Profiles in Success...Volume 5 eBook

Copyright 2013 © Gordon J. Bernhardt, CPA, PFS, CFP®, AIF® ISBN: 978-0-9849572-5-5 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, or to obtain additional copies of this book for $29.99, contact the publisher below: Gordon J. Bernhardt, CPA, PFS, CFP®, AIF® 7601 Lewinsville Road, Suite 210 McLean, VA 22102 (703) 356-4380 Toll-free: (888) 356-4380 www.BernhardtWealth.com First edition – Volume 5 All profits from the sale of this book will be donated to a qualified charity, including but not limited to BEST Kids, Inc. (www.bestkids.org), YouthQuest Foundation (www.youthquestfoundation.org) and Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (www.nfte.com).

In cooperation with Executive Leaders Radio, Gordon Bernhardt conducted follow-up interviews with business leaders that were featured on Executive Leaders Radio. As a result of these additional insights, Mr. Bernhardt has published these case studies. Gordon Bernhardt is President/CEO of Bernhardt Wealth Management, a registered investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration is mandatory for all persons meeting the definition of investment adviser and does not imply a certain level of skill or training. The business leaders may or may not be clients of Bernhardt Wealth Management. These interviews are independent of investment advisory services and do not imply any endorsement of Gordon Bernhardt or Bernhardt Wealth Management by the business leaders or by Executive Leaders Radio.

This book exists because of all the inspirational individuals who so graciously shared their stories with me.

I am thankful for the opportunity to get to know each and every one of you.

To my team at Bernhardt Wealth Management—Tim Koehl, Ken Robinson, Olivia Dewey, Trent White, Bonnie Armstrong and Emily Burns—I would never have been able to do this without your efforts and support throughout the process.

I am deeply grateful to Herb Cohen and Rachel Blumenthal of Executive Leaders Radio for your assistance on this project. Thank you James Chung, Executive Director for Entrepreneurship at George Washington University, and Peter Schwartz, host of Executive Leaders DC and president of Peter Schwartz & Associates, for your help and encouragement on this project.

And lastly, this book would not have been possible without the guidance and creative support of the Impact Communications team.

Contents

1 Foreword

79 Richard Guber

3 Introduction

83 Amanda Harper

Profiles in Success

87 Andrew Harper

5 Dany Abi-Najm

91 Christopher Harrison

9 John Backus

95 Zia Islam 99 Peter Jablow

13 O. Tyrone Barnett

17 Haresh Bhungalia

103 Suzanne Beauvoir Jackson

21 Rick Calder

107 Louisa Jaffe

25 Tony Cancelosi

111 Bryan Laird

29 Ken Chaletzky

115 Chris LeGrand

33 Jamie Rappaport Clark

119 Todd Leibbrand

37 William Couper

123 John Marks

41 Niels Crone

127 Judy Marks

45 David DeWolf

131 George Newstrom

49 Edgar Dobie

135 Ben Saleh

53 Lucy Duncan

139 Peter Schwartz

57 Ken Falke

143 Mike Shelton

61 Dick Fordham

147 Martin Steinhobel

65 Dan Frank

149 Rose Wang

69 Kathryn Freeland

153 Andrew Watt

73 Sidney E. Fuchs

157 Brian Wynne

77 Kathy Georgen

161 From Gifford to Hickman

by Gloria J. Bernhardt

Foreword I met Gordon Bernhardt after being interviewed for the Executive Leaders Radio show from which this volume is derived. Gordon graciously asked how he could help with my initiatives at George Washington University (GW), where I am the Executive Director for Entrepreneurship. I saw an opportunity to tap into his powerful network of successful executives to serve as mentors to the aspiring young entrepreneurs with whom I work. This partnership has proven to be very valuable for the success of our GW Entrepreneurs Roundtable (GWERT) Mentors (www.gwertmentors. org) program.

Mentorship is a common and recurring theme in the profiles of many of the successful entrepreneurs and executives in this volume. You often hear of how the right insight or advice at a critical moment completely changed the path of a young person’s career. Dick Fordham, for example, shares how some simple advice from his mentor at IBM to stop “trying too hard” and “just be yourself ” helped him overcome an obstacle in getting promoted there.

But it’s tough to find people willing to be mentors.

Successful people are usually busy people, and being a good mentor requires a real commitment of time and effort. In her profile, Kathryn Freeland describes how she struggled through her life’s journey without any mentors to help guide her. Realizing how important mentorship could have been for her, she’s turned around and written a book to help provide the advice to young entrepreneurs that she wished she’d had.

While being a mentor is not an easy thing to do, it is critical for ensuring the success of our next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Fortunately, giving back is not something foreign to the people profiled in this volume. Todd Leibrand, for example, is the founder of BEST Kids, a program for DC kids who have been abused or neglected, attaching them to a long-term mentor that will stay with them throughout their childhood and help them overcome the trauma they have experienced. John Backus is a volunteer for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program run by GW, the University of Maryland, and Virginia Tech here in the Mid-Atlantic region. The I-Corps program trains university researchers and their graduate students to commercialize their research and inventions through entrepreneurship. Mentors play a central role in the

training, and John provides valuable coaching from his unique perspective as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist.

Thanks to the efforts of Gordon Bernhardt and the executives profiled in this and earlier volumes in the Profiles of Success series, we are able to learn more about the challenges and victories leading up to their impressive successes. These are fascinating and inspirational stories that I recommend to my students, as they provide great lessons by example. Luckily for us, not only have these busy executives been willing to tell their stories, but many have also been willing to get directly involved in giving back to the next generation as mentors.

James Chung Executive Director for Entrepreneurship George Washington University www.gwu.edu/discover/discover iesinnovations/entrepreneurship

James Chung is the Executive Director for Entrepreneurship at George Washington University where he works to foster innovation and shepherd budding ideas into reality. Prior to joining GW, Chung served as the director of the VentureAccelerator program at the University of Maryland’s Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute, where he helped launch seven companies, which have raised millions of dollars in funding and revenues, hired dozens of employees during the recession and claimed international prizes. He also served as director of the Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund, working with the state’s Department of Natural Resources to invest $250,000 annually in Maryland-based environmental tech startups.

Foreword

1

Introduction Character In building a professional client-advisor relationship, I believe there are six core characteristics – the “Six Cs” – a trusted financial advisor should possess: character, chemistry, caring, competence, cost-effective and consultative.

A financial advisor with character acts with complete integrity, loyalty, and transparency and avoids all conflicts of interest to put you first in all situations. An advisor with character provides objective guidance and sits on the same side of the table as you, 100 percent committed to putting your interests first. Character is the most essential relationship building block. It serves as the foundation on which we build a trusting bond necessary for a productive and collaborative relationship.

As Theodore Roosevelt said, “In the long run, character is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.” And, as the debate over regulating a universal financial fiduciary standard continues, the observation of Alan Greenspan, past chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, holds particular weight, “But rules cannot substitute for character.”

It can’t be said too many times that you need a financial advisor you can trust, someone who acts with complete integrity, loyalty, and transparency and avoids all conflicts of interest to put you first in all situations.

That’s the definition of a fiduciary. And there’s nothing too complicated about having your finances managed with your best interests always at the forefront, right?

Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.

– Orison Swett Marden Personal qualities such as integrity, honesty or dependability rank highest in any trust relationship, but you can’t just tell people that you are honest and trustworthy. Good character must be demonstrated through actions and conversation about values – theirs and yours.

During my conversations with individuals featured in this and prior books, I’ve discovered a person’s true character will emerge when they share their personal stories. Some bravely reveal a time of vulnerability which was transformative, impacting the direction of their life.

Others focus on whom or what drives them to achieve their goals. In each case, a theme would arise and a light would shine that person’s priorities and principles.

Here are two of my favorite questions I highly recommend you ask when trying to ascertain a person’s character: 1.

Describe a defining moment in your life when you were either motivated to act or made the decision to do something differently.

2.

Tell me about an object that is personally significant and what it represents in your life.

Many great leaders have understood the power of telling their story. Their stories, my story and yours are all a lesson for others, as well as a revelation of our authentic make-up. In sharing those stories and listening to each other we are able to demonstrate our truth and ideals.

The power of our story comes from the knowledge we’ve gained along the journey and the wisdom we can share.

After reading the personal narratives collected here, take time to consider your own story. Discover its power and what it says about your character. Then share it.

Gordon J. Bernhardt, CPA, PFS, CFP®, AIF® President and Founder Bernhardt Wealth Management, Inc. www.BernhardtWealth.com

Since establishing his firm in 1994, Gordon Bernhardt has been focused on providing high-quality service and independent financial advice in order to help his clients make smart decisions about their money. He specializes in addressing the unique needs of successful professionals, entrepreneurs and retirees, as well as women in transition throughout the Washington, DC area. Over the years, Gordon has been sought out by numerous media outlets including MSN Money, CNN Money, Kiplinger and The New York Times for his insight into subjects related to personal finance.

Introduction

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Dany Abi-Najm Keeping It All In The Family Riding in the backseat of an American car that felt like a boat on wheels, one of Dany Abi-Najm’s first thoughts upon arriving in the United States was, “Where are all of the skyscrapers?” Having traveled with his family to start a new life in America, Dany’s idea of what his new home would look like was based on the images of the New York City high-rise buildings that he had seen on television in his native home of Lebanon.

“In Lebanon, even in 1976, the American influence was very alive and well and I’d always had dreams about living in the United States.” Dany explains, “I was fascinated with New York and its skyscrapers and the big American cars.”

Along with his four siblings, Dory, David, Gladys and Grace, and his parents, Tanios and Marie, Dany was excitedly taking in the sights of their new home and country en route from the airport.

At fifteen years of age, Dany had already lived more life than most adults. Having fled a war-torn Lebanon, where he and his older brother, Dory, had been called into military service, Dany’s life already had the beginnings of an epic tale. It was when Dany and Dory, then 14 and 16 respectively, were called to join the ranks on the front lines that their father decided it was time for the family to leave Lebanon.

“My dad said, ‘We’re moving. I don’t want to lose my sons to this war’.”

Dany’s father, had a passion for food, and although he was never in the food business before coming to America, serving as a customs officer in the Lebanese government, it was always in the back of his mind to one day open a restaurant. It was a natural progression for that dream to be realized once the family arrived in the U.S. But once they arrived safely in America, the AbiNajm family’s one goal became survival. Having to sell all of their belongings in order to leave Lebanon, they arrived with $600 cash, a few pieces of luggage, and their father’s dream of starting a restaurant. Dany had three uncles who lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Rosslyn, Virginia who let them stay for a few weeks

until the Abi-Najm’s got on their feet.

“When we arrived, we spoke little English, and had very little means, so we all started working as soon as we got here. My brother and I got busser jobs our second night in America. My father got a job painting houses at first, but then he and my mother got jobs working at a Lebanese restaurant. We would go to school in the morning and go to work in the evening and any money that we made went into the family pot.”

A few years later they had enough money saved and the family began looking for an opportunity to buy a restaurant business.

In 1979, they met a man who was selling his restaurant, “Athenian Taverna” and they made an offer. After purchasing the business, it was time to decide what to call their new restaurant. As funds were low, they decided to only change half of the restaurant name, to “Lebanese Taverna”, reducing the cost for creating a new storefront sign. Everyone in the family took a position in the restaurant and for the first year, it truly was, all in the family.

From the beginning, Dany was asked to take a leadership role in the business. Though he was only 17 years old, Dany assumed the responsibility of running and managing the restaurant.

“My dad was not comfortable with his English and he had me doing the management of the restaurant, including ordering the food and handling the books, from day one. I remember he took me to our accountant’s office and I spent half a day learning how to handle the cash flow and bookkeeping. I was very responsible and my dad depended on me a lot. That’s how my career in the business started.”

They continued to run the restaurant with its original menu of Greek and American diner fare when one day a frequent patron inquired why they didn’t serve Lebanese food. Dany’s father prepared a few sample items for the patron to try and the rest is history.

By 1981, the business had found its legs. Though, at the time, Lebanese food was virtually unknown, the ongoing Lebanese Civil War and its news coverage began

Dany Abi-Najm

5

to spark people’s interest. Soon thereafter a writer for the Washington Post discovered the restaurant and wrote an article about the family. The business took off.

Though Lebanese Taverna was doing well and the family expected him to continue his leadership role in the business, Dany was restless.

“The restaurant soon became very small for a family of seven. Some of us had large egos and I felt that the restaurant couldn’t fit everyone’s needs anymore.” Dany continues, “There was a clear switch for me one day, when I realized that if I wanted success, I was going to have to go after it. It was that simple. It wasn’t coming to me, I was going to have to go out and get it. So I went and put myself through college.”

Dany decided to enroll at George Mason University, eventually earning his degree in Economics. While in college, Dany saved up enough money to purchase a house together with his younger brother, David.

Though his family was against it, after graduation Dany began looking for another job. He was still working at the restaurant, but he also began interviewing for positions in the investment world.

“I was always interested in the business world and the financial world, but when I interviewed, I realized that I would have to start at the bottom. I would have to make very little money, working the phones, and that was just not in my nature. So at that time, I decided to go back into the family business and expand it.”

Once Dany realized that his best opportunity for success and growth would be within the family business, he made his dad a proposition. He wanted to start a second restaurant. Dany’s expansion idea was met with opposition from all sides. Though he felt it would be in the best interests for everyone in the long run, only his younger brother, David, agreed with him.

Dany and David took their combined savings and a loan on the equity in their house and started the second Lebanese Taverna in the Woodley Park neighborhood of Washington D.C. “We didn’t use any of the family’s money but we always considered it as a part of the family business. I just couldn’t see me starting the restaurant and splitting the family or being selfish with it. Our family has always put in together and shared in the success of Lebanese Taverna and my motivation was always to take care of the family. So the first money that was ever made in the second restaurant was given to my father. I can still remember the day I walked into his house and gave him the money. He really didn’t believe that we could actually make it and I wanted to show him that we could and did.”

6

It was during this time that Dany met and fell in love with his wife, Jenifer, who he credits as his unwavering support to branch out with the second restaurant.

“When I met Jenifer, it was love at first sight. I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. She really believed in me and was a great motivator. She not only helped me with emotional support, but she helped me financially. When I started the second restaurant, all of my money was going into the business. At that point we were living together and she was taking care of all the bills, all the groceries, and giving me whatever I needed. She did that and we were only boyfriend and girlfriend, we weren’t even engaged. She really believed in me.”

Dany credits many mentors that helped him along the way. From friends made when he first arrived in America like Herbert McArthur, who he met in his 9th grade French class, to Howard Lagarde, who is currently his management coach. But there is one mentor and friend that stands above the rest, Henrik Suhr.

Dany met Henrik in 1986 when Henrik moved into the same neighborhood after relocating from New York. Dany and Henrik struck up a conversation and learned that they were both avid fishing enthusiasts.

They soon became fishing buddies, taking several trips together. Henrik, a graduate of the Cornell School of Hospitality and Hotel Administration, easily became a go-to resource for Dany in his growing vision for the Lebanese Taverna Group. In 1995, Dany asked Henrik to join the company in a consulting capacity and after a few years, it was clear to Dany that a partnership would work out well for everyone.

But the family did not agree. Once again, Dany found himself in the position of trying to motivate his family to accept his vision for expansion. Slowly the family came around to seeing things Dany’s way and over the next few years, Dany and Henrik would open eight additional restaurants within the Lebanese Taverna Group. While the family was initially hesitant to bring Henrik into the fold, as the company grew and its success multiplied, everyone became happy with the arrangement. Sadly, in November of 2011, Henrik lost his life in a motorcycle accident. The loss rocked the group, but Henrik lives on in the company’s success and its plans for the future.

Today the Lebanese Taverna Group grosses approximately $22 million annually and has eleven units, including a catering business. The future looks bright for the organization as Dany looks to new ways to diversify the business. In addition to running and growing the business, Lebanese Taverna Group also

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

reaches out to help local immigrants in the process of becoming legal citizens.

“Many of the younger generation of ethnic people look to us and they see that the ‘American Dream’ can be realized. When I see them opening a business or succeeding in what they want to do (and they point to our restaurant as helping them), it makes me feel very good. We feel that, since the opportunity was given to us, we want to give that opportunity to others.”

Not only do they help individuals, but the company also gives back to many local charities including the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (founded by a fellow Lebanese immigrant), local schools, as well as other community organizations. The restaurant group has been recognized and awarded for its philanthropy, by the local and national chapters of the National Restaurant Association.

Dany is most proud of his family, wife and children, wanting his legacy to be one of loyalty, not only to family but also to the company.

“My son is 18 years old now and he is a wonderful young man. He exhibits a great motivation and desire for success and traits of loyalty, not only to the family but to the business. I brought him up to know that the

world is at his disposal and that he does not have to go into the family business. He can do whatever he wants with his life. But it seems that his focus is on the family business. I can see him taking over the reins one day, maybe fifteen to twenty years down the road.”

Dany recalls one day when his daughter came home to share with him a quote they learned in school that day, “If it is to be, it’s up to me!” Reminding him of the moment when he realized that a shift was needed for his own success, the quote is now his advice to young people and those just beginning a career. Dany also counsels, “Just do it. I see so many people expecting success to fall in their laps and it just doesn’t happen that way. You have to go after it and work for it and be persistent… and DREAM!” A long way from that first car ride along George Washington Parkway, Dany Abi-Najm has charted a course and navigated through to success. In a family where business and personal are one and the same, Dany took a strong leadership position early on and never looked back. A passionate, determined leader, proud father, loving husband, and faithful son, Dany Abi-Najm shows us that when you keep it all in the family, you can’t go wrong.

Dany Abi-Najm

7

John Backus The Power of Perspective John Backus is a man who understands the value of perspective. He was raised immersed in diverse points of view, moving all over the country and across South America as a child and then landing his first job at Bain & Co., which focused on helping companies expand their playbooks by providing strategic views that might not be available from inside of a business.

In 1996, however, he lost sight of that perspective just long enough to miss out on what could have been a life changing business venture. He had co-founded InteliData’s predecessor, US Order, which was focused on electric banking by combining phones with screens and debit card readers. It had been a moderately successful business, which he sold to Visa for a nice price; however, when he left, in 1998, AOL was just starting to get big. “What we did at US Order was pre-internet, but we completely missed the internet movement because we were looking at delivering information to the phone rather than to the PC,” he recalls.

“We had our blinders on, and what really struck me about that experience was how valuable an outside perspective is to a business that’s running full speed ahead. We had the best UNIX and TCP/IP programmers in the area, so we could have been a major player in the internet movement.”

John may have missed that boat, but the experience inspired him to build an entirely new ship—one that would transform the horizons of dozens of businesses and leave a legacy that has been compounded many fold. “I realized there were tons of other companies with the same issue, so it hit me that we had to bring a Silicon Valley investing mindset to the Washington Area,” says John. “I saw the opportunity, and co-founded Draper Atlantic in 1998.”

Now, John is the co-founder and managing partner of New Atlantic Ventures. The venture capital firm, which he runs with his fellow co-founders Todd Hixon, Scott Johnson, and Thanasis Delistathis, invested in its first company in 2008, and has since invested in twenty five more, resulting in a pace of about six companies per

year. The firm invests in early stage companies, looking to back small, young businesses with the potential to become big companies. On average, they begin by investing about $1.2 million in a given company—a relatively small amount—to see how it will fair. If the company is successful, they could invest up to $7 or $8 million total over several years. “Most people think venture capital is about picking the right company to become the next big thing, but that’s the easy part of the job,” John explains. “The hard part is what you do with the company after you invest in it. Our average hold time for successful companies after we invest is eight years, so we spend a lot of time helping the CEOs and management team build the company.

Our business is really about helping entrepreneurs with a vision take their small business and turn it into something big.”

With this goal in mind, New Atlantic Ventures aggressively searches for entrepreneurs and their businesses to invest in. “Right now, we have to think about what might be big and important in 2020,” he explains. To do this, New Atlantic Ventures focuses on six main sectors as their investing themes.

The first is advertising technology, which focuses on how people’s time is moving from legacy media to new media. “We spend less time watching TV or reading the newspaper and more time online,” he points out.

“The easy advertising money has already moved online. What’s waiting to be solved is how to move a brand online that isn’t focused on driving traffic to their website, like Coca Cola. They base their ads on emotional connections, and the internet is bad at emotion.”

The second theme is focused on how mobility will transform entire industries. “Music and movies have already moved to a virtual, digital medium, but radio hasn’t changed much over the years,” he explains. “The concept of TiVo or DVR hasn’t happened in radio yet.”

