William McCormick
Bryan Stone, vice president of federal sales for Unite Us, recently spoke with ExecutiveBiz regarding the core values that push the company’s winning culture as well as how its addressing the unique challenges of talent recruitment and retention in the federal sector and how partnering up is driving innovation for its customers during the latest Executive Spotlight interview.
You can read the full interview with Bryan Stone below.
ExecutiveBiz: Congrats on joining Unite Us back in March 2021! Why did you want to join the company and how would you describe your time with the company thus far? What do you hope to accomplish moving forward?
Bryan Stone: “After 24 years of working in government contracting with several different companies, including publicly traded, 8a and SDVOSB small businesses, being able to work with an organization that is mission-oriented in its origin and its commitment to transforming community care at the scale Unite Us provides, it’s genuinely a great opportunity.
Unite Us is laser-focused on bringing technology, data analytics, and solutions, along with community-based team members across the country, to government agencies and communities to help veteran organizations and communities address health and social challenges. Unite Us is a wonderful organization with outstanding leadership and reach across the market.
At Unite Us, the goal is to be a multi-generational company that can maintain a long-standing impact on federal agencies and states that we serve. This was a fascinating opportunity for me, especially considering that this company historically didn’t have a formal federal practice when I joined.
The company has grown with state and local businesses across the country. Now, the company is in 44 states with almost a thousand employees. We also made a few acquisitions to help bolster Unite Us’ offerings which helps position the federal practice for success.
We’re excited about a lot of the success that we’ve had in such a short period. Our team has expanded and collaborated with some incredible people and we’ve been able to work on critical issues federal agencies are trying to address. So, for example, our efforts on Mission Daybreak or collaborating with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in other vital areas of supporting Veterans are gratifying and exciting for us.
As we move forward, we have identified several areas for government agencies to prioritize and drive resources in the market, which will require more collaboration due to the pandemic’s impact.
However, the economy is rapidly changing. As you look at social services and care coordination across the country, it’s exciting to see that the Administration and agency leadership at Federal, State, and Local administration and agency leadership are prioritizing community care.
We’re excited about our position and the role that Unite Us will play in supporting government agencies, as well as supporting the long-standing partners that the government has relied on over the years to bring about innovation and new solutions to serve their constituents better.”
ExecutiveBiz: How have recent partnerships assisted Unite Us in expanding its position in the federal marketplace, driving innovation and new capabilities for your customers?
Bryan Stone: “Unite Us has a national partnerships office led by Adrienne Sherk, a phenomenal leader. As a Veteran, a graduate of WestPoint, and an accomplished executive, she is engaging national organizations to develop partnerships with impact.
We’re working with a lot of partners on social services initiatives, such as the Hire Heroes USA and United Through Reading, where we are helping programs for Veteran and military communities.
We’re excited about those national partnerships. It’s essential to enable nonprofits with technology, high-fidelity resources, and full-time staff, which Unite Us provides on the ground in communities across the 44 states.
In addition, the national network of community-based organizations, health organizations, and governments brings resources forward that are exciting and significant for our company.
As we look at our work with government agencies at all levels, it’s critically important to provide valuable insight for agencies such as FEMA or the CDC. To address issues about social care needs that exist and have direct connections with these communities to bring resources forward seamlessly and align our resources to help address those in need.
We’ve created a national network of social care coordination in concert with government agencies and community-based organizations where they can leverage intelligence data and predictive analytics to bring care directly to those who need it in one platform.
Additionally, Unite Us has many partners with whom we work on the commercial side as well as on the government side. So at the end of the day, we’ve created a significant force multiplier for these agencies to deliver care.
As we go forward, agencies are charged to understand where their funds went. Therefore, these agencies must ensure the funds are well spent and can provide outcomes measurements and greater understanding, and Unite Us’ solutions can do that for government agencies.
The most important thing is to work upstream and provide social care resources to help reduce the expense of federal health and clinical care for many of these government programs. It’s hard to deal with diabetes when there aren’t healthier options. It’s hard to have employment when you don’t have reliable transportation.
Unite Us has worked upstream to deliver social care and leverage to position the company as a critical player in the federal sector. We’re excited to partner with many long-standing entities out there who have been doing great work and are committed to innovation, not the status quo. Unite Us is doing great work to advance health equity and improve whole-person care; more to come!”
ExecutiveBiz: What are the core values important to the culture at Unite Us? How does your company ensure long-term success for your workforce with recent talent recruitment and retention challenges in the federal marketplace?
Bryan Stone: “One of Unite Us’s core values that resonates with me is ‘be a good human,’ which we should all strive for daily. However, federal contracting tends to be about the survival of the fittest.
Many agencies we work with are equivalent to outstanding leadership; it takes time to get to the level of impact they’ve invested in and built over the years. We’re not a transactional organization. We’re here for a relationship and to help the long-term success of our partners with our agencies.
Like many technology companies, we have an exciting and vibrant workforce critical to driving success today. Unite Us is active in 44 states and is headquartered in New York.
Unite Us’ workforce is innovative, and the exciting culture has been pivotal to our success. We have many employee committees, employee resource groups, and several great programs that help support our team members for health and wellness, mindfulness, and career planning, which are needed to achieve a good work/life balance.
I wouldn’t say that talent attainment or retention is a struggle for us. I think many individuals have different value systems. At Unite Us, we attract innovators, community leaders, and former government officials who are all powered by the mission which sets our company apart from others.
Like any startup, we are working through unique challenges as we grow, but that is not unique to us; that is the process. In the end, technology will be an enabler. We are designed to be a force multiplier requiring pivots and agility.
Our people are very committed to our mission. They’re very passionate about this work, and we have an excellent environment for them and the people yet to join our team. So it’s an exciting time for all of us.”
