Johnson Space Center facility.