The growing prominence of e-commerce comprises New Atlantic Ventures’ third primary theme. “As of

John Backus

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2011, only 4.5 percent of retail sales in the US were transacted online. There’s a long way to go there,” he explains. “The easy stuff has already moved online, like the digital content of music, TV or movies, so you have to reason that the next wave is coming from the more complicated, high end of the spectrum. 10 years ago you couldn’t buy an $800 suit or designer dress online, for instance. But that’s starting to happen. Women are willing to do that today because they are unhappy with the lack of selection at department stores compared to the vast selection online, and because they’re tired of the cumbersome experience.”

Next, John identifies the fourth theme as cyber security. “Historically, a business looked at security from the perspective of playing defense,” he explains.

“We didn’t want the bad guys getting in. That’s still a problem, since the bad guys get smarter, but now we are beginning to play offensive as well. Warfare in our lifetimes will move from bullets and bombs to bits and bytes. As a result, you’ll see the defense budget move in a fairly dramatic way over the long term, investing less in pyrotechnics and more into cyber.

“The fifth theme is focused on education reform,” he continues. “The cost of college has gone up dramatically, outpacing inflation threefold over the last 35 years, and the result, thanks to the internet, will be a dramatic reduction in the number of schools with physical campuses. Right now, very few schools are investing in online education, but MIT, Harvard, and Stanford are beginning to. At some point, you’ll have university brand extensions. Instead of just admitting 1,500 kids each year to study on-campus, they might turn out 100,000 global online graduates. Some people will still want to go to a campus for the social experience, but others will just be concerned with getting prepared for a career.”

Beyond education, John identifies the sixth theme as a fundamental reform of the healthcare delivery system. “We need to spend more time on prevention, and catching things early, and less on end-of-life issues,” he says. “Today, primary care doctors see thirty-five patients a day for an average of seven minutes per patient because it’s the only way doctors can make money in the “fee-for-service” insurance model. An emerging theme is primary care where you pay a flat monthly fee, and for that fee you get complete access to and unlimited care from your doctor 24/7. You can have ten appointments with your doctor for that fixed fee. Beyond primary care, health care reform will force doctors to be more accountable and transparent. You will want to know the price of a procedure or a test, and 10

all of a sudden patients will begin to act like customers.”

It takes an innovative and outside-the-box entrepreneurial mindset to achieve the kind of success John has seen, and both stem from an often-overlooked but priceless attribute—optimism. “I’m really good at finding opportunity where others see problems,” he affirms. Similarly, he credits his parents, who are both creative and adventurous. John was born in Bloomington, Indiana, to his mother, a working woman with many careers, and his father, who worked as a lawyer for ExxonMobil. Due to the nature of his father’s job, they spent much of John’s young life traveling. The family had moved three times before John was old enough to attend school. They finally settled down in Caracas, Venezuela, where they lived for four years during John’s elementary school years. They then returned to the United States, where they lived in New York for two years and then Texas for six. “As a kid, I didn’t like moving so much since I had to leave friends behind and constantly make new ones,” John remarks of this childhood. “But as an adult, I’m so glad we did.

I learned to speak Spanish at a young age, and I got incredible international exposure. Moving also made me more outgoing and comfortable with change. I learned to not be set in my ways, which made me more comfortable with change.”

When he was in fifth grade, he began working his first job delivering newspapers in New York on his bike.

He entered a subscription-selling contest, outsold his competitors, and won a new bike, lending him new perspective on the interplay between hard work and success. He landed his second job while in Texas when, though he was technically a few months underage, he was tall enough to pass for a fifteen year old and began working as a pot washer at a Mexican Buffet.

John worked hard, and within a year, he was promoted from pot washer to dishwasher, to busser, to cook, and eventually to waiter. “That year really reinforced the value of hard work,” he avows. “I learned that, whatever job you’re given, you can probably get promoted if you do it well. If you complain and drag your feet, however, you’ll probably continue doing that same job for a long time.” As he progressed through his career, John has seen how few people have actually learned that same lesson. “People would come to me asking for a promotion all the time,” he elaborates. “I always tell them that rather than ask for the job, they should excel at the job they have. Eventually I’ll recognize you as the person qualified for that higher role, but I won’t just give it to you because you asked for it.”

For most of his grade school years, John assumed he

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

would become a lawyer like his father, which seemed a likely possibility due to his strong academic performance and his love of debating. He attended Stanford University, where he attained his undergraduate degree in Economics with a concentration in Political Science.

Though he was still drawn to the idea of becoming a lawyer, he had a series of defining experiences that led him to believe he may be happier pursuing a career in the world of business.

The first happened when he was sixteen, looking to buy a new car. His father was planning to sell the family’s old Ford Maverick, which the dealer told him he would get $400 for as a trade-in. John offered to buy the car off his father for $400 from money he had saved, which his father agreed to. Six months later, however, after fixing up the car, John resold it for a thousand dollars, allowing him to buy the ’67 Firebird he had been really hoping for.

His inner entrepreneur continued to shine at Stanford, where he undertook two business ventures.

In the first, as a junior, he took over publication of Stanford’s Fraternity Rush Book. After he covered the printing costs, he would be able to keep all of the additional advertising revenue. He recruited several friends to help and ended up making $8 thousand within only a few weeks. Then, in his senior year, he and several friends ran a movie series on campus every Sunday night, from which they generated an additional ten thousand dollars.

After he graduated, John took the entrance exams for both law school and business school and was accepted to outstanding institutions in both fields, including Stanford’s Business School. “I remember calling my mom and asking what to do,” he remarks. “She said, ‘Think of what you’ve done. What’s excited you the most?’ I realized it was all the business ventures I had undertaken, so I returned to Stanford for business school.”

Before returning to Stanford, however, he took two years off, during which he worked at Bain & Co. “I received my undergraduate degree a quarter early,” he relates. “Working at Bain & Co. then was the hardest job I’ve ever had, because I was getting to work by 8:00 AM in a jacket and tie while living in a frat house and celebrating the final weeks of my senior year. “ Despite the struggles of balancing college and work, he notes Bain as being an incredible experience. “They have a great training program,” he explains. “When you work there, you think of business issues from a strategic level. They taught me to look at things over time rather than focusing on a dramatic graph showing

a drop over the last three months, which in the grand scheme of things is not a big change. We would give the client context and data, which gave them wonderful insight and was sometimes very counterintuitive. For example, we were working for a restaurant at one point that always had long wait times on weekend nights. We went to them and told them to stop promoting their appetizers so strongly, since it slowed down business and gave the restaurant only three table turnovers a night, rather than four or five. It was completely counterintuitive, but it greatly increased their revenue.”

After two years of working, John returned to Stanford for Business School, graduating with his MBA in 1984.

He returned to Bain after graduation and he was immediately relocated to Malaysia, where he worked on an assignment for Guinness Malaysia Brewing. At the time, Mitt Romney had just cut a deal with Bill Bain to handpick five people to come work for Bain Capital.

Six months into his stay in Malaysia, a partner at Bain offered John a new assignment in London. Shortly after, however, John received a call from Romney, urging him to come work for him at Bain Capital’s first investment, Key Airlines.

Before long, Bill Bain, the revered founder of Bain & Co., also called John. “He told me, ‘I don’t know you, but I have several of my partners fighting over you, so I should get to know you,’” John recalls with a laugh.

“He asked me what I wanted to do, so I decided to go work for Key Airlines.” Within six months, John moved to Las Vegas, where the small company ran a fixedbased operation. Bain had guaranteed the loans of four 727 planes for $5.6 million to bid on a contract with the military flying troops as part of the stealth aircraft program. The company grew from $6 million to $50 million and was then sold to World Airways in 1987, after which John ran the company’s military business, which brought in two thirds of its revenue. “I could have made a fortune at Bain Capital, had I stayed, but I followed one of Bain’s partners, Coleman Andrews, to World Airways out of loyalty, which I’m very proud of,” John explains.

Life was good, but after a time, he realized he did not want to work in the airline business forever. This realization led him to create US Order. He was then able to sell part of the company for $15 million in 1995 and continued to serve as its CEO for a year, but quickly realized he was more interested in start-ups rather than running big companies. It was in the stillness and reflection of the several months he took off after leaving the company that he realized the massive opportunity they had missed by allowing the popularization of the John Backus

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internet to pass them by.

It was a defining moment in John’s career when he realized the importance of offering the essential outside perspective to businesses. With that, after all he had seen and learned at Bain & Co. and through his own experiences, he took the opportunity to launch the Draper Atlantic Venture Fund in 1998. The company grew into a success, and in 2006 John co-founded what is now New Atlantic Ventures. Only through missing out on the internet boom was John afforded the epiphany that has allowed him to garner so much success, growth, and prosperity through his current work, to which he plans to dedicate the remainder of his notable career.

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, John stresses the importance of reflecting early about what career one wants to enter, and streamlining one’s education around that. “It’s

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a crime that so many students graduate with liberal arts degrees when there are no jobs that match those degrees,” he explains. “Colleges should be honest with students and set forth a career path freshman year.

College is a training ground for the real world, so think about what your degree will say about you when you go out and look for your first job.”

This piece of advice plays into the larger philosophy that has guided his life, which is the value of perspective.

Whether it’s the perspective of his loving wife, Caren, and his three children, the perspective of experts in various fields who have unique knowledge to offer about what’s to come, or perhaps the perspective of his own inner voice as it synthesizes past experiences into new solutions, John draws on an array of sources to forge the best possible path forward for himself and his family, just as he does for every business that looks to New Atlantic Ventures for a better point of view.

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

O. Tyrone Barnett Employer First, Entrepreneur Second It seemed to young Ty Barnett that his grandfather was always working. “From the moment I woke up in the morning, my paternal grandfather would be out milking the cow and feeding the hogs and chickens,” Ty remembers today, recalling his youth growing up in Orrville, Ohio, when his grandparents owned an eleven- acre farm. “In addition to the farm animals, my cousins—who owned adjacent farms with tractors— would grow every available piece of land with crops like corn, beans, tomatoes and many other crops.”

But this didn’t stop Ty’s grandparents from helping those in need. “There were always people at the house who needed help of some kind,” Ty reminisces. “There, for example, were the migrant workers coming into Orrville to work the farms during harvest season.” The Steel plants were operating at top capacity and needed men who did not mind putting their backs into the hard work available. And, of course, there was the Koppers Wood Preserve Plant that produced heavy items like “railroad ties” and wood for building bridges and huge buildings. Though a small community of approximately 8,000 people, Orrville produced a significant number of jobs for large cities in Ohio, including Akron, Cleveland, Canton, Wooster and Massillon. The community became famous for the Smuckers Jam and Jelly Co., but its growth also stems largely from the three railroad roundhouses that were fed by as many as five major railroads.

“My grandparents did not have much money,” says Ty. “They tended their farm all day, while my grandfather also worked at the Quality Castings Co. iron and ore plant. Still, they always seemed to have enough to take care of their own bills and to have some left over to help other people. That made a great impression on me. It taught me that helping people and having an open hand allowed for opportunities to flow into my hands. Any success I have was made possible when other people stepped forward and helped me.”

This idea was so deeply ingrained in Ty as a child watching his family’s innate streak of philanthropy

that, even today, it remains central to his self-concept.

Indeed, even though he’s the founder and CEO of Diverse Technologies Corporation, a 23-year-old IT, finance and logistics firm with 91 employees and $10 million in annual revenue, Ty still doesn’t define himself first and foremost as an entrepreneur. Rather, he stands for stewardship. “I don’t really consider myself an entrepreneur,” he explains. “Right now, I consider myself an employer taking care of 91 families.”

Born in 1943, Ty’s passion for helping people was certainly fostered from day one, but given equal encouragement and prominence through his upbringing was his flair for entrepreneurship. “My grandfather was only one of the several people I was surrounded by who really knew how to work hard,” he avows.

While raising Ty and his six siblings, his mother worked for the railroad and his father was a molder at the same foundry where his grandfather was employed.

The dedication and steely work ethic he observed in them combined with his naturally strategic eye for opportunity, coalescing into strong business instincts that have guided him well throughout the years.

Growing up in Orrville, Ty remembers rubbing shoulders with the children of managers, executives and business owners, absorbing those skills himself through keen observation. “I knew that these families were living well,” he says, “because I worked for a lot of them in the summer. It seemed to me the people who had money were people who owned businesses.”

Even in Junior High, Ty exhibited a unique entrepreneurial spirit, selling pastries that his grandmother taught him to bake around the holidays.

He also collected night-crawlers to sell to fishermen, and later began to sell some of his products through Amway. “Before I started selling these things,” Ty recalls, “I would often see my classmate out in the mornings delivering papers. Even in rain or snow, he would come riding by so fast, with his bag on his bicycle fender filled with newspapers, delivering them along his route. I thought to myself, ‘I need to do something O. Tyrone Barnett

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like that.’ That classmate was Larry Demlow, who was the defensive lineman on our football team.”

Growing up in a family of such modest means, Ty became driven to earn money, but he never had plans to get rich. “I’ve never been greedy about money, as a lot of the time I didn’t have it,” Ty explains. “I became interested in it not because I did not want to amass any tremendous sum, but instead because I’ve always thought about it in a certain way, which is that if I have enough then I can be secure and I can help people.”

Also of great benefit to his success have been Ty’s winning instincts and his perseverance. An extraordinary natural athlete, he played football, basketball and baseball in high school, and eventually played football at Ohio State. He then went on to try out for the Baltimore Orioles at a Cleveland clinic.

Athletic teams are unique learning environments in which invaluable life skills can be cemented, and Ty accumulated many of those skills from his high school coaches and from the older players he had the benefit of observing as role models. “What I gained” Ty says, “is the will and determination to say ‘Don’t give up.’ Even when my business was having some serious problems around the time of Desert Storm, I was saying to myself, ‘I’m not going to give this thing up.’ You have to depend on the Lord and pray, and you have to be determined to never give up.”

Humility was also a lesson reinforced by Ty’s experience with athletics. In fact, he grins broadly today as he recalls trying out as center fielder for the Orioles just out of high school. “I went in there with a couple other guys and tried out,” he says, “and I could hit the ball with no problem. I was no home run hitter, but I could hit like Nellie Fox. So the coaches said, ‘Ok, Barnett, go out there to center field where you play in the summer.’ So I ran out and stood where I normally did in high school, and I’m getting ready for the play to start when suddenly I hear the coaches shout to me, ‘We didn’t ask you to go to second base, we asked you to go out in center field!’ Boy, I was so far out there, I could hardly see the catcher!” Ty recalls, smiling.

Ty’s final experience of sports in high school is perhaps the most telling of his self-directed nature. He was determined to attend Ohio State University and play football there, even when his father and his sports mentors all suggested that he wasn’t big, strong or fast enough. They tried to tell him that there were better opportunities for him at Akron or Bowling Green University. “It didn’t bother me,” Ty says today. “I didn’t have to have someone else motivate me. I knew what I wanted to do.”

Ultimately, Ty would receive a full scholarship to Ohio 14

State and become a varsity player by his sophomore year, setting himself apart as a valuable member of the team even as an underclassman. Not content to rest on his laurels, however, he also laid the foundation at Ohio State for the next great adventure of his life by joining Naval ROTC. This began a 21-year career that would grant him the practical skills and management experience that would complement his entrepreneurial instincts and eventually lead him to become the Founder of Diverse Technologies Corporation. As a Naval Supply Officer working on ships and shipyards all over the world, including Pearl Harbor, Ty primarily specialized in Logistics and Finance, the core services that Diverse Technologies now champions.

During those 21 years in the Navy, Ty assimilated a plethora of knowledge that both strengthened his character and honed his professional savvy, with heightened expertise in logistics, management and finance among the experience’s greatest benefits. He also learned how to rely on people, how to lead them, and how to seek mentors and sponsors that supported him as he advanced both personally and professionally.

Despite this tremendous growing experience, however, Ty still suspected that, when he finally left the Navy and realized he was ready to start a business, he still had quite a bit to learn.

“The biggest things I had left to learn were from my first wife, Tommie,” Ty explains. “We were married for thirty-three years before she passed away. She had been with me since I was an ensign all the way to Commander.

She had been through it all. And I remember saying to her, ‘Tommie, you’re going to have to go back to work.

I’m retiring from the Navy, but I want to start this business.’ She looked at me and she said, ‘I’m going to keep praying for you and your business, but I am not leaving my children.’ She let me know in no uncertain terms that I could start all the businesses I wanted, but she would not be leaving our three sons. I just laughed and said, ‘I can’t believe you!’ But it only made me work harder, and she was so supportive.”

Tommie’s influence was broad and far-reaching.

“You know how it is with your first love,” Ty says. “I was chasing girls all over Athens, Georgia while I was stationed there, but when I saw Tommie it was something different— I knew she was the person I wanted to marry. There’s a proverb from the Bible that says, ‘Whosoever findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord,’ and it’s the truth. I never heard her say anything harsh. Once I used profanity to myself out loud while in her presence, and she looked at me and said, ‘Don’t ever say that to me,’ and walked out of the room. Man, her words almost killed me. She was

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

a tremendous influence. She kept me grounded. And she would offer invaluable insights regarding people who worked for me. She had very good instincts—so much so that sometimes I wished she would come to work with me in my office. But she was exactly where she wanted and needed to be.”

Ty also learned early on that success was just as much about working smart as it was about working hard.

“From when I was a kid,” he says, “I worked solo, for myself, and didn’t realize that a team becomes more than the sum of its parts. When I was collecting night crawlers with my younger brothers, I should have been paying them to collect those worms for me, selling them all myself, and keeping some of the profits. When I started my business, I had to learn that I couldn’t do everything. One time early on, a fraternity brother of mine asked me how the business was going, to which I replied, ‘Man, I’m working hard!’ To that, he told me I needed to be working smarter. That’s a principle I’ve been striving to live by ever since.”

After enduring challenging times during the first Gulf War, Diverse Technologies has seen almost constant growth—a product of working hard, working smart, and working for the benefit of others as well as oneself.

As Ty now approaches the point when he’ll hand over operations of his company to focus on other things, he has time to reflect on his legacy and the pride of his life: his current lovely wife, Ruth; his three children, Robert, Bradford and Thomas; and his grandchildren.

“I’m very proud of my family,” he reflects “My father always said, ‘Every time you go out the door, make sure the family name stays in its proper place. Honor the family name.’ My kids do that. They have stayed

out of trouble and honored our family. My eldest son, Robert Wilson, is single and lives in Atlanta. My second son, William Bradford lives with his wife, Rita, and my granddaughter, Alexa Jade, in Woodbridge, VA. My youngest, Thomas Holland, lives with his wife, Tiffany, and my three grandsons, Isaiah Michael, Jeremiah Thomas, and Noah Bradley, in Dumfries, VA. I have three brothers—Dwight Harrison and his wife, Jean, live with their five children in Boston; my brother John Douglas and his wife, Beverly, live with their five children in Alexandria, VA; and John William Jr. lives with his wife, Debra, and their three children in Florida. My only sister, Renee Denise Barnett, lives in Alexandria, VA.” True to form, as well, Ty has more time and resources now to focus on helping his extended family, and those beyond it. Whether it’s helping a niece with college or a good family friend with unforeseen medical costs, he remains as dedicated to helping people as ever. These individuals and instances of assistance are supplemented with long-term and more general philanthropic activities as well, including contributions to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and Ty ultimately plans to start a non-profit organization for charity and scholarships for the needy.

Admittedly, some things have changed over the years, but some things remain constant. Ty may not play sports anymore, but his firm commitment to hard work and helping others is alive and well. It is through exemplary work ethic that life is lent to the timeless lessons he has learned over the years, and it is through this life that those lessons continue to propagate prosperity and happiness for his legacy and family.

O. Tyrone Barnett

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Haresh Bhungalia Life Success For Haresh Bhungalia, success comes in two forms.

Some people go through life focused on building business success—that brand of achievement that is assembled in office spaces and at networking events.

Some people, however, strive to go beyond that to build life success—the holistically fulfilling kind of triumph that, for Haresh, was built on his kitchen table.

Today, as the CEO of @Legal Discovery LLC, Haresh sits at this kitchen table with his wife and three children for breakfast every morning and for dinner each evening. He’s developed an extensive network and strong market credibility, and much of the business he conducts is outside of the home. But twelve years ago, when he and his cousin, Paresh Ghelani, were cofounding their first company together, things were much different.

Haresh and Paresh had grown up like brothers, developing a strong mutual respect and a genuine appreciation for the time they spent together. In 2000, they used this unshakable foundation to launch 2020 Company, LLC, a government services business, and they would spend long hours sitting at the kitchen table along with Haresh’s wife, Alpa. “At that table, the three of us really saw the company begin to come together,” he remembers. “When you start something and you put your heart and soul and blood and sweat into it, to the point that your life becomes that thing, and when you’re reaching for success not just for yourself, but for the benefit of everyone around you, you’re reaching for life success.”

At that kitchen table, the three ambitious family members built 2020 though countless hours of conversation about life, philosophy, work, and business.

Others who happened to be around at various times lent their voices and ideas to the betterment of the dialogue. “That table bonded not only the idea, but us,” Haresh reflects. “It’s where a lot of the company culture was built. It’s a symbol of the support system, faith, and hope that underpins any success in life. It’s a symbol of life success itself.” The collaborative approach

developed at that table extended throughout the journey of 2020, where each employee’s contribution was valued in building an organization where the fostering of personal and professional success, rather than bureaucracy and hierarchy, was rewarded.

Haresh’s understanding of life success was informed even in the earliest days of his childhood, but perhaps most meaningfully when his family immigrated to the United States shortly after his third birthday. India in the late 70s and early 80s was quite different from what it is today, as the economic opportunities for the undereducated were severely limited.

The Bhungalias came from a farming community and did not like the way the future looked for their children. Haresh’s uncle was in the states working as an engineer for the Air Force at the time, and he, along with his sister’s family, helped Haresh’s parents cross the Atlantic and get their footing in the land of opportunity.

The Bhungalias sacrificed the enjoyment of life’s little luxuries, like going out to dinner, to make sure Haresh and his two younger sisters could attend the best schools and graduate without debt to pay off. When the family moved from India to Detroit, Haresh’s father worked for a chemical factory owned by a friend. He then relocated the family to Chicago to work in electronic manufacturing, but moved them back to Detroit when he was offered a partnership at a manufacturing facility.

Despite an avid commitment to playing basketball with his friends each day after school, Haresh was always driven to earn a living, however small, and picked up a newspaper route when he was 12. At 15, he became a busboy, and at 16, he started working at retail stores.

Around that time, he began to take note of the fact that, whenever his relatives from Chicago came to visit, they would purchase mattresses directly from the manufacturers. Haresh decided to go to the factory himself, negotiating a deeper discount, renting a U-Haul, and taking a truckload down to Chicago.

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“I sold them all and made sure to price everything properly to cover the transportation costs and Taco Bell expenses,” he laughs. He made five trips total, earning around $2,000 per trip. “I didn’t know the word for gross margin, but I knew how to run that business,” he recalls. “I kept things simple, streamlined, and efficient, and these basic, fundamental building blocks are what we still apply in business today.”

Haresh’s entrepreneurial flair was engendered through watching his parents and his father’s business partners who, each with their own personalities and skill sets, put the pieces of success together, brick by brick. He also spent a summer working at his father’s manufacturing facility alongside the other employees, which called for grueling twelve-hour days and 7-day workweeks. “Aside from a strong work ethic, I learned that, if I didn’t want to be doing that for the rest of my life, I needed to really focus on my education,” Haresh remembers. “You can punch the clock 9 to 5, but that only gets you so far. If you really want to make a difference, you’ve got to grind a little harder than that, move up the value chain, and have a vision.”

Thanks to these influences, Haresh had dreams of starting a business from the time he was 15. Analytical thinking and math came easily to him, and he attended the University of Michigan, where he read the Wall Street Journal every day without fail. He worked each summer in the brokerage business at Smith Barney, served as President of the Economics Society, and spent hours in the career center trying to find the opportunity that was right for him.

After graduating with his degree in economics, Haresh got a job at Hewitt Associates, an HR management consulting firm. Under the impression he would be an HR consultant, he was much dismayed when he arrived for his first day of work and was assigned to a systems administration job. He spent the next ten months looking for a new opportunity and eventually spoke to a friend from college, who noted that technology was the way of the future. That friend was working on the technology side of business at Arthur Andersen, and Haresh landed a job there as well, where he was trained on a number of software packages and learned a multitude of other useful skill, including accounting.

During his first assignment, Haresh found out that one member of his team, John, was making $200 an hour.

When he asked John how he had accomplished such a thing, John replied, “Because they think I’m smart.” The two became fast friends, and Haresh watched in awe as John quit the company, started a professional services and technology business of his own, and went from 18

zero to $5 million in revenue within nine months.

Paresh had recently invested in a professional services company, and with the help of John’s mentorship, 24-year-old Haresh convinced that business’s president to bring him on to build out their technology practice for a six figure salary. Several months later, however, the company was acquired, so he convinced Arthur Andersen to take him back at an hourly rate of $175.

By his twenty-fifth birthday, Haresh had mastered business success, but he found himself beginning to want something more—life success. He wanted to build something. That’s when he consulted with Paresh, and the two decided to launch 2020. Haresh continued working at Arthur Andersen during the day, while his nights were dedicated to the startup. The partners utilized their contacts and networks to begin picking up work here and there, but six months into the experience, Haresh realized he would need to go all in if they were going to make 2020 a success.

With that, Haresh resigned from his day job to focus exclusively on the company, yet for the following four years, he didn’t make a dime. When he burned through all his savings, he got personal loans from friends and family—anyone who believed in him. He found himself in $150,000 debt and paying 12 percent interest, not to mention the company’s debt. “If 2020 really fell on its face, my plan was to move to Dallas, where my parents had moved, and live with them,” he explains.

“If I didn’t succeed, I was prepared to own up to that and work through the debt. If you dig yourself into a hole, you have to dig yourself out of it. Thankfully, however, it didn’t get to a point where we had to give up our dreams.”

When 2020 began acquiring clients in the federal government space, he and his wife moved from Chicago to DC in 2004 and began drawing a nominal salary.

Once the company began to win government contracts, which generally run five years in length, its future truly began to materialize. At first, it drew revenues of $400,000. That figure grew to $1 million, fell back to $700,000, swelled back up to $1.8 million, and then began a steady ascent that culminated in an annual run rate of $80 million. Haresh and his team developed direct relationships with paying customers instead of relying on middle companies, allowing them to personally manage those customer relationships. They also focused on expanding their footprints, earning themselves recognition as a trusted partner among the agencies they served.

This rapid success stemmed in large part from Haresh and Paresh’s ability to build a strong leadership

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

team—among the best in the business. They focused on this crucial detail at the very outset, and many of the people they hired in the beginning grew into leadership positions as the company grew. They then began bringing in outside talent in 2006, including senior executives from the Computer Sciences Corporation, Accenture, SAIC, and the FDA. “We put all these people in a room together, and they really jelled,” Haresh remembers. “The management team at 2020 was second to none in the government service marketplace, capturing the heart and soul of 2020 as an employee-centric, customer-focused organization. It is this passion and drive that made 2020 a unique place.”

Indeed, what made the journey of 2020 the most rewarding were its employees—not just the management team, but the individuals servicing the internal and external customers. These individuals fully embraced the culture of 2020, where everyone worked as a team to achieve mutual success. The phrase, “That’s not my job,” was not part of the vocabulary, and everyone stepped in to accomplish whatever task was at hand. “Paresh and I spent a lot of time focusing on building a work environment that was personally and professionally rewarding,” Haresh explains. “We never wanted the cloud of anxiety, caused by unnecessary bureaucracy, to hang over our team as they went through their day.

Of course, everyone was supposed to work hard, as work isn’t supposed to be easy, but we didn’t want any distractions.”

2020 also flourished, rather than failed, thanks to the foresight and independent thinking of its founders. “In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the government contracting community began focusing their energy on supporting national programs,” Haresh recalls. “That left a whole host of things the government still needed that were being neglected. We decided not to join the herd and to instead focus on that list.

We then strategically positioned ourselves to focus on health IT initiatives, which became hot five years after we had already established ourselves in that space.”

Built as a process-driven, metrics-based organization complete with a strong management team, line operational VPs, business development, back office, and client facing personnel, 2020 became a humming 650-person organization. “Our top line revenue was growing in the right direction, and our gross margin was clipping along at the right pace,” says Haresh. “Our net numbers were looking good, and our business pipeline was strong. We found ourselves running like a private equity, and for the final nine to twelve months of our tenure there, we focused on the exit.”

2020 was perhaps the greatest learning experience Haresh and his team could have asked for. They learned the importance of monitoring their compliance, and they learned how to hold the reigns of their management team with enough slack to avoid micromanagement but enough grip to preserve oversight. Learning from the school of hard knocks together, Haresh and Paresh’s bond grew stronger than ever, and though it is often said that it’s lonely at the top, the cousins and partners had each other.

“There are dreams and aspirations, and then there’s reality,” Haresh reminds us, reflecting on the sale of his company. “Did we dream that we would exit?

Absolutely. That’s what we were marching toward from the beginning. It was always about building enterprise value, not a lifestyle business.” The team knew they had built something the market wanted when they started receiving a lot of inbound calls. They then had an investment bank come in and do a valuation toward the end of 2010. At that point, they were $50 million in revenue and had 400 employees. Haresh and Paresh then focused on bringing the business to a new state of perfection, getting it valued several more times and ultimately selling in March of 2012 to the best suitor that committed to maintaining the culture of 2020, including continued employment for the team.

Amidst the exit process, Haresh tried not to get ahead of himself. “It’s an emotional process to let go of a business you grew from nothing,” he remarks. “One day you’re excited, and the next you’re dealing with due diligence.” As the deal was coming together toward the end, however, he began to feel the entrepreneurial itch that had started the whole experience, and he found himself wanting to do it again. “The day-to-day grind of building a business from the bottom up, coming up with a name and a logo, is not all that exciting to me anymore,” he says. “Now, it’s about building companies.

It’s about taking something that’s got good market potential, applying everything we learned through the journey of 2020, and enabling execution of a growth strategy.”

Now the CEO of @Legal Discovery, which is forecasted to do around $3 million in business this year, Haresh continues to pursue his ambitions. He had been an angel investor for the startup, watching it grow from infancy to the burgeoning company it is today.

He also sits on the boards of five other companies, strengthening his market credibility in preparation for a private equity situation in the future.

As Haresh’s professional journey continues to unfold, his life success is cinched by the strong bonds of family Haresh Bhungalia

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and friendship that will certainly be his greatest legacy. Most immediately, those bonds surround his wife, children, and parents, who all live happily together under one roof. Those bonds then extend to a sprawling network of family and friends that numbers in the hundreds, and beyond to the thousands of employees that have joined their lives with his through 2020 and @Legal Discovery. “Being a part of the life journey of our employees is extremely rewarding,” Haresh affirms.

“To watch them get married, have children, buy their first home, and send their children off to college, and know that we’ve participated and contributed, is a way of compounding life success exponentially.”

In advising young people entering the working world today, Haresh emphasizes the importance of remembering where you came from. “You’re going to soar to new heights, so make sure you stay rooted to who you are and what made you,” he says. True to his word, he takes his own children back to India routinely to visit the farming community where his father grew up. He’s

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also helped build schools and a hospital in his father’s village, complete with ambulances and x-ray machines.

Beyond this, Haresh encourages a pursuit of success that doesn’t make life about business, but instead makes business about life. “Success was about achieving financial freedom not just for me, but for everyone around me,” he describes. “It’s about being responsible, accountable citizens of society who contribute in a positive way. My brother and I feel we have a moral responsibility to be a supporting mechanism that helps our family and community achieve their potential, just as they helped us achieve ours.

“Think about the chain,” he continues. “If my aunt and uncle had not supported us when we came here from India, none of this would have been possible. It’s a whole philosophical conversation that extends back in time as far as you can imagine, connecting us all and lending a moral element to business that makes the pursuit not only monetary, but even more so, meaningful.” That’s life success.

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Rick Calder Leading Through Listening When Rick Calder was a boy, he was always moving around. In fact, in one year alone, he and his family moved three times. His father, an officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, was stationed in the Middle East at the time, and his work took the family to several countries, including Syria and Lebanon, all throughout Rick’s childhood. “I had always been told my father was a U.S. State Department official,” he recalls. “It wasn’t until later that he was able to tell me about his employment.”

As was to be expected, the nomadic lifestyle presented some challenges, but it also built a unique foundation in the young boy’s character. In moving around the region, he attended a series of schools for Americans in Middle Eastern countries, and each time, he was challenged to find his way in a new situation. “Socially, you might think of junior high as being pretty difficult in the first place,” he says today.

“But when you’re coming to a school where you don’t know anybody, it’s even more difficult. You have to learn the new environment, build a peer group and a community of friends, and avoid being ostracized. You have to learn to listen to people.”

The ability to enter a new situation, adapt, and rapidly learn to navigate it became an essential skillset for Rick that broadened over time, and experiencing life on multiple continents has given him a unique cultural perspective and understanding of people.

Fast-forwarding to the very recent past, the ability to listen, especially, aided him in a crucial period of his career. Five years ago, already an experienced executive in the telecom industry, Rick was brought on by Global Telecom and Technology (GTT) to be their CEO. GTT had come into existence only nine months previously, when two separate, private telecom companies merged, one American and one European. Both original CEOs had stayed on for a time, and although they had engaged in what Rick now describes as a “pattern of effort at integration,” GTT struggled to find its way, running $50 million in revenue without profits, and essentially unintegrated, with numerous redundancies. When Rick

arrived in this new situation, he began a structured integration right away. The process took six weeks, and listening was the very first step.

“In my first two weeks at GTT,” Rick says, “I talked to each of our 100 or so employees. When I got down to interviewing the network operations staff, the CEO from the European side asked me what I was doing and whom I was meeting with. When I told him, he admitted he had never spoken to them once.”

For some, this leadership style might appear excessively time consuming, but Rick understood that it was an essential step in establishing the compass that would ultimately save precious resources in the long run. “I was getting an understanding of who was in the business,” he affirms, “and what they thought we were about.

I had my opinions going in about what I thought we should do to bring the company to profitability, but these people had been at their respective firms for many years. I definitely made a few changes based on this primary feedback.”

After six weeks, Rick had successfully integrated the two original firms, and in the same year GTT became profitable. “A lot of that goes back to my early youth,” Rick says. “In order to succeed when I was young, I had to learn how to understand new situations, that was based solely upon listening. It’s the only way you get at the real answers to the most vital questions at hand—what is the common culture here? What is the norm?”

When Rick reached high school, he stopped attending schools in the Middle East and started at Northfield Mount Hermon, a boarding school in Massachusetts. This was another new situation that had to be figured out, but it was also that way for many students. For many, high school marks the beginning of a series of new situations and experiences that come faster and faster. The difference was that Rick had already been living an accelerated series of novel environments for years. With his cultivated proficiency in that arena freeing up his attention for other matters, he found plenty still to learn.

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“At Northfield Mount Hermon, I met one of my most revered teachers,” Rick says. “Bill Batty was my English teacher my sophomore year, when I was 14 years old. He was a great motivator and teacher. I learned critically important concepts from him about stories and the nature of storytelling, and about how stories are an essential part of how people communicate with each other and motivate each other. He was an incredible storyteller, himself.”

Rick, who just attended his 30th high school reunion, sees Bill Batty once every four to five years, and still marvels at the way he inspires and motivates others.

Impressive, as well, is that an English teacher was able to win over someone so science-oriented. “Even within the humanities,” Rick says, “I’ve always been more of a history buff than an English buff. But that’s what I learned from him—the power of relating to others through stories and anecdotes.”

After Northfield Mount Hermon, Rick went on to Yale, where he got a BS in electrical engineering. After graduating, he went straight into the telecom industry with Tellabs, which was based in Chicago. As in high school and then college, his focus at Tellabs was in the hard sciences. There, he applied his engineering degree to the task of shrinking computer hardware. But after a year and a half, an opportunity came along that was more aligned with his interests in listening and storytelling: marketing, sales, and management.

“The CEO at Tellabs eventually said that we needed a few more people in the marketing division to bridge our sales people to our engineers,” Rick explains. “As an engineer with a background in liberal arts, I fit well into that mold. So I joined their small marketing band, and it was really fun!”

As an engineer, Rick had an insular experience dealing with a computer terminal. But the change he made at Tellabs was one that ideally suited him, and he embraced it. And while much of his technical expertise has since lapsed, he still maintains a firm basis for understanding technology and the jargon of technologists.

“The CEO was Mike Birck,” Rick says, “and I was very impressed by him. In part, he was what set me on the path of entrepreneurship. He had taken a big risk, leaving a firm to form Tellabs in 1975 in his kitchen and then growing it to a $100 million enterprise by the time I joined. I always admired him, and once I got the opportunity to get into the marketing and sales side of things, I never looked back.”

As Rick’s talents and potential grew, Tellabs encouraged him to attend business school. But at the 22

end of Harvard’s MBA program, Rick faced a significant dilemma: Tellabs would only pay for the program if he came back to their headquarters in Chicago, but his long-term girlfriend lived in Washington, DC. Analyzing his options, Rick consulted the Harvard Business School directory, looking for individuals in telecom in Washington. The first name that came up was Brian Thompson. “Brian Thompson was a very senior executive at MCI at the time,” Rick says. “I called his office prepared to speak to his assistant, but then he answered his phone personally. I was dumbstruck.

I had a script ready for the assistant, but here I was talking to the man, himself.”

Brian helped with some introductions, and a few months later, Rick accepted an offer from MCI. “It was a hard decision at the time,” he says, “but I am absolutely certain I made the right call.”

As Rick continued his career in marketing, business development, and management, he drew more on his formative experiences as a child and young adult than he did on his specific academic training. On top of the ability to decode new situations that he developed out of necessity, important lessons came directly from his parents as well.

“The most interesting lesson my dad imparted,” Rick says, “was this concept of really understanding people and how they’re motivated, which is key for a career in the CIA.” Ultimately, for him, the whole concept was about listening. And that’s true in leadership as well. If anything, most people in business talk too much. They talk, and they don’t listen. The concept of listening was really taught to me, both by my parents and by my experiences.”

After working at MCI, Rick went on to co-found a wireless communication company and then to serve in senior management positions in several telecom firms. Then, seventeen years after Brian Thompson helped Rick come to Washington, the two had another conversation about Global Telecom and Technology, of which Brian Thompson was the chairman.

“While we had not come to know each other that well in the intervening years, we had many mutual acquaintances, and we trusted our networks,” Rick says. “The past five years have shown the wisdom of that. We just finished our latest acquisition—the fifth major company we have added to the consolidated GTT—and we’re growing rapidly. We have a strategy to grow, both organically in our three segments of enterprise, government, and wholesale, and through acquisitions. We plan to grow the business in the next 3 to 5 years to four or five times the scale we are at today.”

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Today, Rick sees GTT as the biggest success of his career so far. In advising young entrepreneurs just entering the business world and hoping to find success of their own, he encourages those interested in a similar path to always be willing to do the menial work at first.

“In business,” he explains, “your supervisors will ask you to do all kinds of things. Just jump in and do all the things you can to learn about the business. Those things might not be fun at first, but you stand to learn a lot and demonstrate your willingness to get anything done that gets put in front of you. That’s key.”

Beyond his professional success, Rick is most proud of his family. From meeting his wife in college in his freshman year, to finding a way to be with her in Washington, to having three children together,

the Calders know what’s most important in life and aren’t afraid to stand by that principle. “Going to every sporting event or activity with my kids is the most fun I have,” he affirms with a laugh. “I had to miss one recently because clients were in town and wanted to meet me. That was important, but it was such a disappointment to miss out on that time with my kids.

In my professional career, I get a lot of enjoyment from my business successes. But in my personal life, nothing compares to the reward and motivation I get from watching my children grow and succeed.” In learning how to listen, both at home and in the office, one acquires the elemental building block of leadership— that building block upon which strong successes and enduring happiness are created.

Rick Calder

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Tony Cancelosi Light in the Dark When Tony Cancelosi’s father was in his seventies, he lost his eyesight. Like many of the 300 million other people living with visual impairments or blindness in the world today, he was devastated. Like those 300 million people, however, he did not have to go through it alone. As President and CEO of Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind (CLB), Tony Cancelosi is committed to making sure these individuals know that, though the world may have gone dark, light remains.

“When people receive the bad news that they’re going blind, it’s easy to isolate themselves from the rest of the world and fall into depression,” he affirms. “It’s my hope that we make it less easy to do that by reaching out with the aim to resurrect them back into society where they belong.”

CLB was founded on May 17, 1900, with the primary purpose of creating job opportunities for visually impaired and blind individuals. Society had begun to realize that, within their own family and their own community, people were losing their sight but not their intellectual capacity to think and to interact with others. In those days, CLB focused on career opportunities that ranged from making brooms to caning chairs, and individuals were equipped with the skills they needed to make and then sell those products. As time passed and more people began losing their sight due to obesity, diabetes, genetics, and the aging population, the organization swelled. Today, 14 million people are living in the United States with visual impairment or blindness, and though 9 million of them are of a working age, between 18 and 68 years old, over 50 percent of them are unemployed.

Thanks to technological advancements, however, this is changing. More products are being created to allow these individuals to lead independent, normal lives, and CLB is embracing those innovations to press the limits of what we used to think was possible. Today, the organization runs eight government contracts with individuals working at Andrews Air Force Base, handling sophisticated incoming and outgoing communications with the help of specialized computer

technology, earphones, and communications links. “A person who is visually impaired or blind still retains all the creativity, mind, and spirit of someone with perfect vision, and we help them to maximize that potential in the workplace,” Tony explains.

As a regional agency connected to 89 other agencies around the country, CLB is local in scope but with worldwide affiliation. At present, it has a $5 million budget and a team of around 85 employees. “Our vision is independence for the people we assist,” Tony affirms.

“Employment relies on an individual’s ability to be independent—to grocery shop, cook, and ride the metro—which is why we weave these skills into our training.”

Tony came to CLB in 2005, when the organization found itself approaching a time of change in which its internal controls could be adjusted to maximize its profitability for resources to serve its constituency. The enterprise realized it needed to change the demographics of the organization such that it could reach deeper into potential government contracts, utilize more technology, create more partnerships, and identify more corporate donors and sponsorships. Amidst the evolution, the CLB team needed a new President and CEO—someone who had corporate experience, a familiarity with technology, experience working with people with disabilities, and a strategy that could really connect them to the corporate world, the government world, and the community.

When the opportunity arose, Tony had just sold a company and was helping a friend buy and sell companies as well. Previously, he served as Chairman of the board of a large nonprofit, worked with Vietnam veterans for years, and participated on the board for the International Center for the Disabled, so as a corporate executive; he had substantial involvement with people with disabilities. “Donors, corporate givers, foundations, and government contracts are challenging nonprofits today to operate more like a business,” he explains. Though many applied for the opportunity to lead CLB in this endeavor, Tony was named the best Tony Cancelosi

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man for the job.

He accepted the position at CLB not for its shine, but for its tarnish. “It needed financial improvement and new Board Members,” Tony remembers. “It needed to be revitalized, and I’ve always rooted for the underdog. I love taking an antique and giving it new life. And when I look at the 200,000 visually impaired or blind people in this region, I saw that it was a large market share that we could truly build and expand the enterprise to serve. I started to look at what kind of impact I could make, and it was enormous.”

Growing up in South Philadelphia where the Rocky movies were filmed, impact was always something in the forefront of his mind. As a typical Italian family, the Cancelosis lived on the same street along with Tony’s grandparents, uncles, and aunts. “With the Catholic Church and the Italian market nearby, it was like growing up in Italy,” he laughs. When his grandfather came to America, he started a small farm in New Jersey, and his grandparents instilled in the family important values such as love, compassion, and generosity. “For instance, my father would come home with tons of vegetables and would give them all away to the neighbors,” Tony remembers. “Likewise, my mother would always make meals for other people. It was a ‘giving back’ environment, building a passion for helping others that might need you.”

When Tony was eight, the family moved to a new neighborhood, and without the Italian influences, it was like entering another world. His first job was selling Philadelphia’s famous pretzels to customers in different tailors’ shops around the area. His father wanted him to become a bricklayer, which he tried for one summer and decided it was not the future for him. “I would also help unload crates of strawberries and honeydew melons off my father’s truck to stay in shape,” he laughs. “My father was a professional fighter in his younger years, and I was a Joe Lewis Golden Glove Boxer, which taught me the discipline to train and work hard. It’s a discipline that has stayed with me over the years.”

Tony attended college on scholarship at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where he became passionate about learning how to put things together. “I was interested in being methodological and having attention to detail,” he remembers. While there, he met his wife and developed aspirations to become a computer salesman. He went to work selling dictating machines at Pomeranz, a famous stationary store in Philadelphia, where he remembers learning how to hear his own voice. “You build confidence as you start to do things, and I started getting more confident that I could get up 26

in front of a group and talk to people,” he affirms. “Sales started to become natural for me.”

After college, Tony’s first job was with Control Data in sales, and in the twenty years he spent there, he transitioned into a management position and moved down to DC to work in the federal marketing division, exposing him to the federal space for the first time. “I thought I could do more strategic thinking and wanted to develop my management skills, as well as my ability to solve problems,” he remembers. “I wanted to learn how to motivate other people, creating an environment for people to accomplish things and enjoy what they’re doing. You can learn a lot about someone through observation—how they treat people, how they do things, and who they are as individuals. My mother and father didn’t have much education, but they did have this interpersonal skill that made people feel welcome and at ease.”

During his tenure at Control Data, an opportunity arose to join a group that would build a countrywide network to create an online education system. At the time, Tony was part of an organization that ran training centers around the country, some of which conducted testing for NASDAQ, so he was invited to join the initiative. Thus, they created a company called Key Systems in 1985, which was then able to acquire a company that was manufacturing Tudor, a program that would train people on Word Perfect. Tony left Control Data to raise money for this new venture, which allowed Key Systems to buy the Sylvan Learning name from Kindercare. They then took that public in 1991—the ultimate something-from-nothing story.

By that time, Tony had departed to serve as CEO for a government contracting organization, and he began to get a sense of the skills he would need to develop in order to push companies past his previous threshold. “As you mature into your profession, you become known as you achieve, and as that occurs, you put another notch in your belt,” he explains. “If you try to take a leap when you’re not ready, you’re going to miss the boat.” With this in mind, he focused for several years on doing corporate federal contract leases that culminated in several large transactions.

After selling that company, Tony took over the worldwide software business of ICL, an English firm that proved to be the second largest computer manufacturer in Europe. While the enterprise was worldwide, it was somewhat small, but Tony was committed to changing that. He focused on building relationships in the US with EDS and Motorola, eventually selling the business to a Fortune 500 Company. “At that point, I was realizing

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

I had the capacity to leave when I have to leave, get into something else, make an impact, and leave again, usually in three to five year increments,” he details. “Collectively, that gave me about ten years of international experience.”

After ICL, Tony did some consulting and was then contacted to help put together a startup company focusing on voiceover IP. The company needed investors and a CEO to run it, so Tony was asked to come put together the team and the board of directors. He did so, increasing revenue and running the business for four years before bringing in new management and leaving in pursuit of his next venture. “We started at a small roundtable in Reston, Virginia, with a $2 million investment, and ended up selling to another company,” he explains. “We survived the Dotcom era.” Again, he had created something out of nothing and left an organization stronger and more robust than he had found it.

Tony then began working for Eye Bright, a friend’s company that was developing compression technology to go onto a handheld device for MapQuest on AOL. Another company he worked for, Estara, created a number of technology tools that have become staples of everyday life. “Disney’s website uses our click-and-talk capability,” he points out. “For another client, we created single sign on technology for them in 1991. When I can see these things I’ve helped to create for use in everyday life, it’s more rewarding than if I made millions and millions of dollars. It’s about integrating people, systems, and internal controls, and about putting things in place.

It involves organization management, structure, and corporate formulation—how you create a company to function properly. But even more so, it’s about understanding the kind of impact you want to make on society. Voiceover IP was a major impact, as was training and education through the Sylvan Learning Centers.”

Today, with CLB, Tony is focused on making that impact even bigger. “It’s a chronic disease that’s effecting diverse populations,” he points out. “17 percent of the returning soldiers are now visually impaired or blind, and with the aging veteran population, the problem is growing more severe. What makes things worse, 85 percent of people are stricken with depression when they originally lose their vision. With these statistics in mind, I see our organization growing to serve more of the population by creating more partnerships, getting more government contracts, and focusing on veterans, seniors, and children, creating the kinds of programs that truly help them find happiness and productivity.

And the most important thing is letting them know we’re there for them. And when we create new ways of helping

here, they’re replicated in the 89 other organizations we’re connected to, generating a global impact. That’s what we’re striving for.”

In order to serve with the highest level of effectiveness, Tony knows that his team must be cohesive and communicative—qualities they’ve attained and continue to improve. “Each of the 84 people in our organization knows what our mission is, and that mission-driven work is perhaps the best kind of work,” he explains. “When you’re committed to a mission, that concept is bigger than you not feeling up to it on any given day. It’s bigger than you, and you’re committed to doing your best.” Tony is also committed to sustaining this momentum by embracing an open door policy, allowing his employees to voice their opinions to him.

“We embrace freedom of speech here,” he says. “I aim to give my employees ownership, allowing them to fulfill their personal missions within the broader mission of the company. We are about mutual respect, and I want to hear from everyone in our organization.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Tony emphasizes the importance of a holistic and complete honesty to oneself and others.

“When it comes to who you are, what you want to do, and what you’re willing to do, always tell the truth,” he stresses. “If you decide you want to be self-made, you have to be honest with yourself about what reality is all about. Never take yourself to an extreme that you can’t come back from. Always have a contingency plan along the way, and truthfulness to yourself is the way to maintain that.”

Beyond that, Tony reminds others to remember the important things in life—the things that make life better for yourself and those around you. Remembering that his wife and children are the most important things in his life gives him strength to be the best leader he can be, which makes CLB a better organization. He also takes time out to volunteer as a Santa Claus for charity during the holiday season, and he has authored a children’s book whose proceeds go to CLB as well.

By looking for ways to give back, both big and small, one’s impact grows from raindrops to creeks to rivers to river systems. For adults 65 and older, the odds of experiencing vision loss are 1 in 3, compared to 1 in 6 for a man to develop prostate cancer, and 1 in 9 for a woman to develop breast cancer. Every seven minutes, someone may be diagnosed with vision loss. Yet if we as a society are committed to widening our impact and finding solutions that improve the lives of those around us, we can lend hope to the statistics and light to a world that’s gone dark.

Tony Cancelosi

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Ken Chaletzky The Trailblazer Ken Chaletzky’s father was in real estate. His father’s father was in real estate. His uncle and brother followed suit as well. With three Chaletzky generations diving into the field, Ken’s path seemed like a given. “All my life I thought I would go into the family business,” he recalls today. “That’s what I was groomed for. That’s what I expected.”

After graduating from George Washington University, he headed down to Florida to begin working with his uncle, building condominiums and singlefamily homes. But what was supposed to be the beginning of a long, safe career working for a well-established family business lasted only a year and a half before Ken decided he needed to make his own way—a decision motivated by frustration with the family’s reluctance to embrace new ideas. “My uncle bought two lots that were only a block away from each other. And I said, ‘Let me handle one of them. I’ll use the same budget, and I’ll see what I can do with it.’ So we took the same model house, and I took some money out of certain areas and put it in the kitchen instead. I put in a self-cleaning oven, which was pretty novel back then, as well as an icemaker in the refrigerator and a few other things. To make a long story short, my house sold before it was finished being constructed. My uncle’s house, which he built the way he built all the others, didn’t sell for a couple of months after it was finished. And when it came time to build the next house, he still wanted to build it the old way.” Ken knew his need to innovate wouldn’t be satisfied in such an environment. He needed to trail blaze. With that, he headed off to the University of Pennsylvania’s MBA program, the Wharton School, with dreams of starting his own business.

Today, Ken is the President and CEO of Copy General (CG), an innovative, industry-leading operation. Through a series of joint ventures, there are now 50 Copy General locations in five countries. His commitment to looking over the horizon has served him well in the ever-evolving copy business, and he’s

worked hard to remove himself from the daily operation of the company so as to focus on its direction and evolution. “My job is to make sure we’re here five years from now,” he says with a smile. With this commitment in mind, Ken has led Copy General through several iterations. Today, Copy General is an all-digital printer specializing in technical documentation, direct mail marketing, training and education materials, but ever looking forward, it is committed to keeping pace with new technologies. “It isn’t what a layperson might think of as a traditional copy shop,” he points out. “Offset is what most people think of as ‘printing,’ with liquid inks, plates, and big monstrous presses gobbling up lots of paper. We don’t own any offset printing equipment—never have, never will. Instead, we print with large digital presses. In fact, we just took delivery of the Xerox iGen150, the first in the United States. At 32 feet long and about 4 or 5 tons, it prints very high quality color at 150 pages a minute. That’s where we invest our money—in new technologies.” That investment pays off in spades, as it allows Copy General to keep pace with the fast turnaround their customers have come to expect of digital services.

In an industry that Ken estimates has shrunk by at least a third since its peak in the 1990s, the story of CG’s survival and success has been a series of leaps into the unknown. Although the company wouldn’t exist for years to come, the story begins back at George Washington University (GW), where Ken worked on the campus newspaper, The Hatchet, selling ads.

Ever committed to his clients, his introduction to the printing world was almost accidental. “I was always on the business side, and I knew nothing about printing,” he remembers. “But I could envision what the customer wanted their ad to look like, and I didn’t know how to explain it to the printers. I taught myself how to use the equipment so I could make the ads up myself. To me, that was faster than trying to explain it to someone and saying, ‘No, not quite like that.’ So that’s how I ended up as the production manager and learned how to use all

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the typesetting equipment.”

Just as fatefully, in 1969, Ken decided to hire an assistant, and the man for the job turned out to be his future business partner and Copy General’s co-founder, Dirck Holscher. In 1974, after graduating from GW and undergoing his short tenure in real estate, and after earning his MBA at Wharton, he and Dirck founded the first CG—Circle Graphics, a typesetting company.

A few years after that, in 1979, they took a second leap.

The copier in Circle Graphics’ Georgetown office broke down, and an employee was sent to make copies at the local copy shop, only to find it had shut down. “Oh, darn, perhaps we’ll have to start one ourselves,” Dirck had said half-jokingly, and an idea for expansion was born.

The partners called their new business Copies of Georgetown, cannily preserving their CG logo and saving money on advertising. “We made about every mistake you could make, but we started to refine the model,” Ken details. “At one point we were the largest copy chain in Washington, with six stores all over the downtown business area, from Georgetown to the Air & Space Museum.” By that time, the name had changed to Copy General to reflect the growing size of the business and because, with the success of big companies like General Electric and General Motors, “general” was a buzzword of the day. Business suffered during the 1989 recession, but the partners again adapted. A site originally used for overflow work out in Sterling, Virginia, had to become self-sufficient as business dried up, and a team was sent to expand sales into Virginia. The effort was successful, and Copy General was officially operating outside D.C. The next leap took the business much further afield.

Ever cognizant of the next opportunity, and ever eager to stay on the cutting edge, Ken received an offer too exciting to refuse. “My old editor from The Hatchet had sold his typesetting business and had a big chunk of change,” Ken remarks. “He was over in Eastern Europe when the Berlin Wall came down. He saw opportunity in the Eastern Bloc as a result of the fall of the Berlin Wall and came back to us and said, ‘How would you like to open a copy shop in Budapest?’ We thought he was a little nuts, but it was his money and our expertise, so we thought, “What the hell. This is going to be a lot of fun!’”

Opening a business in Eastern Europe right after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc was hardly an easy feat, as it turned out. “Everything that had to be done, had to be done without a safety net—without any existing structures of support, or any models to look 30

to for guidance,” Ken explains. “It took us a long time to get a store open, because in communist countries, there is no real estate because the government owns everything. You can’t just go to a commercial real estate agent because that infrastructure doesn’t exist, and there was very little retail space in Budapest. It took us almost a year before we finally found a retail location, which we dug out of the basement of an apartment building. But when our first store opened in June of 1991, it was an immediate success. People were lined up out of the door and down the sidewalk for the opportunity to make copies.” Their decision was bold enough to attract the attention of the New York Times, and the Sunday magazine wrote an article about their endeavors.

After that initial success, the business continued to grow. In 1992, CG, now Copy General, opened another store in Prague. A year later, they made their debut in Warsaw, and in 1995, they opened their first store in Moscow.

As with its adaptability back home, CG didn’t go into Eastern Europe expecting to copy and paste its success in the US. “A number of American franchises tried to set up operations there and were not successful,” Ken recalls. “The reason was that they came in with the American model and said, ‘We’re the Americans. We know how to do it, and here’s what it should be like.’

That approach doesn’t work. We, on the other hand, adapted to the locale we were in.”

A big part of that adaptability involved getting to know the people who would be their customers and, in some cases, their employees. Paul Panitz, the former Hatchet editor who had put up the money for the expansion, insisted that they become a part of the community. “We were not allowed to stay in hotels, because how can you expect to build a company with these people when you’re staying in a hotel that costs nightly what they make in a month?” Ken poses.

“Instead, we had a company flat in the working class area where our first store was, and that’s where Paul actually lived for 2 or 3 years.” Ken himself took the idea a step further and stayed on the outskirts of Budapest with a local family, who he remains close with today. “I visit them every time I go over there, and we ended up hiring their daughter and son-in-law to work for us,” he says.

Today, CG’s overseas businesses are locally run. The managing director in Europe is a Prague local, Roman Petr. Another couple working with Paul to start the Czech operation were attempting to order some bread at a local bakery when they met Roman, a young man

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

working in the back who spoke a little English and helped translate. “The next day they came back to get fresh bread, and there was a note waiting for them. It began with the words that sort of live in history with us now,” Ken recalls laughingly. “‘I am the boy from last night…’ Roman offered to be a translator and a guide in the city, and now he runs the whole operation, which has 500 employees and grosses as much as $50 million a year. He’s just brilliant.”

Roman is only one of the many employees who have grown with the company across years and decades.

“I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been surrounded by great people,” Ken avows. “My current comptroller, for instance, has been with us almost 30 years. It’s the only job he’s ever had, I trust him absolutely. And the General Manager, Laura, has been with us over 20 years. People don’t leave us. I like to think it’s because we’re a good place to work.”

This staying power is generated through Ken’s leadership style, which revolves around the central theme of trust. He never micromanages, and instead allows his employees to figure out their own schedules.

As long as the work is done, he has faith in their ability to manage their time. “I don’t often think of myself as a leader,” he says modestly. “I like to think that what I’m good at is finding good people, and then I leave them alone! I give them goals, and I may give them some guidelines in terms of budgets or what have you, but aside from that, I don’t check in with them every day.” He thinks of this style of management as being goal-oriented over process-oriented, and it’s served him well.

When reflecting on where he may have learned to take such leaps of faith in business, Ken cites his grandfather’s influence. “While my father was more cautious, my grandfather was one of the great wheelerdealers in real estate,” he affirms. “From him, I learned the value of risk taking.” His mother also influenced him deeply, teaching him to be self-reliant and responsible. “She didn’t go to college because there was

no money for college in her family, but she was very, very bright,” he says. “She loved books and read a book a day.” He’s also continually inspired by his brilliant 29-year-old daughter and compassionate 26-year-old son, who is currently teaching children on the autism spectrum.

As he admiringly reflects on his son’s work, he is quick to advise young people entering the business world today not to feel pressured into doing what’s safe or what’s most lucrative. He remembers meeting an old man during his unhappy year in Florida working in real estate, and relays the same advice he received then. “He told me something, probably when I was moaning and groaning about how miserable I was down there,” Ken recalls. “He said, ‘Do what you want to do. Do what you enjoy and the money will follow.’

There are too many kids coming out of school today, especially business school, that focus on questions like, what’s the biggest offer I’m getting? Where am I going to make the most money? A lot of them don’t end up happy. It’s more important to focus on doing what you enjoy doing, where your interests are, where your heart is, and not worry about the money. The money will follow.”

By following that advice, Copy General is today one of the leading all-digital printers in the area, and the largest in Loudoun County. “We have some of the most advanced technology, especially for a company our size,” Ken points out. “We have a full time software development team, and we’ve designed everything ourselves. We didn’t want to wait for other companies to decide to make an upgrade, or charge us outrageous amounts.” That philosophy of not waiting on someone else and instead taking up the reigns oneself has characterized Ken’s journey since he began printing ads himself at GW, and has stayed with him throughout Copy General’s expansion, evolution, and growth. He may not think of himself as a leader, but he certainly has never followed a prescribed path, committed instead to blazing his own trail.

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Jamie Rappaport Clark The Science of Saving Jamie Rappaport Clark crept through the woods as silently as the branches and leaves underfoot would allow her to be, and thought of how differently she was spending her summer vacation from her peers. Most of her classmates at Towson University were probably tanning on a beach somewhere, or perhaps trying on their new business suits to prepare for job interviews.

Jamie, however, was in the middle of the wilderness, stalking peregrine falcon chicks. “I was teamed up with Cornell University, releasing and tracking these peregrines at a site on the Chesapeake Bay,” Jamie explains. “I followed the chicks every day to make sure they were fed and safe from predators. It was the leading edge recovery effort for the falcons after they were nearly wiped out by DDT and other pesticides.”

Twenty years later, Jamie stood at the podium at the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho. While she usually avoids public speaking at all costs, she felt privileged that day, and before the nation’s premiere falcon and raptor researchers, she proudly announced that the peregrine falcons had fully recovered as a species and were to be officially removed from the endangered species list. It was an emotional moment for Jamie, who was then serving as the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “To have worked releasing them as a kid in college, and to then be announcing the bird’s recovery success as the director, was very exciting,” she remembers. “It’s very rare to see such full circle success because conservation outcomes, especially those involving endangered species, are very long term.

You’re not in this field for instant gratification; rather, you watch trends and keep plugging away.”

Today, Jamie is the President and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of native plants and animals in their natural environments. Founded in 1947, the organization focuses on protecting the whole of biodiversity through a unique blend of science, policy, advocacy, and law, as seen in the scientists, conservation biologists, in-house lawyers, lobbyists,

and policy experts that make up the organization’s 140 employees. “Defenders is a science-based wildlife conservation organization,” Jamie describes. “We do more than just advocate. Our scientists and policy experts inform policymakers and federal and state agencies, such as the Department of the Interior and state fish and game agencies.” It’s the science of saving species, and Jamie has been practicing it all her life.

While Defenders participates in some international work, the organization primarily focuses on conservation activities in North America.

They are well known for their work to restore gray wolves back to Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies, for their efforts to protect habitat and wildlife corridors for Florida panthers, and for their work with ranchers and other landowners to provide the tools and education to live safely and productively on the landscape with wolves, grizzly bears, panthers, and other top predators. “While we work with the full breadth of biodiversity, we’ve stayed true to the mission of the organization by focusing on protecting predators, which are often misunderstood,” Jamie notes. “Many of the wolves and grizzlies we work with are called apex predators. The logic behind our approach is that, if you take care of the top species in an ecosystem, you naturally takes care of all those species that depend on that ecological system as well.”

Jamie’s work at Defenders is but one link in the extensive chain that is her career in conservation—a career that stems from the deep love of animals and nature that she has harbored since childhood. Though she was born in New York City, her time there was short-lived. Her father was in the Army, so the family moved Jamie and her four siblings every year and a half.

“I had no roots,” she laughs. “I attended two different second grades and three different high schools, so as a result I’m incredibly flexible and adaptable.” Her father’s final duty station was in Northern Maryland, so upon retiring, the family finally laid its roots down in the area.

Because the family grew up with limited means, Jamie and her siblings had to earn the things they wanted. The Jamie Rappaport Clark

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children shared everything, and she learned the value of money from an early age. “I would babysit for fifty cents an hour, but it added up, so by the time I reached middle school, I had saved up enough to buy myself a ski jacket. I was so proud of that jacket that I wore it all the way through college,” she recalls. “Today, that upbringing has made me incredibly sensitive to the gifts people give to Defenders. We are a nonprofit, and the donations we receive are people’s hard earned money, so we really appreciate that and work hard to spend it wisely.”

Despite all the moving around she and her family did, she found that as long as she had a pet, she was happy. “I loved being around animals. It felt good to me, because their love for humans is so unconditional,” she says. “I would go through the neighborhood looking for animals, and I’d bring them home with me. I’d say, ‘Look, Mom, it’s a stray, can we keep him?’ And she’d tell me, ‘No, Jamie, that’s Mr. Smith’s dog, who lives four houses down. Take him back.’”

Jamie went on to attend Fairfield University in Connecticut, where she began pursuing all the necessary courses to go to Veterinary School. She transferred to Towson University in Maryland for her junior and senior years to be closer to her mother, who had fallen suddenly ill. The summer before her senior year, after being nominated by her professors, she was selected to work with Cornell University on the recovery project to release peregrine falcons on the east coast.

Jamie spent eight weeks at the release site on the Chesapeake Bay—the experience that ultimately led her to realize that vet school was not the path for her after all. “I loved being outside and reconnecting with conservation at its core,” she recalls of that transformational time in her life. “It exposed me to the world of ecology, and to the art of putting the puzzle pieces together of how conservation impacts the health of the planet.”

Around that time, her work in conservation was supplemented by reading Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Although Carson had died by the time Jamie was introduced to her work, her legacy served as a constant source of inspiration to the young woman.

“She was a trained naturalist and writer, and she cared deeply enough to give her life to conservation,” Jamie notes. “She taught me that one person really can make a difference.” Having decided against veterinary school once and for all, she attained her Master’s Degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Maryland.

While working on her thesis, Jamie was hired as a research technician in Cardiovascular Respiratory 34

Physiology and the treatment of chemical warfare agents at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Her research provided her an opportunity to earn her PhD in Physiology, but she quickly realized that it was not the right fit for her after all. The PhD would lead her into the research world and academia, so Jamie moved on to become, at the time, the sole female wildlife biologist working with the National Guard and Army on endangered species and land conservation nationwide.

The military proved to be an excellent place to work as a conservation biologist, since the Department of Defense has extensive amounts of land rich in biodiversity. “They had to comply with environmental laws just like everyone else,” Jamie explains. “Because of encroaching development, these military lands have become islands of biodiversity, and the wildlife doesn’t mind the bombing and testing that occurs.” While working with the military, Jamie developed the ability to deal with conflict and negotiate with high-ranking Generals, and by the time she was twenty-nine, she had risen through the ranks to be appointed the Department of Army’s first wildlife biologist at their headquarters in Washington, DC. During this time, Jamie met a fellow biologist, Jim Clark, who was working for the military in Southern Maryland. He was relocated to Alaska to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doing research on grizzly bears, but the two kept in touch until he was transferred to a national wildlife refuge off the coast of Texas to oversee the whooping crane recovery program. They began dating despite their long distance status and eventually eloped. Much to Jamie’s dismay, however, their marriage did not solve the problem of distance. “When you’re married, you’re supposed to live with that person,” she laughs. “So I decided to shift my professional path somewhat and work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so Jim and I could align our careers.” They continued to live apart for a short time as Jamie began working intensively in the Pacific Northwest on the northern spotted owl and other endangered species, until a gas leak during a maintenance operation caused Jim’s house to burn down. “Everything he had was suddenly gone,” Jamie describes. “So he relocated to Washington, and we were transferred together to the desert southwest. Luckily, our careers have moved in tandem ever since.”

The Clarks spent two years in Albuquerque when Jamie received a call from the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, asking her to come back to D.C. to oversee the rebuilding of the endangered species program for the agency and work on reauthorization

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

of the Endangered Species Act. She accepted, and the couple moved back to Washington, where they have been ever since. “My work on the Endangered Species Act gave me increasing visibility, since I could problem solve and work in tense environments,” Jamie notes.

Her work also gave her great exposure on Capitol Hill, and she was promoted up the ladder to become the first woman appointed in the Senior Executive Service ranks of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “I was thirty-five and working in Rachel Carson’s former office in the Interior Department,” Jamie marvels. “She was my greatest mentor, and it seemed too good to be true.”

Jamie’s success continued so that, in 1997, when President Clinton was elected for his second term, she was nominated by the President to take over as the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “It was very quick and scary, especially because I was a career biologist, so I had very little political orientation,” she confesses. “I was hesitant to take on the job because I felt it was something I wasn’t qualified to do and it would take me further away from the wildlife and the outdoors I enjoyed so much. I had a close working relationship with the Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt, and the other people in charge. They believed in me, making it possible for me to step up and work hard to not let them down.”

Despite her hesitations, Jamie was confirmed by the Senate in July of 1997, making history at the age of thirty-nine as the youngest person to serve as director.

During her tenure, she also gave birth to her son, whom she named Carson, after Rachel Carson. It was a wonderful and challenging time, and after four busy years, when Clinton left office, Jamie did as well.

After stepping down from her presidential political appointment, Jamie took on consulting work for the Nature Conservancy. While she loved the Conservancy for many reasons, she ultimately accepted a senior conservation position with the National Wildlife Federation. “It was a very personal decision because I could spend more time with my son, and I had recently lost my mother, whom I was very close to,” she remembers. “I needed to decompress a little, especially after my time in government appointment, and the National Wildlife Federation position closer to home gave me the chance to do that.”

Jamie was then hired by Defenders of Wildlife in 2004 as Executive Vice President, a position specifically created for succession to President and CEO. In October of 2011, she took over as President and CEO. “It’s a great fit here,” she notes. “It’s allowed me to focus on my passion and roots in wildlife conservation,

advocacy, policy, and science. With a team of 140, it’s like a microcosm of the Fish and Wildlife Service, which has a staff of nine thousand.”

Still, Jamie’s presidency has not come without its challenges. Because she inherited the organization in the midst of the Great Recession, she had to downsize during her first week at the helm. She had to make hard decisions, but with the help of the board chair, combined with her knowledge, relationships, and network, she was able to resolve most of the financial problems within her first year as president. She then devised a new strategic plan to keep the company effective, strong, and focused on conservation outcomes for the future.

In many ways, Jamie feels she stumbled upon her career success. “I like being in waders out in a river, studying wildlife and solving conservation problems.” she says. “But I kept trying new things. I would get these great opportunities, but often, I simply ran out of hours in the day. I did most of the course work for my PhD, but I never finished my dissertation. I was offered a spot at Georgetown Law School, but I had a young son and a demanding job to balance already. As far as I was concerned, though, if I was making a difference, and folks thought I was value added, that was incredibly fulfilling to me.”

Jamie credits her success to her military upbringing, which taught her to adapt to any situation, but mostly to her mother, who was her biggest cheerleader, and pushed her to never give up. This, in part, has enabled her to be the leader she is today, working with and managing people with proficiency and grace. “I feel what I lack in brilliance, I make up for in common sense, and so much of leadership is common sense,” she laughs. “I really strive to be consensus-oriented. I’m able to make those tough decisions though, so that we come out at the end of the day with a unified product.

Some like to use the position of CEO for power, but I care more about results. Power doesn’t fulfill me. I’m happy to lead from all sides, and I try to not make quick decisions so as not to lose creativity from my senior management team.”

With her unique background, Jamie may be a rarity in her workplace, but she uses this to her advantage.

“I’m one of the few CEOs in the environmental sector that’s a biologist,” she remarks. “Most people in this role are business and finance types, and there are very few people that have the executive branch experience that I do. I may be considered an oddity, but my experience gives me the unique perspective needed to overcome the conservation challenges we face today.“ Despite her success, Jamie’s greatest obstacle has been Jamie Rappaport Clark

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her introverted nature and her unease with public speaking and visibility. “I’ve had to testify in Congress, and recently I was invited to do a series of talks at Skidmore College. I’ve found that the more you do, the easier it gets,” she notes. “I always remind myself that what I matters, and I believe that my son and his generation deserve better than what my generation will deliver. Our kids and our grandkids deserve a healthy planet with healthy natural resources—that’s the legacy each generation leaves to the next.”

While her lecture series at Skidmore College helped her continue to overcome her fear of public speaking, she was also able to firm up the advice she would give to young people entering the workforce today. “We were talking about why conservation matters, and I told those students that when they come out of school, they don’t need to be trained scientists to make a difference,” she explains. “It really comes down to having an appreciation for science and for the fundamental elements of how important the web of life is, and how it impacts our physical space. You can’t argue a case unless you understand what you’re arguing for, so you need that basic comprehension of science to know how it fits together. If you’re in business making decisions that affect the economy of this country, it’s important to understand how science influences the health of the economy and the change of the climate. Climate change

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is the transformational issue of our generation, and will be for those who come after us. The science of what a changing climate is doing today to the economic and environmental fabric of our planet is something we need to care about.”

In the end, Jamie’s message is one that every American should adhere to, especially as the nation stands at its current crossroads. The recession has forced businesses and government to their knees in an effort to plug the country’s financial bleeding, while at the same time, strange and devastating deviations in weather patterns have brought global climate change to the forefront of the nation’s attention. Both the economy and the environment are suffering, and while many people believe the two are too contradictory in nature to be solved simultaneously, Jamie argues for just the opposite. “It’s not a decision between conserving the environment and stimulating the economy. That is a false dichotomy,” Jamie explains. “In reality, they go together as flipsides of the same coin. A small example is the millions of dollars that go to vacationing and ecotourism. People go to national parks, wildlife refuges, and beaches, and if the environment implodes, it will hurt the economy. It’s all about finding balance.”

By using science as a basis to save species, environments, and economies, Jamie and her team continue to work toward a better tomorrow.

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

William Couper The Opportunity of Change “Go make this happen.”

Those were the words American Security Bank’s CEO posed to William (Bill) Couper and his boss, who had been helping the company formulate the first formal strategies it had ever had. Bill was only 12 years into his career in commercial banking, but he had already cultivated enough wisdom and foresight to know that the banking environment was transforming around them. To keep up, American Security would need to follow a new plan—one the old, change-averse leadership wasn’t ready to execute.

“We were convinced of the logic of what needed to happen, but we were faced with this fairly large collection of people who had 20 years or more of evidence that the world worked a certain way,” Bill remembers. “When we tried to tell them it didn’t work that way anymore and that we needed to change, we were met with such tremendous resistance that my boss ended up leaving the company. ” With that, the reigns to make it happen were left firmly in Bill’s hands, so he decided to start over and try to execute the plan a little differently. “The need to explain fundamental shifts in a business to people who might not be very receptive to the need for change, and to do it in terms that are intelligible to them, was a real shift for me,” he remarks. “We essentially broke our pick on that first attempt, but once I figured out the formula for engaging people, helping them understand why we needed to change and why it was personally in their best interest to help, it formed the basis for everything else I did. You can’t just tell people to do things; you have to help them understand why it’s needed and why they ought to play real hard to make it happen.”

That defining moment, when Bill faced failure but then had a second opportunity and found a way to succeed, has shaped his approach to leadership ever since. It has seen him through numerous mergers, defying the odds and keeping him in the game as American Security Bank was acquired by Maryland National Bank, survived a near death experience by the skin of its teeth, acquired several other banks, and was

then itself acquired by Nations Bank. Nations Bank, in turn, bought several other banks before going coast-tocoast, acquiring Bank of America and rebranding its entire sweeping enterprise as such.

Embracing the constant change that accompanied this series of transitions and maintaining a flexible yet uncompromising approach to leadership that is underpinned by an unflagging integrity, Bill’s 40-year career reached its pinnacle as President of the MidAtlantic Region of Bank of America. And though he’s now retired, his work continues in his continuing commitment to give back to the community around him.

Bill was born in New York City, where he lived there through the end of first grade.

In the years immediately following World War II, however, the city’s magic faded into somewhat dangerous undertones, and the Coupers wanted their children to grow up in a safer environment. With that, they moved across the Hudson into a northern New Jersey town. His father was an anesthesiologist, and his mother stayed home to raise the family while remaining a consummate volunteer, especially passionate about Junior League.

Before medical school, his father had attended the Virginia Military Institute, where his own father had worked for thirty years. He also served in the Army during World War II, and he passed onto his son a set of military values that highlighted honor, discipline, and dependability—qualities that won Bill titles like President of his sixth grade class. He also played the trombone in his high school’s bands and orchestra, as well as ice hockey.

While his professional career was spent at one institution that went through a number of complicated and escalating iterations, his youth was a patchwork of jobs that spanned the gamut. He made his first buck mowing the lawns of his parents’ friends, and he later worked waiting tables and washing dishes. He was the junior counselor at the summer camp he attended as a child. In college, he packed books for a textbook publisher for one summer and worked in the parts William Couper

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department of a Chevrolet dealership for another. “I did a little bit of everything,” he laughs.

Bill graduated high school and enrolled at the University of Virginia (UVA), which was still relatively traditional. “People wore coats and ties to class, and there were no undergraduate women except for nursing school and transfer students,” he recalls.

As a child, he had been riveted by the Sputnik launch, which compelled him later to take all the science and math courses his high school had to offer. “I started at UVA thinking I would become a chemist, but in retrospect, I don’t think I had a clear picture of what that meant,” he reflects. Once that picture sharpened and he realized it wasn’t for him, he promptly applied to UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce instead.

Along with its rigorous academics, college expanded Bill’s horizons by connecting him to a geographically diverse population of students. “I knew precisely one person when I started school, and everyone was looking to make friends,” he remembers. “Though students came to UVA from all over, it was easy to connect with people, and I ended up joining a fraternity.” Apart from the fraternity, he also worked at the university’s radio station, and with a number of other affiliations as well, he made widespread and lasting friendships during his college years.

Bill served as president of his fraternity and secretary of the Commerce School’s academic fraternity, both of which afforded unique leadership opportunities. “With shoestring budgets, we had to pay for a house, cooks, and repairs, while also keeping dues manageable for the people involved,” Bill remembers. “It was an interesting financial challenge.”

Bill would not go directly into banking after graduation, however. “A crucial moment in the Vietnam War known as the Tet Offensive had recently taken place, and it meant that everyone coming out of school at that time was going to have to get involved in the military, so I enlisted in the Navy,” Bill remembers.

While undergoing basic training just outside of Chicago, his tests revealed an exceptional language aptitude, so he became a Portuguese linguist, as the Navy’s last group of such linguists had been compromised when a ship, The Liberty, was attacked in the Middle East.

“It wasn’t my favorite time of life, but compared to the alternative, I was incredibly fortunate,” Bill remarks. “I never actually had to go overseas.”

While in the Navy, Bill married a young woman named Lisa, and after serving for four years, he was discharged and landed a position at American Security Bank, a predecessor bank of Bank of America in 38

Washington, D.C. In that capacity, he worked in a branch that dealt entirely with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. “These people were the elite of their home countries and were very sophisticated, financially speaking,” he says. “It was an interesting first assignment.”

Before long, he was promoted to the bank’s main branch, where he became branch manager and then regional manager. He then worked several years in planning before taking over the retail bank, where he underwent his first merger when the bank became part of MNC Financial. “I took advantage of the opportunities that came from larger and larger institutions to keep putting one foot in front of the other,” he says. “Each merger made for a fundamentally different experience, but I enjoyed it. I never thought I’d stay with one institution for my entire career, and in a sense, I didn’t.”

Now that he has forty years of experience in the banking industry under his belt, Bill has perhaps most enjoyed the variety of experiences he’s encountered, as well as the characters of the colleagues he’s worked with.

“It was fairly consistent with the way I was brought up and with my experience at UVA, in a way,” he says.

“I’ve done a lot of work with small and medium-sized business, and the variety there is remarkable as you get to know the people involved. You find a number of different ways to view the world, and I find that diversity of perspective very fascinating.”

Even more rewarding for Bill, however, has been the unique leadership role his position has allowed him to assume in the community. When MNC Financial became Nations Bank, he was named President of the Baltimore Region, and before long, he heard about an effort by the University of Maryland to redevelop the “West Side” of Baltimore. “The campus and medical system, which bordered the seam of town in question, had done a lot of planning with the Weinberg Foundation, which owned property within that seam,” Bill explains. They hadn’t succeeded in redeveloping it yet, but we noticed that, with all the graduate, professional, and medical schools in the area, there was a built-in demand for market rate residential development, which is the underpinning of any vibrant urban environment.”

With that in mind, Bill marshaled the resources within Nations Bank to finance $100 million of the project, which led them to bid on the redevelopment of an entire block of the city themselves. “It wasn’t easy, but we pulled it off and demonstrated that it was doable,” Bill affirms. This tremendous effort was recently

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

capped off by the restoration of a historic theater in the area that had gone through several iterations since its construction before World War I but had remained unoccupied for a long time. Bill and his team had come across a theater group in need of a bigger home, so they raised $17 million for the building—now set to open in January of 2013.

“As a demonstration of a pooling of resources that didn’t exist in any of the predecessor companies and can now make a big difference, that stands out,” says Bill. “It is my hope that the people who succeed me will continue to get other members of the team engaged in the community, from serving on boards to doing volunteer instructions. I hope they will dive deeply into the fabric of the community. The banking business is at such a pivot point right now, and it’s hard to predict what will come next, but there’s an expectation of people in the banking business that you’re going to assume a leadership role in the community. Having been through the ups and downs over the years, I know that a bank can’t be any better than the community it’s serving—that’s just a fundamental truth. So you need to be sure that the economy operates, that people have jobs, that there’s a safety net for people who fall out of the mainstream, and that the education and transportation systems work. Banks have a vested interest in all of that, so they have to play philanthropically and from a sponsorship standpoint.”

Now that Bill has retired, he’s busier than ever.

“There are places I’d like to go, things I’d like to see, and a lot of books sitting on the shelf that I’d like to read,” he remarks. “I also want to spend some time looking back at these last five years, reflecting on the questions of the financial crisis and synthesizing some concrete answers of my own.” He plans to continue his tenure on the board of Goucher College, the liberal arts school that educated one of his three brilliant daughters. He’s also president of a foundation within U.S. Trust and is finishing out his term as the immediate past chair of the Virginia Bankers Association, which has an educational foundation focused on promoting financial literacy.

Lisa joins in promoting the Couper philanthropic legacy through her untiring commitment to teaching English as a second language, tutoring people in health-related professions and training teachers in the field.

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Bill reminds us to be open to the possibilities. “Coming out of school, it’s hard to know exactly what you want to do, so try to find experiences that will give you the opportunity to take a taste of a lot of things,” he says. “That will help you confirm impressions or put them to the side. Know that the world is always changing, and be open to that change, because it’s in change that we find our greatest opportunities to grow and give back.”

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Niels Crone Sweeping Problems, Sweeping Triumphs The devastatingly beautiful landscape of Eastern Greenland’s ice caps struck that familiar yet mysterious chord within Niels Crone’s core—the kind of feeling that people travel to the ends of the Earth to experience.

He did this kind of thing often, spearheading the organization of a team of around 15 people in their twenties in his home country of Denmark and making the voyage into the wilderness to explore the caps.

Years later, on a different expedition, he found himself hiking up a steep mountain peak in South America, emerging at the summit to see a grand expanse of endless green.

“There are few places on Earth where you can walk around and find no sign of human activity,” he says. “There are few places where the land looks as it has for thousands of years. It’s amazing to see that there are still places like that.

It’s very spiritual and adds a crucial dimension to the daily life we live in cities.” Now the COO of Conservation International, Niels Crone has committed his professional life to protecting these sweeping natural landscapes—not only for the spirit-lifting experiences they impart, but also for the economic vitality and future security of the people and communities that rely on them for natural resources, food, shelter, and tourism.

For the past decade, the concern of global climate change has brought these aspects of conservation back into focus, yet given the tumultuous state of the global economy, going “green” has become more of a luxury for businesses, taking a backseat behind efforts to simply keep a company alive for the betterment of its employees, clients, and the community it serves.

While most business leaders still feel this is the only mode of survival, Conservation International has dedicated itself to changing the way most businesses and people view the problem. Niels believes that if more attention is placed on conserving nature, humanity will ultimately benefit more in the long run as well.

“We really try to demonstrate that conservation and human development are actually complementary,” he

explains. “It’s not one or the other. If you think about developing people to get a better life, you realize that you don’t have to trash nature to get there. Rather, it becomes clear that protecting nature inherently leads to a sustainable economy, which ultimately provides more benefits in the long haul.”

Twenty-five years ago, the now-thriving company of Conservation International (CI) was simply a hopeful idea of Peter Seligmann, a visionary who was running land deals in California and the West Coast as a field scribe for The Nature Conservancy at the time. A graduate from the Yale School of Forestry, Peter was eventually chosen to build the international program within the company, but after running into some ideological differences with the management, he decided to venture out on his own with thirty other people to create a new organization from scratch, with no money and no donors.

An innovative and forward-thinking entrepreneur, Peter was able to transform those meager beginnings into a vibrant, dynamic, robust team of a thousand employees working in about 30 countries worldwide.

While CI might be the descendent of The Nature Conservancy, Niels sites many differences between the two, particularly from a managerial standpoint.

“Conservation International is reminiscent of an entrepreneurial-based, family-owned organization,” he notes. “Even though we have over 900 people, the original CEO is still here after 25 years, acting as a father figure to many.” The Nature Conservancy, on the other hand, is close to 75 years old, and has experienced various management changes. “There’s a marked difference in how we do things and how we make decisions,” Niels explains. “Neither is better than the other, and each has its own strengths, but they are fairly different in terms of culture, approach, and the method in which decisions are made.”

One of the most recent and impressive endeavors of CI was catalyzing the Pacific Oceanscape together with the country of Kiribati, a nation of a hundred

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thousand people spread across several islands that owns a substantial amount of Ocean territory. In the past, foreign fishermen would come in and exploit the natural resources of that marine territory, giving little pay in return to local people. It became Cl’s goal to help the people of Kiribati take better care of their marine resources by helping to create marine protected areas and areas for sustainable marine use, where only the locals are permitted to fish using sustainable methods.

At the same time, CI raised money to create trust funds to help offset the initial loss of funding once provided by the small fees from the foreign fishers. Kiribati now not only has a more sustainable fishing industry, but is also substantially more self-sufficient as a result of the protected natural resources, and is better equipped to preserve its fishing resources for future prosperity as well.

The success of CI’s efforts with Kiribati caught the eye of other island leaders, and like a chain reaction, the Pacific Oceanscape was endorsed by the Pacific Island Forum. With members like the Cook Islands and New Zealand, each of the 15 countries belonging to the Forum claims roughly 200 miles of Ocean off its respective coast, and because the islands are so spread out, the total territory of ocean adds up quickly.

“The combined dry-land itself may be smaller than Delaware, but with all these little island countries, they own an area of marine territory five times the size of the United States,” Niels explains. “We help them conceptualize that space and manage it better, planning for the future and balancing the various factors that go into making a good decision. And through these analyses, our ideas show that conservation actually works. It’s amazing to see people feeling the pride of their resources and seeing how much more selfsufficient they can become.”

For Niels Crone, hard work for the betterment of humanity as well as nature has always been in his blood. Born in Denmark and raised in the suburbs of Copenhagen by his mother, a dentist, and his father, a civil engineer, he became estranged from his father at the age of ten in the wake of his parents’ divorce.

He was never in want of companionship or leadership, however. His mother was first and foremost a role model, working full-time to care for Niels, his older brother, and his younger sister. “She was incredibly strong and always plowing ahead,” he recalls. “She taught me to never give up. When you face a challenge, you can sit back in self-pity, or you can set out and make a path for yourself. Through her, I was ingrained to never be a victim and to always be proactive.”

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Niels recalls having a far less structured childhood than his own two children recently experienced, which ultimately may have led to his leadership and deep respect for nature. “If I wanted to play soccer, there wasn’t a soccer club with scheduled games on Saturday mornings,” he remembers. “We would take a soccer ball down to the field and just play. Maybe life was simpler and less scary than it can be today, but it gave you that freedom and opportunity to be independent and go out into nature.” That deep sense of independence led to his first job, at age 11, which consisted of biking around town to deliver bread from the local baker to the elderly. His pay was one kroner (the equivalent of 20 cents) an hour, which rewarded him with the luxury of being able to buy a burger in town, rather than bike all the way home for lunch.

Along with his mother, his childhood friends played a major role in his upbringing. The tightly-knit group of friends he’s known since the age of five made up for any family he lacked. Additionally, the parents of his friends exposed him to businesses that sparked his professional interests. From a young age, Niels was fascinated with numbers. One friend’s father was the head of the Danish Weather Service, and, being interested in numbers as well, demonstrated how data and information could be translated into visible, tangible, real world results like weather predications.

Another friend’s father was a CPA, which cultivated in Niels an interest in accounting as well.

Thanks to this early-life exposure to the power of numbers, Niels earned his Bachelor’s degree in Denmark in business, with a focus toward becoming a CPA. He soon realized, however, that he was less interested in the ordered side of “how things add up” and more interested in how to use the numbers to make decisions. After college, he worked at a Junior College in Denmark teaching accounting, finance, and marketing while simultaneously working on his Master’s Degree. He was quickly promoted to assistant principal of the college and realized that he thoroughly enjoyed the administrative side of his work.

In 1976, Niels participated in Camp America, a program in Europe that finds camp counselors from around the globe and sends them to the US for a summer experience. He was placed in Santa Cruz, California, where he spent two months working with kids. “The experience was very exciting, and I found myself falling in love with American culture,” he affirms. As a result, he chose to attain his MBA from UCLA, where he met the woman who is now his wife, Michelle. While he wanted to remain in the

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

US, however, he was unable to work due to his lack of citizenship, so the pair returned to Denmark, where he worked for the consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

After two years, he was transferred to McKinsey’s New York office, where his wife worked as an editor for the New York Times.

Not only was McKinsey his first professional business experience, but also in that capacity, Niels had the opportunity to work closely with senior director John Sawhill on projects concerning energy and electric utilities. From the work, he learned the technical aspects of the business, and from John, he learned leadership—a powerful combination that would serve him well throughout his career.

One day, in the midst of a client meeting, John announced that, much to Niels’s surprise, he would be leaving McKinsey to become CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “I said that if I would ever leave McKinsey, it would be for the same reason, since I love the outdoors so much,” Niels explains. Then, almost immediately, John offered him the job as CFO. “It was a hard choice because I was reluctant to leave McKinsey, and it was such a different line of work,” he notes. “But I followed him because he was such an inspiring leader, and I was always attracted to leadership.”

With that, Niels and Michelle moved to Washington D.C., where he worked for the next six years. Wanting to return to the “for-profit” side of business, however, he returned to McKinsey to do consulting for three years and then joined Capital One for two years to work in risk management. From there, he moved to Chicago to join another director and friend from McKinsey at the Global Steel Exchange, a new internet based organization, where he worked as COO. Unfortunately, the company failed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. At that time, Niels realized he wanted to return to value-based organizations, which prompted him to contact Peter Seligmann about the position of CFO at Conservation International, where he has been since 2003.

In 2008, Niels then made the gradual transition from CFO to his current position of COO, where he works on the problematic and programmatic side of the company. “Peter has been a great leader and a tremendous influence,” he affirms. “He’s the type of person who can really sell a vision. This is essential, because Conservation International is a young, entrepreneurial organization with plenty of challenges to address across the world, such as how to raise money and how to spend it wisely, so there’s a nice problem solving approach to the work we do. Every

day and every problem is different. You never think it’s routine, to promote conservation of nature while helping people live a better life. Our work is constantly evolving to address the obstacles of our time, and to me it’s endlessly rewarding.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Niels stresses the importance of creativity and perseverance. “No matter how dire a situation may look, there’s always a solution,” he affirms. “Don’t be afraid to delve into a given problem, because there is always a productive and useful way out.” Additionally, he emphasizes the advantage of learning from leaders. Rather than positioning yourself as a subordinate, offer a more reciprocal relationship,” he suggests. “Provide something that leaders can also learn from. Share ideas as equals, even if you are not, because it gets the right dialect going.”

Niels believes his own willingness to conquer fear and carry himself in this manner have allowed him to live his life with so much richness and variety. “It was incredibly hard to leave Denmark, with all my family and friends,” he observes. “But I try to return at least once a year to maintain those relationships, and I have built new relationships here in the U.S. that are wonderful as well.”

While leaving Denmark may have been one of the hardest things he’s ever done, Niels also takes pride in it. “All my friends thought I was out of my mind to quit the teaching job, since it was so well funded by the government and with such good pensions,” he recalls.

“But the risk paid off. I’ve had a rewarding life, rather than being stuck because it’s familiar or comfortable. I haven’t been afraid of going out on a limb.” After all, it was through this willingness to venture far and wide that Niels met his wife and started his family, with two teenage children who already exhibit a rare wisdom and independence for being so young.

Beyond this, Niels reminds us that approaching problems from the highest altitude possible can give one the perspective necessary to enact solutions that will be best in the long run for everyone involved.

“Global problems like environmental degradation and climate change do not have quick fixes,” he affirms.

“Integrating conservation and development will require decades of work. But these sweeping problems, if dealt with correctly, can yield sweeping triumphs. If I am lucky enough to be 90 years old and I’m able to see that what we started at CI has taken hold, and that people of developing countries have better lives and healthier environments because of it, I would call that a legacy worth working for.”

Niels Crone

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David DeWolf Humble Confidence In July of 2006, David DeWolf ’s need to be part of a high-performing team, to work in a positive corporate culture, and to practice integrity in business led him to strike out on his own as an independent consultant.

While he had no idea what the future held, his most recent employer had been acquired, destroying the gratifying and productive atmosphere he had once enjoyed. “The culture immediately went downhill,” he reflects. “The investors forgot what had lent the company so much value in the first place, and they let it disintegrate.”

It wasn’t the first time David had witnessed such a transformation, but he knew he wanted it to be the last. “I decided that, the next time around, I wanted to be in control of the company’s destiny,” he affirms. With that, he set about incorporating himself and searching for consultancies in the software community, never imagining the success he would find. “I had no vision of hiring employees.

I didn’t think I was going to do anything but go find great teams and work with great people,” he says.

Six years later, David’s independent consultancy has blossomed into 3Pillar Global, a $25 million dollar, multinational company with 600 employees and offices on four continents.

While this measure of growth is certainly impressive, it’s hardly surprising after taking into account David’s emphasis on innovation, collaborative thinking, and adaptation. In fact, his decision to become independent was motivated by a desire to seek out the best and brightest to build with. “It was all about how you write software,” he explains. “You can write a certain amount of creative, innovative software on your own, but true innovation is the intersection of technology and business, and it comes from a collaborative effort.

Like everyone, I have both strengths and weaknesses.

Success is not about being bull-headed and stubborn and valuing your own ideas above everyone else’s. It’s about confidence, yes, but equally about humility— about knowing when to listen and when to change. I call this ‘humble confidence’.”

In other words, success is about trusting one’s self and others, and about changing course when opportunity arises, and the growth of 3Pillar is a perfect example.

As David launched his independent career, he was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which he found his first job—an opportunity he attributes to both his past work in the software community, and his speaking engagements at conferences, where he shared his expertise on agile software development, methodology, process, and how to build collaborative teams. He quickly signed a 6-month contract with his first client and settled in, thinking he would field more offers as the 6 months came to a close.

As it happened, however, the offers continued to roll in. David, already busy and happy to pass the work on to other qualified engineers, began making referrals, thanking the clients for their interest and sending them on, until he received an unexpected reaction. “One day, one of the clients came back to me and said, ‘We’d love to use Joe. What do you want for him?’ I said, ‘I don’t want anything, I was just making an introduction!’ But they said, ‘No, we’d like you to be involved, and leverage your relationship to get him onboard.’ So I subcontracted out, and that was my first opportunity to grow beyond myself.” Over the next 6 months, he continued to sign small subcontracts, and after 8 months, David hired his first employee.

A few months after that, another major shift occurred—the shift that would get the ball rolling on 3Pillar. David’s original client began struggling with the team they had outsourced development to, and, following a disastrous audit of practices there, they asked for his help and advice. He saw his window of opportunity and took it. “I asked them to give me a shot,” he remembers. “There were two all-stars on the team working overseas. I wanted to bring them over to the US and try to build a team that would knock it out of the park for them.”

The client did, in fact, take a bet on David. He immediately hired five employees, bringing the David DeWolf

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employee count from three to eight overnight. With that team in place, they got the product to market and turned things around.

From there, 3Pillar continued along the same vein, identifying opportunities to clean up failed projects and take over from outsourced work. After 6 months or so, however, David stepped back and reflected on the direction of the business. “There’s something wrong with betting your success on everybody else failing,” he affirms. “We couldn’t just continue to clean up after everybody else. I decided at that point in time that I was going to figure out how to do 3Pillar better.”

David didn’t have any interest in setting himself or his team on autopilot. Instead, he began to look at the market and consider how he could offer something new. “At that point in time, you had two extremes in the software industry,” he says. “You had the large, offshore, outsourcing model, or you had the exact opposite, which is what we were—a boutique of high performers that were rapid time-to-market, high innovation, high quality, but hard to sustain. We had a project-based business. We’d come in, clean up a mess, and then have to move on to the next thing. My thought was, what if you could combine these two extremes?”

The result? A completely unique business model that David refers to as shore-agnostic. “It’s not off-shore, it’s not on-shore, it’s the right shore,” he avows. “It’s all about building software products in a way that gets those products to market in a rapid time, leveraging the greatest technologies but also leveraging the global talent base. If you understand the strengths and weaknesses of each geography and each location, as well as the skill sets, you can build a high-performing team that’s both virtual and global, and you can leverage the cost advantages of different economies without basing your entire value proposition off of it.”

Shortly after he envisioned this model, David acquired a Romanian off-shore company, and the following year, saw 50 percent growth. “It proved that the market was hungry and ready for that model,” David continues.

His ability to integrate the two existing models in the software development market produced an entirely new animal—one the clients were eager for.

“More than anything, ours is a story about continuing to adapt and continuing to refine our strategy,” says David, reflecting on the company’s unexpected genesis.

Initially, he hated the concept of off-shore development, having seen it fail often. But instead of rejecting it out of hand, he instead found a way to do it better. “It’s about being confident in your ability to get to the next level, but humble enough to listen to what people around you 46

are saying, filtering it to the extent you need to without being so proud that you think you’ve got the solution,” he says. “With outsourcing, I started to see that there was a real business reason to leverage the global economy.” Keeping his ears and eyes open, he was again able to integrate two opposing ideas to produce a viable solution.

David’s unique approach to leadership, success, and adaptability stem from his childhood, which was rife with constant change. His father was an officer in the Air Force for thirty years, which meant the young boy changed schools more often than he changed grades.

“I probably attended 9 or 10 different schools in total, and an astonishing 5 high schools,” he muses. “This upbringing cultivated in me a strong sense of leadership and integrity, but at the same time, the ability to be agile and to respond quickly to changes in my surroundings.”

David also developed a precocious maturity that grew out of necessity. “I remember hosting a Senator at our house at one point in time, and I remember meeting Vice President Bush as a kid,” he explains. The middle of three children, he also took on a fatherly role to the youngest of the DeWolf children—his baby sister, 15 years his junior. And though his father certainly honed his leadership skills, David is quick to credit his mother as well. “I think the biggest thing I learned from my mother was compassion,” he avows. “It has truly shaped the culture of our organization. One of the values that is absolutely critical to me is how we treat our employees, respecting the dignity of each person.”

David’s leadership skills were further honed during his years at Franciscan University, a Catholic college in Stubenville, Ohio. With its emphasis on faith and charity, the school reinforced his parents’ teachings, affirming the tenets of compassion, adaptability, and integrity that would become so vital to 3Pillar down the road. David majored in communication and audio/visual productions, vaguely hoping to go into music production, but when he graduated, he quickly reassessed that career path. He was six months from being married, and he realized he needed a more reliable profession to support a family on, so with his trademark ability to reorient and adapt, he found a job with an advertising agency. There, he began building a website for a software company, where he fell in love with writing software and found a mentor, John Fowler.

“He was the strongest software engineer I’d ever worked with, and for whatever reason, he took me under his wing and taught me the ropes of that industry,” says David. “Within three months, I went to work for that company.”

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

A few years later, with two small children in tow, David and his wife moved to the DC Metropolitan area in search of a strong Catholic and home-schooling community. Now the proud father of six, David maintains that his life is about integration, not balance.

“Balance is a term that really has no meaning to me,” he explains. “It implies a division between the different aspects of one’s character that I find unhelpful. I’m a father at all times during the day. I’m a husband even when I’m in the middle of a meeting. I’m a CEO even when I’m at home, at bedtime. Integrating the spheres of one’s life enriches them. I’ve taken my two oldest children on business trips and had them sit in on meetings, which in turn helps them grow. And always, we care about people as people. Our employees can count on 3Pillar to take care of them and stand by them even if they fall on hard times. That’s just who we are.”

At the end of the day, these are the crucial values David hopes to promote in the world—an effort he continues through serving on the Board of Trustees at Franciscan University and assisting the Catholic Church with leveraging technology and media. He’s also on the Board of Advisors for a convent in Ohio and, together with his wife, supports philanthropic causes such as an outreach ministry that works to help Catholic students navigate the challenges of college life and a healthcare organization that provides integrated healthcare

services to those in need, including underprivileged mothers. In the future, he hopes to devote more time to training business leaders and entrepreneurs, imbuing them with the same commitment to integrity and humility he practices at 3Pillar.

To those young people entering the working world today, David’s advice is simple. “Follow your heart,” he says. “Do what you’re passionate about. You should wake up every morning and be excited about the day.

If you’re an artist and you love art, go be an artist. You might not make the most money, but then again, you just might! What you’re passionate about will be what you’re most successful at. My wife makes fun of me because I don’t have a hobby, and I tell her, I do have a hobby—I just get to do it as a full time job.”

David’s reliance on a humble confidence took him on a strange but wildly successful adventure, and with that in mind, he also stresses the importance of listening to what others have to say. “A lot of people will talk about how entrepreneurs have to be hard-headed and stubborn, not listening to the naysayers, but I think that misses a really big part of what it is to be successful. You absolutely have to have confidence, but you have to be humble enough to listen, to hear the feedback out there in the world, to filter it and apply what’s necessary, and to adjust as necessary. It’s not all about you—it’s about the team you create and what you can achieve together.”

David DeWolf

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Edgar Dobie Humanity’s Greatest Invention “The greatest invention was not the light bulb, electricity, or space travel,” avows Edgar Dobie, invoking an idea he heard in high school and never forgot. “As human beings, our greatest invention was language.”

When the concept first seeped into his young mind, Edgar found himself not only embracing it, but also evolving it. He came to understand that language is the building block of stories, and that stories are, in turn, the best and most generous way to exchange a commodity as precious as language. And what better way to express language and stories than through a live performance?

“Along that vein, it became clear to me that the great storytellers were playwrights,” he continues. “I realized that I wanted to be doing something that engaged with this concept. I wanted to take literature and breathe life into it by working with an artist to interpret it and bringing an audience together to witness it. And by breathing life into that language and those stories, you make them perishable in that they’re different every day and they don’t last forever, but that creative challenge and complexity is what drives me.” Now the Executive Director and co-CEO of Arena Stage, a theater company that promotes creativity and community in Washington, DC, paying homage to humanity’s greatest invention is another day in the office for Edgar.

Edgar assumed his role at Arena Stage in 2009, but the company has been active in the greater Washington area for over 62 years, remaining a pioneer in the resident theater movement. In the 1950s, the area had very few options when it came to live theater. “People weren’t as enlightened at that time, and the National Theater had a whites-only policy,” he remarks. “The founders of our theater, Zelda and Tom Fichandler, were engaged in the civil rights debates going on here. But they moved beyond the protest. They wanted action.”

Thus, the Fichandlers and others in the community sought to address two concerns. For one thing, none of the art being performed in Washington was created in the community; rather, it was whatever was a hit on

Broadway. “The train would arrive with the actors and the scenery, stay for a week or two, and then be on their way,” Edgar explains. “There was no real connection to the community.” For another thing, due to segregation, theater wasn’t available to the whole community. Thus, the Fichandlers hoped to create a place where the artists lived and worked within the community, and a place where everyone was welcome. “What I love about the Arena Stage is that, because it adhered to those two founding principles over time and touched enough people in the community, it has built up an equity that makes it as essential as the public library, the university, or the hospital,” he points out. “The community has come to embrace it.”

Arena Stage got its name from the “arena in the round” format. The Fichandlers used an old Vaudeville house that had been converted into a movie theater, turning the stage and part of the orchestra into an arena format in which the audience sits on all sides. “It’s an architecture and format that reflects the mission and vision of the place, as there is no balcony that segregates people,” Edgar points out. “If you’re seeing theater in the round, you’re there witnessing the art and looking at people from your community at the same time.”

For most of Zelda’s tenure as artistic director, Tom served as the executive director. Arena was launched as a for-profit corporation with shareholders, but he initiated the infrastructure shift into a not-for-profit in the late 1950s. They were one of the first theaters to approach Congress to request an educational status of 501(c)3, and they were able to convince the government that there was a strong public purpose in doing so. With that, they became a resident theater and built up an ensemble of actors. Tom helped to found an organization to do the collective bargaining with the actors, and later a theater communications group. As one of three resident theaters in the United States at the time, there are now over two thousand built in its image.

Doug Wager took over as artistic director after Zelda, and he was succeeded by Molly Smith in 1998, who Edgar Dobie

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brought with her a new vision to produce American writers’ work exclusively. Writers like Eugene O’Neil, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller had produced a body of work that could sustain the theater alone, and while Arena maintained its commitment to developing new work, they resolved to focus on American playwrights. “We know that if a particular writer has a great relationship with their own home base theater, chances are that no other location will do a better production of that writer’s work,” Edgar adds.

“Since we’re resident in our community, we feel a need to be connected to local universities like Georgetown, ensuring that there are opportunities for students to do fellowships at Arena as well.”

Today, Arena Stage is an operation that draws $18 million per year, employing around 130 people. They’ve just built a $135 million building that houses three theaters of different designs to accommodate different types of artistic works. Through transformational gifts and donations, a committed membership base, a community engagement program with eleven teaching ensembles throughout the D.C. metropolitan area, and their fellowship program, Arena Stage’s role in the community and in the landscape of theater is bustling and multifaceted.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Arena Stage, however.

When the former executive director, Stephen Richard, left to become Campaign Director at the Children’s Museum, the company scaled back to performing six shows a year as they searched for the perfect candidate to join the team, using that time to vacate the site of the two organized theaters so construction could begin.

Several candidates had a few key skills, but not the entire repertoire. Fundraising had stalled in the wake of the economic crisis in 2008, so the successor would undoubtedly face a formidable challenge. “But Arena Stage is Arena Stage,” Edgar affirms.

When Edgar heard about the search and contacted the recruiting firm, they told him he wasn’t the sort of person they were looking for because he had been involved in the commercial sector. Time passed, however, and he noticed the position was still open, so he contacted the firm again, to find that it was no longer on the assignment. Arena had formed a board committee, so Edgar contacted them directly, and was received with a warm welcome. They had just gone through a large reduction in workforce and were scaling back even further on their programming. Furthermore, they were about a year away from assuming the title of their new building, and they didn’t have an operating plan in place.

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“The plight of the company was even more complicated than I had originally thought, but from my perspective, more interesting,” Edgar says. “I’ve always been drawn to those situations in which you have to repair an aircraft mid-flight. I like that challenge. My wife and I were also ready to have a child, and I wanted something that would bind me to a community like Washington with a glue like Arena Stage.” It was an organization that was trying to find its way, and Edgar had the map.

Today, Edgar is involved in finding new opportunities for production. Having come out of the commercial world, he knows that the interests of his investors—the audience—are the company’s own interests, and he takes this into account in executing the company’s business plan. “I often think of myself as a casting director,” he says.

“My job is in large part about building and promoting the right team. You can’t do all the fundraising, market all the tickets, or be in every classroom making sure the community engagement program is running properly.

You have to make sure you have great people in those areas, reinforce the vision of the enterprise, and then stand back and let them shine.”

Edgar was born in a small village in British Columbia, where an appetite was created in even the smallest communities to see live theater. His father was a mechanic and his mother was a telephone operator, and he was raised the second oldest of five boys in a 900-square-foot bungalow. His older brother, Donald, had cerebral palsy and was severely handicapped, but the family supported him wholeheartedly. He had a life expectancy of 12 to 15 years but lived to age 54, largely because he was so engaged in the life of the community.

Edgar’s was, and continues to be, a family that fights for what it believes in. His mother fought for just wages and fair pension benefits, joining the union movement.

As a small business worker, his father sat on the other side of that aisle, making for interesting dinner table conversation. The family worked to found a small assisted living group house that would allow Donald to move out on his own, and Donald himself worked to turn the group home’s van into a carrier service for nonprofits. Edgar, himself, is the only one of his brothers who left home to attend college.

“My parents only asked that we find our own way, and that we made sure it was something that contributed to society,” Edgar recalls. Working in the community theater and holding a leadership position in the drama club, he thrived in school, and there was never a question that he would attend college. At that time, if they studied hard and earned good grades, students in Canada paid no tuition for higher education, so Edgar was able to

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

attend university and emerge four years later without debt. He got his undergraduate degree in Theater and English at the University of British Columbia, and then got his Masters in English at the University of Leeds in Yorkshire, England.

One of his undergraduate professors was founding a company at the time he was graduating and wanted him to join the venture, so she agreed to hold a position for him for one year only. His master’s program was two years, but he instead started his thesis the first day of his coursework so that he could graduate in time to accept the job. Thus, he started as managing director, bookkeeper, production manager, house manager, and bar tender for the New Play Center, where he worked for over five years. Their purpose and mission was to provide an avenue by which any resident of British Columbia who wrote a play could receive assessments and critiques.

Before long, they had built up enough producible material to launch one-act festivals, which they found a sponsor for. They then decided to build a theater along with two other groups, West Coast Actors and Carousel Theater. Edgar was elected to be general manager of that project, and several of their writers were produced on Broadway later on, attracting the interest of the National Arts Center in Ottawa. The National Arts Center offered Edgar a position as managing director of their English language resident company, where he made many professional connections that led him to a position as managing director at a new civic theater company in Toronto called Canadian Stage Company. “Our idea there was to build a company with the resources, heft, and level of activity that the Stratford and Shaw Festivals provided for their writers,” says Edgar. “We wanted Canadian Stage to provide the same level of support and opportunity.”

The work and relationships he developed in that capacity later led to a Sunday afternoon phone call from an entertainment executive who had founded a company called Cineplex/Odeon, which became the second largest moving exhibition company in the world. He was interested in building a worldwide vertically integrated entertainment corporation with a live entertainment division and wanted Edgar to come discuss his vision over tea. Edgar accepted the position and led the company to purchase and restore a theater and to put on the fastest-recouping, most profitable production of Phantom of the Opera in the world at that time.

That production caught the attention of Andrew Lloyd Weber, who asked Edgar if he’d come serve as President and COO for him in New York City. “That offer was

based on the simple act of doing a good job,” Edgar reflects. With that, he came to America in 1992 and worked for him for seven years, winning a Tony Award for his production of Sunset Boulevard. Edgar then decided to venture out and launch his own company, through which he collaborated on the introduction of Riverdance, a highly successful Irish dance show, to the United States. He also produced Paul Simon’s The Capeman and was managing producer of the Tony Awards.

After a stint on Broadway with his independent company, Edgar found himself sitting on a commercial theater panel with a specialist recruiter for resident theater. He had just produced a show called The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which had not been well received, and it dawned on him that he was most happy when he was running a public theater. The recruiter then connected him to a job at Trinity Rep, where he worked for six years. Then one fall, his father and brother passed away. “You’re reminded of your own mortality, and I wanted to do what was meaningful to me,” Edgar recalls. “I had taken on so much that I wasn’t getting that sense of joy from doing a really good job.”

After another five years in the commercial world with Riverdream Productions, The Pirate Queen, and 9 to 5, Edgar returned to the public theater work again—and to Arena Stage.

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Edgar emphasizes the importance of looking for an opportunity with some authority attached. “That way, you can take an action and feel connected to what you’re doing,” he says. “You also must be prepared to work collaboratively. Try to understand how an organization operates and what its mission is, and try to touch that in a small way at first. The more you embrace, the more you share, the better equipped you will be to deal with whatever issues come your way in the future.”

Beyond that, he emphasizes the importance of choosing your path deliberately. “To choose is to renounce,” he says. “Looking back, I didn’t have a planned trajectory for my career. It was more of a career by invitation, and in retrospect, there are some invitations I wish I hadn’t taken.” Despite those offshoots, however, the main course of Edgar’s professional path followed a course dictated by passion, and nothing less. “When I come across an important story,” he says, “and when I have the opportunity to help translate that story into reality in a meaningful way—one that can be shared with the community and thereby enrich it—that’s something that endures.”

Edgar Dobie

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Lucy Duncan The Next Flywheel In February of 1992, Lucy Duncan left a life and marriage behind in Venezuela to move to Washington, DC, with her two dogs and an idea. Fresh off resolving her husband’s myriad troubles with the Venezuelan government, she had decided to try her hand at international conflict resolution professionally and founded Diplomatic Resolutions.

Lucy made up brochures and business cards, registered her company, and looked for an opportunity.

That opportunity came mere weeks after the company’s inception at a meeting of the American Association of Chambers of Commerce of Latin America (AACCL), where delegates from all the countries of Latin America gathered. A man representing Tandem Computers approached her and asked if she would consider consulting for his business to resolve a payment issue with Venezuela. Tandem had shipped several millions dollars’ worth of computers to the Venezuelan Ministry of Health but could now neither convince the government to pay them, nor get the equipment returned.

“I said ‘Well, that’s a piece of cake,’’” Lucy recalls. “I’d never been a consultant and I had no idea how one charged for that sort of thing, but I said, ‘Let me work on it.’”

The next day, Lucy called the former Minister of Development of Venezuela, a man she had dealt with during the resolution of her husband’s problems who had become the Venezuelan Executive Director at the World Bank. He agreed to meet with her, and after some small talk, she professed her true purpose—the missing payment for Tandem Computers. “All of a sudden his face turned white,” Lucy remembers, smiling. “He picked up the phone, called someone in the office of the President down in Venezuela, and uttered a string of swear words in Spanish. He said, ‘La bruja esta aqui,’ which means, “the witch is here!” And within a week, we had the problem resolved. So that was the beginning of Diplomatic Resolutions, and we went on for the next eight years to represent the top tier of Silicon Valley. “ When asked if her inexperience led her to undervalue her services as she started out, Lucy laughs, “You

tell me. You’re trying to get several million dollars of equipment back that’s been held hostage for a while, and I charged $2,500.” She acknowledges today, however, that the low fee she assessed may have been the smartest business decision she ever made. After all, she completed the work quickly, she did her job well, and to top it off, she’d charged practically nothing. This did not go unnoticed by senior Tandem management, and led to a productive relationship with CEO Jimmy Treybig. Her work in Venezuela led to more work in Latin America, particularly Brazil, which led to work in Russia, India, China, Egypt, and beyond. “Once we had a foothold in those countries, we started working on smaller transitional governments, and the practice just mushroomed,” Lucy recalls.

“Tandem thought we walked on water for solving their problem with Venezuela, so they gave us a lot more business, either directly or through referrals. I began hiring people, and those individuals were career Foreign Service diplomats. We had the right people on the bus to get us where we needed to go.”

That mushroom effect is a prime example of what Lucy terms “the flywheel.” By this, she recognizes that the projects she undertakes aren’t means to an end—rather, they’re means to beginnings, to results that breed results, to projects that take off and become something more than the sum of their parts.

“If I push a flywheel by myself, it’s not going to go any faster than I can push it,” she explains. “But if fifty of us are pushing on it, before we know it, it’s gained momentum and we have to let go of it because it’s going to burn our fingers.” Professionally, Lucy’s goal has been to tackle problems whose resolution will have farreaching effects long after her work is done.

“The idea was to find the one thing that needed to be done in a country so that everything else could flow,” Lucy explains. “In Brazil, it was the privatization of Telecom. In Russia, it was a satellite clearing and settlement system for all eleven time zones and for their central bank. For China, it was the opening of the first stock exchange, which then morphed into working Lucy Duncan

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closely on the development of the World Bank project to modernize their central bank, etcetera. Ultimately, we were involved with the modernization of over forty stock exchanges worldwide.” Thus, working with the top companies in Silicon Valley to enable electronic payments, mobile networks, and equity trading became Diplomatic Resolutions’ wheelhouse.

Today, the name and mission of Lucy’s company have changed. Now called Safe Ports, Lucy, as President and CEO, has prudently redirected the company’s trajectory in response to the global environment. By the late 90s, more competitors were entering the picture, many of whom were huge, established consulting firms such as Deloitte, Price Waterhouse, and Arthur Anderson.

Reading the writing on the wall, Lucy packaged up most of Diplomatic Resolutions and sold it to a venture group, keeping its core assets and a reduced staff. As well, the decision to refocus Diplomatic coincided with 9/11, when she recognizes that international security would be the next wave of demand her company would be equipped to meet.

“We needed to move into the world of security in the same markets, where our value was our relationships once again, like the fact that we could talk directly to the President of the Central Bank or the Minister of Finance,” Lucy explains. “Instead of working on behalf of the US technology industry to get a foothold in big centerpiece projects, we decided to start looking at how we could help our country deal with this threat with the global War on Terror, and how we could be of value to our government and the companies that want to perform for our government. These questions are what led us to work for defense giants like L3.”

Today, Safe Ports has a staff of about 100 and is experiencing rapid growth. In fact, despite the struggling economy, Lucy and her team have doubled their top line revenue consistently for each of the past three years, with no intention of stopping anytime soon. Safe Ports operates the Defense Logistics Agency’s depot for Kandahar Air Force Base and is contracted to deliver fuel to U.S. assets in Colombia.

“We’re also focused on three other big contracts with defense contractors right now,” Lucy reports. “Safe Ports is somewhat unique in that it is both a small business and woman-owned, and we have so far been able to compete openly with success.”

Lucy’s ascendency in the world of business is a far cry from the life her mother had planned for her, growing up on a 20-acre estate in Charleston, South Carolina. Her privileged upbringing, attending a private girl’s school and riding horses, kept her from 54

much consideration of development or poverty until a trip to the Caribbean in her early twenties. “That exposure truly opened my eyes to a new world,” she acknowledges. “The more I stepped out of my comfort zone, the more that awareness grew.” While her mother, married at 17 and a debutante through and through, would’ve had young Lucy joining the Junior League and returning to Charleston to be a career housewife, Lucy’s father saw her potential and pushed her to be more. “My father was not an easy person,” she laughs.

“His idea was, if you’re going to take up a sport, you have to be a champion. Don’t waste your time just being mediocre.”

One anecdote that illustrates this reality particularly well came when Lucy was in high school and asked her teachers for permission to leave school early every Friday to practice for her horse shows on Saturday. She had studied her Latin textbook thoroughly and asked to take the exam during the first week of school to prove she could keep up with the work in spite of the absences she had requested. Her teacher and the school’s Head Mistress were both incensed and refused her request, punishing her boldness by demanding that she come to school on Saturdays to polish the Chapel furniture.

Distraught, she explained what had happened to her father. Her father called his friend at Citadel who was in charge of the physics department and informed him that Lucy was actually ready to do college-level work, requesting that she be enrolled in physics and calculus.

Thus, at age fifteen, she began taking the college-level courses and acquitted herself enviably. She was able to finish high school early and immediately went on to the College of Charleston. “It was about the challenge and my father telling me, ‘you can do this,’” she recalls.

After college, Lucy left behind her mother’s dreams of domesticity and set out to have a career. Beginning as a consultant for the Port of Miami in the early 1980s, she had her work cut out for her as the public image of Miami crumbled. “In 1983, the cover of Time magazine was ‘Paradise Lost,’ showcasing Liberty City in flames as it highlighted racial tensions.” While her coworkers scrambled to address the nation’s concerns, Lucy, ever the visionary, took a different track. “You don’t lower the argument down to the trench level, always on the defensive,” she explains. “Rather, you focus on creating more jobs. And you do that by bringing glamour back to Miami. We had Michael Jackson come down, and we did all sorts of fun things. We managed to bring in Miss America and had the Miami Grand Prix.” Her PR coup brought a sense of romance and adventure back to Miami that remains today, 30 years later, a perfect

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

illustration of the flywheel effect she strives to create with all of her projects.

In Miami, Lucy met her former husband, whose eventual difficulties in Venezuela propelled her into her current career. When the government of Venezuela illegally seized the couple’s assets, bankruptcy loomed on the horizon and sent him into a spiraling depression, during which he seriously considered suicide. After two years of legal wrangling, Lucy came back to the U.S. and pulled out all the stops. “I hired a law firm and then a PR firm,” she says. “I made up a mock version of the Wall Street Journal with the headline, ‘American investor lambs being led to slaughter.’” She talked to the Council on Foreign Relations, the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Senate banking members. Finally, she tracked down the Venezuelan cabinet members at a meeting with the IMF in Detroit.

She called each one of them, brandishing her phony copy of the Wall Street Journal and creating enough anxiety and political heat to get the assets released. The President of Venezuela personally cut the ribbon to reopen their seized factory.

Unfortunately, her partner’s pride could not stand the ease with which Lucy had accomplished the feat, which he himself had struggled over for years. Though the marriage didn’t last, Lucy’s newfound skills did.

The idea for Diplomatic Resolutions was born.

Lucy’s accomplishments over the career that

followed are as vast as they are varied, and when asked which she is most proud of, she says, “I think it’s the whole tapestry. Yes, we could look at the World Bank project in China, or we could look at forever changing the face of Orangeburg, South Carolina, with the inland port that’s being developed. That’s all great, but where is it going? l like to think that I’ve been building these accomplishments, experiences, and networks to contribute toward some ultimate achievement, though I have no idea what it will be yet.” Her work, in other words, is greater than the sum of its individual projects. Lucy bas undertaken to effect major change by finding the problem that can most quickly and most comprehensively transform the face of a city, a state, and a nation.

The most important thing, says Lucy, is to create prosperity, and that is what she’d like young people to keep in mind as they enter the business world today.

“These days, there’s a lot of confusion over what happened on Wall Street,” she acknowledges. “There’s a lot of confusion with what’s happening in the global economic arena, and within all that confusion, the message that seems to be getting lost is that it’s a good goal to try and create prosperity.” Lucy’s efforts to modernize central technologies in countries around the world have done just that, and she continues to keep her eye out for the next flywheel that only needs a push.

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Ken Falke Shaping the World In Bluemont, Virginia, a hundred-year-old farmhouse sits atop a mountain called Boulder Crest. For now, the two-hundred-acre property is home to Ken Falke and his wife, Julia, but soon, part of the scenic and tranquil land will become a sanctuary to brave men and women who have risked their lives to shape the world into something better—those who have made the promise to protect our country and have lost limbs in the name of that promise.

After watching hundreds of wounded warriors from the bomb disposal community return from Iraq and Afghanistan as amputees, Ken knew he had to do something. That’s why he and Julia launched the Boulder Crest Retreat Foundation, donating 37 acres of their estate and working to construct a $5 million facility where these heroes and their families can seek the solace and support they deserve as they embark on the road to recovery. Also the co-founder and CEO of Shoulder 2 Shoulder, Inc., a multimedia and IT firm dedicated to helping wounded warriors as well, Ken’s indelible passion and commitment to serving those who serve our nation has translated into innovative solutions that are transforming the way soldiers reconnect, recover, and reconstruct their lives.

Shoulder 2 Shoulder was launched in 2011 to complement work being done by another nonprofit Ken founded, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Warrior Foundation, which provides iPads to EOD personnel who have been wounded in combat and confined to hospital beds. When Ken and his team began distributing the iPads, he heard over and over again from these veterans the continued desire to give back. “Despite their injuries, they were really looking forward to the future,” he recalls. “I also heard a family member say she was having trouble keeping track of all the services at the hospital that could benefit their family.” Ken contacted a friend of his, Chris Ferguson, and said, “We could build an app for that.”

Originally, the partners planned to develop the technology through one of their existing nonprofits, but they soon discovered the government was not set up to

contract with the nonprofit community. Thus, Shoulder 2 Shoulder was born. Its first product was an iPad application called IMPACT, short for Injured Military Personnel Assisting Combat Troops. “It’s based on the idea that this individual lying in the bed is still part of the fight, connected to his or her unit and to other wounded warriors they can share experiences with,” Ken explains. “The company was launched to build that iPad app, and now we’re seeing some great opportunities in the veteran and Veterans Administration healthcare space. So that’s what we’re focusing on now—helping veterans transition from their military career to a successful second career.”

While it’s a for-profit company, Shoulder 2 Shoulder donates 50 percent of its profits to causes worth believing in. “We like to think of it as a socially responsible business model,” Ken remarks. “We think we’re the first in the government space to build a company around a give-back model, and that’s exciting.”

At 10 employees and $3 million in annual revenue and growing, Ken is excited about the opportunity for the unconventional organization to continue its trend toward success. “We’re looking at what I call non-traditional opportunities for medical healing,” says Ken. “In instances where medical healthcare costs become prohibitive, we’re investigating new avenues that allow warriors to heal without necessarily having to spend a fortune. Post-Traumatic Stress, for instance, is often healed better through peer-to-peer healing as opposed to individual-to-doctor. So how do we make those connection points for people? How do we prevent people from getting to the point where suicide feels like the only solution? People nearing that extreme become very disconnected, so we’re using IT and social networks to connect people and make sure they know they’re part of something bigger than themselves, whether it’s internships with corporations or nonprofits, meeting with friends, or engaging in study or prayer groups. We’re about bringing people together to provide veterans with that extra support they need to remind them that they’re not alone.”

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Ken and Julia launched the EOD Warrior Foundation in 2007 after receiving a phone call from a friend in Iraq. One of his soldiers had lost two legs, and he asked Ken to meet the family at Walter Reed Hospital. When he went to the hospital, however, he found a wounded soldier but no family. “The soldier’s mother lived in Kentucky and couldn’t afford a plane ticket, so of course I immediately got in contact with her and paid for the flight,” he remembers. “It was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen, and it wasn’t the last time I would see it.”

Ken made similar gestures three more times that year and several times the following year, to the point where he had spent so much personal and corporate money that his accountants urged him to start the nonprofit.

They began holding golf tournaments, polar bear plunges, and other fundraising activities, raising around $1 million a year. They donated half and used the rest as a working capital fund to build an endowment for the future.

In understanding Ken’s vision for this future, one must first peer back into his past. He was born in Pittsburgh, but moved to Alexandria, Virginia when he was two years old. His father had enrolled in the Washington, D.C. police academy after finishing his Army career and became a D.C. cop in 1961. When his mother died of cancer shortly after Ken turned eight, his father left the police department and started a construction company.

Ken spent summers in Pittsburgh with his maternal grandparents—hardworking immigrants with a steel mill and coal mining history who taught their grandson the power of perseverance.

“I was an entrepreneur from day one,” Ken laughs. His first job, at age 11, was selling Krispy Kreme Doughnuts door to door, in which he was given a fee per dozen of doughnuts. He would also run from door to door in his neighborhood, offering to mow lawns and trying to beat out his competitors. “I loved talking to people, meeting customers, and collecting money,” he recalls. “I was a diligent saver and had my heart set on buying a pickup truck.” With his goal in mind, he soon retired from donut selling and picked up a paper route delivering the Alexandria Gazette, and then another delivering the Washington Star. When a friend then handed over his gig delivering The Washington Post, Ken found himself juggling three simultaneous paper routes at age 15, delivering three newspapers a day, seven days a week, on his Schwinn bike. By the time he graduated high school, he had accrued $10,000 in his bank account.

“When I think back to what made me successful in high school, it was my network,” Ken explains. “I knew everybody. I grew up in a military community that was constantly changing, with kids moving in from Korea or 58

Guam or Hawaii. I loved hearing those stories. I always worked to meet people, and I created a good network— what I call a ‘Circle of Like.’”

When he graduated from high school in 1980, Ken had dreams of playing professional ice hockey and went down to Fort Worth, Texas, where he tried out for a farm team for the Colorado Rockies called the Fort Worth Texans. “I figured the further South I got from the Canadians, the better chance I had,” he laughs. “I was so wrong! I was a good skater and player, but I didn’t have the size.” Ken stayed in Texas for a year working as the night manager of an ice skating rink, running the youth and adult hockey leagues as well. Earning $800 a month to cover his $500 in monthly expenses, he played on the adult hockey league, where he noticed a teammate would arrive in a Navy uniform before changing into hockey gear. “That got me thinking,” he says. His maternal grandfather was a career military man, and one day, he found himself in the Navy recruiting office in Arlington, Texas.

Ken joined the Navy to be a SEAL, and to be a SEAL alone. But when he arrived at boot camp, he found that the inadequate results of his eye exam meant he had to choose a different path. He had not come across a single other Navy career that interested him—until he came upon a recruiting poster advertising interviews for the U.S. Navy Presidential Honor Guard. When he arrived to interview, he was surprised to find that the Officerin-Charge of the guards in impeccable uniform was the father of a high school friend, who promptly invited him to join the Ceremonial Guard. With that, Ken joined for three years, serving in Presidential details and Navy funerals at Arlington National Cemetery and advancing through the ranks from casket bearer to petty officer, the first noncommissioned officer (NCO) rank in the Navy.

In January of 1983, when Air Florida flight 90 hit the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, DC, Ken was the second military figure on the scene. His leading petty officer donned a wetsuit and braved the icy water to recover bodies and help survivors, while Ken pulled wreckage and bodies aboard a Navy boat. Around midnight, he noticed another boat chugging up the river toward them, manned by Navy divers from Indian Head, Maryland. “I hadn’t known there was a bomb disposal school run by the Navy up there,” Ken remembers. “I wound up on the boat and was absolutely fascinated by the diving—the equipment, the men going underwater for hours at a time.” He worked late into the night, helping with the mission and brewing hot coffee for the divers upon their return. His efforts caught the attention of one of the leaders, who remarked that they’d love to have someone like him at EOD. “What’s EOD?”

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Ken recalls asking.

The following week, Ken put the wheels in motion to make the transition to the division he had so admired through that icy night of tragedy. His wife was from London, so he took a set of orders to spend a year and a half in Holy Loch, Scotland. In May of 1985, he left Scotland for the U.S. Navy Diving and Salvage School in Panama City, Florida, and then went later that year to bomb disposal training in Indian Head, Maryland.

He spent five years of his career doing traditional Navy bomb disposal, and prior to Operation Desert Shield/ Storm, was assigned to a SEAL team to advance that mission. In the early 1990s, Ken spent most of his time supporting Navy SEAL Teams and U.S. Army Special Forces missions.

In 1993, Ken went back to Indian Head, Maryland, as an instructor at the U.S. Naval EOD School and was then selected in 1996 to be an exchange officer with the British forces, who at the time had the highest bomb disposal expertise in the world. He worked with the best of the best for two years, and was then stationed in San Diego for his last three and a half years of Naval service. Thus, by the end of his 21+ year military career, he had earned the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer, the highest enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy. It had been a great run, but Ken saw some opportunities outside the Navy and knew the time was right to leave. He dreaded the idea of being “stuck” behind a desk as the war in Afghanistan kicked off.

By that point in his career, Ken had become a leader in the Navy bomb disposal community’s counter terrorism efforts, with a focus on the West Coast war plans for the Pacific Theater. When the threat of weapons of mass destruction blossomed, he was responsible for the technology and training programs geared at taking their teams to the next level of preparedness. During that work, he met some of the best and brightest technologists—individuals who were masters at building products but didn’t quite know how the military used them—and Ken saw an opportunity to be an interface.

“If someone’s going to build a robot, who better to receive input from than a soldier who carried a robot on his back?” he poses. “People thought I was crazy when I left my military career, but I saw that need, and I knew my future lay elsewhere.”

Julia, his wife, was among those people, though her support for her husband maintained its characteristic steel. Married in 1983, his military career, which spanned over 21 years, required him to spend almost half of that time away from her. “No matter how close you are to someone, you don’t realize just how strong

people are until they have to be, and Julia has always been there for me,” he says. “I would have to leave suddenly in the middle of the night to go to some secret location for months, but she never wavered. I missed the birth of our oldest daughter, Genna, and every one of her birthdays until she turned 16. Julia’s truly been the rock of the family, raising our daughters and supporting me through my career.”

Military officers who are educated and networked tend to do well when they get out of the service, but young enlisted individuals are not always afforded the same opportunities. In the bomb disposal world, Ken’s peers pursued UXO (unexploded ordnance) environmental jobs, sweeping old military bases that had unexploded ordnance in the ground. Ken, however, had other plans, and put a business plan together for A-T Solutions in November 2001. He and Julia had made $250,000 from the sale of their home in San Diego when they moved to Stafford, Virginia, and he asked her for $50,000 to put into the startup of the company. “I told her we’d put the rest away, and if by Christmas we were eating beans on toast, I’d go to work for somebody,” Ken says. “It took two to three years to make that money back, but then we made it back in spades.”

As they were laying the foundations for A-T Solutions, Ken happened to accept an interview request at the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in Albuquerque, where the division president asked where he saw himself in five years. “To be honest with you, it’s not here,” Ken answered. “I want to start my own company. I have no desire to own an SAIC one day, but I’d love to have a small defense contractor specializing in weapons of mass destruction. I think I could create a great network of people and provide some great services in this space.”

To Ken’s surprise, the president offered to make him a deal—he would give Ken his first contract if Ken found him two more people with his expertise and motivation.

Ken did, in fact, deliver, and A-T Solutions was founded in February of 2002 and incorporated on March 26, 2002, Ken’s birthday. By May 2002, A-T Solutions entered into contract with SAIC. Though their initial business plan was to train state and local police on how to deal with weapons of mass destruction, Ken couldn’t find funding sources for state and local bomb squads, so he focused more on technology integration, developing training plans and delivering technologies to Special Forces and bomb disposal units. They took Segways to Iraq and taught soldiers how to drive them in bomb suits. They took robots to Afghanistan that could hazard into caves and Ken Falke

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draw enemy fire without risking the lives of troops.

They were contracted to do security work for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

When America invaded Iraq in 2004 and the first bombs went off, Ken himself was in the Pentagon. “I always tell people there’s no such thing as luck; that success is instead born when preparedness meets opportunity,” he affirms. “We had some of the military’s best bomb disposal veterans on our team, so we were sent to brief and then transformed into a training company overnight.” With a degree in education and no business background, Ken was honored, if not intimidated, by the sudden hyper-growth of A-T Solutions, and enrolled in Harvard’s executive business school to learn how to best lead his company.

When Ken sold the company in February of 2008, it had reached 200 employees and $35 million in revenue, and he had learned invaluable lessons about the importance of infrastructure. “Initially, we never imagined we’d grow over 30 to 50 employees,” he remarks. “Once you start needing 100 people to fill a contract, you need an HR Department, and we needed to offer benefits. Still, the culture was unparalleled— very friendly and mission-focused. We were all very passionate about the warfighters we were supporting.”

When the opportunity to sell presented itself in June of 2007, Ken instead wanted to put money back into the company to build out its infrastructure. Ten of the 13 individuals with equity in the business, however, voted to sell, leaving him no choice. He continued to run A-T Solutions for two-and-a-half more years, and the business grew to 500 employees and $102 million when he left. “My biggest mistake was not understanding the buy-sell agreements better when we founded the company,” he acknowledges. “I knew I’d want to sell it one day, but not after only six years, and not with two more great years ahead, for sure.”

Once he left the company permanently in June of 2010, Ken took a year off to complete a Master’s degree in public policy management at Georgetown University.

During that year, the bomb disposal community had 56 amputees arrive at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval hospitals. Ken knew then what his future would hold.

The product of these many years of leadership experience is a calm, quiet, resolute style that commands respect, instead of demanding it. “Even when I was captain of my ice hockey team at age 16, I never raised my voice to people,” he affirms. “I believe in teamwork. I have big ideas and love to see a team take ideas and run with them, turning them into business opportunities. I love watching people grow. Leaders are individuals that get people to a place they may not have gotten to on their 60

own, and I hope that my style allows me to do that. I have 500 employees who have gone to the worst places on Earth for me—not to make money, but because they believed in our country, in the mission of the company, and, I think, in my leadership.”

In advising young people entering the working world today, Ken poses 10 keys to success, which begin with #1, set a vision. This vision must be larger than you—something people can follow. Next comes #2, set the roadmap to get to the vision, step by step and goal by goal. “Most people want responsibility, but not accountability,” Ken warns. “When you look at the U.S., you can see that at the highest levels. It’s always somebody else’s fault—always the victim mentality.

That links directly to #3, people who are accountable are successful.” #4 in his recommendations is kindness. “In the most tactical levels of the Afghan wars, the most successful people on the battlefield are those who figure out how to go into villages, meet with elders, build trust, and build that Circle of Like,” Ken reveals. “When people like you, you’re going to be successful. Furthermore, #5 instructs us to give back. From the time I was three years old, I remember being at church and giving food to the families of steel workers and coal miners who were in and out of work all the time. The church never turned people away. You have to do something for other people; it gets you away from that selfish mentality in life.”

Connected to giving back is the tenet of #6, which is working hard with the cause, rather than the bottom line, at the forefront of your mind. #7 then reminds us to take calculated risks, and to find the right people for the right jobs. “#9 is especially important because it reminds us to listen!” Ken emphasizes. “A lot of leaders just transmit without listening. As a leader, I feel that if you listen well, you’ll make adjustments to the way you operate and take people to the next level because you’ve heard what people want to do and be. In taking them there, hire for attitude and train for skills. And finally, #10 instructs us to keep in mind that the grass is rarely greener. People go from company to company looking for the best thing, but only you can make yourself happy.

And finally, be ready. A million opportunities will come your way in life, but if you’re not ready for them, they’ll pass you by.”

These 10 steps are like rungs in a ladder that leads not only to success, but to something higher—a mentality that is bigger than the success of any one person, company, community, or nation. “The question it comes down to is: how can you shape the world?” Ken challenges. “This is a country that allows you to do that, so think big and execute.”

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Dick Fordham The Next Opportunity I wouldn’t change any decision I’ve made, for the simple reason that all of them have combined to get me where I am now,” says Dick Fordham. “And I’d rather be where I am now than anywhere else. I’d rather be me than anybody else.”

Who and where the 57-year-old UK native is today is Director of Marketing and Strategy for Recovery Point, the third largest provider of data backup, disaster recovery, and managed hosting services in the United States. This rise from modest means was hardly accidental. Throughout his life, Dick has shown a knack for recognizing, and taking, chances to grow. Instead of letting himself get comfortable in a position, he applied an “I’d like to try that” philosophy throughout his career to always keep the ball rolling and enable success he never imagined growing up along the docks of the River Thames, 12 miles east of central London.

Ending his formal education at age 16 when he went to work in a factory troubleshooting car radios as way to help support his family, Dick would never have predicted that seeking and staying open to new opportunities would eventually land him a range of technical, management and executive positions worldwide in a 30-year career with IBM or put him in the right spot at the right time to accept the unexpected offer that landed him at Recovery Point in 2008.

Though it would eventually prove effective, this philosophy was not fully understood by Dick’s ever supportive yet strict father. When he’d ask Dick about what he planned to do with his life, Dick would reply ambiguously, “I’m just going to see what’s out there,” an answer which failed to satisfy the builder and former soldier. “In his world, I could become a builder, a plumber, an electrician, a train driver, a cop,” Dick explains. “But I wasn’t any of those things. I was constantly looking around, feeling that things were great and wondering what I would do next!” Unlike many around him, he didn’t look for a job to settle into for the long haul. Instead, every time he landed a new

job, he kept looking for something more.

While Dick’s father and factory-worker mother didn’t fully understand their son’s approach to employment, the self-reliance and discipline taught by the strict rules laid down in their home became skills that served Dick well as he began to work and save money. “The routine in the household never deviated,” Dick recalls today.

“Breakfast was at 5:30, lunch 12:30 and tea 5:30. If you missed them, you didn’t eat. If you didn’t finish your food, you got it for the next meal. And you kept getting it for the next meal until you finished it.”

Dick was the youngest of four brothers, all of whom left school at a young age to begin supporting the family. Half of Dick’s modest paycheck from his factory job went to the family’s finances. “I don’t think we were expecting to contribute quite as much as our mother expected us to contribute, because it was 50 percent of our first week’s wage, and 50 percent every week after that!,” he recalls. “I think I brought home 9 pounds the first week, and my mother took 5 straight away.” All of the brothers were given the same deal, which thoroughly motivated them to save up and leave home. As a result, Dick found himself purchasing his own house at the young age of 19.

After the car radio job, he transitioned through several similar positions before landing a three-year apprenticeship at British Telecom and then serving as a technical officer at an old international exchange in London. Responding to an ad from IBM, he was hired as a typewriter Customer Service Engineer, which meant he was a typewriter repairman.

Just as he had searched around for opportunities upon leaving school, he continued to look around at IBM. “They were superb to me,” Dick remarks. “I kept saying, ‘Oh that’s interesting! Oh that’s interesting!’ and they would say, ‘Oh, do you want to try it?’” That is how Dick rose through the ranks at IBM, moving from engineering, to sales and then to marketing, and bouncing from the UK to the US, to Paris and then back to the US again.

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Success doesn’t occur in a vacuum, and Dick is quick to credit his friend and mentor at IBM, Phillip Oliver, for providing guidance and for ultimately leading him toward marketing. “When you get into the world of corporate business, you’re often competing with other people for your own position,” Dick says. “It’s very rare to get someone who helps you develop your own skills, potentially at the expense of their position.”

Phillip, already a king at IBM but also a king maker, did just that. As Director of Marketing at IBM Global Services EMEA, he sent Dick on his first international assignment and then brought him to Paris to manage marketing for IBM Global Services EMEA. In his time as a typewriter engineer, Dick had become a team leader, and had hoped to move into management. However, he had trouble passing the company’s management aptitude test, part of which involved sitting with a group and attempting to solve a problem in front of prominent executives. “At first I behaved the way I thought they wanted me to behave, as opposed to the way I would normally do it on my own,” Dick recalls. This crisis of confidence held him back until Phillip gave him some life-changing advice.

“You’re trying too hard,” he had said. “Just be yourself.

Do the right thing and the right things will happen.”

Following Phillip’s advice caused Dick’s career to take off in ways he hadn’t imagined.

When Dick moved from engineering to sales, he didn’t feel a natural affinity for the role, so he began to look around for what he should do next. He enrolled in marketing courses, and, true to form, became so excited as he explored this new field that he felt a need to apply the lessons immediately. “They wanted me to get a degree, but I was so enamored with marketing that after taking the first four or five courses I knew I had to take it and run with it,” he says. “So I ventured into the field with this limited amount of knowledge and started doing it.” Dick had been working with IBM’s disaster recovery team in the UK and US offices, and before long, the company asked him to move across the Atlantic. With that, he became the Global Marketing Manager in the US in 1997.

In 2000, Dick again took an opportunity, although this time without the result he would have liked. Six months into his position in Paris running IBM Global Services Marketing for Europe, he spoke with astonishing candor in his first review, telling a superior “I think we should close the place down—not much gets done apart from meetings, PowerPoint presentations, and lots of discussion.” Whether or not that suggestion helped produce this result, the office was indeed closed down 62

a mere 18 months later, sending Dick back to the US, where he worked happily for IBM for six more years.

Then something unexpected happened. After nearly 30 years with the same company, Dick received another opportunity he couldn’t bear to turn down from a business called Recovery Point.

Recovery Point had been founded by Marc Langer, who for the previous 17 years had successfully run its sister company, First Federal Corporation. Founded in 1982, First Federal provides secure off-storage of backup tapes for data systems. As Dick explains, companies back up their critical data to tapes, which are then taken by truck to an off-site storage location.

Tapes are rotated in and out of storage and used to restore data — or the entire business — in the event of a system failure or disaster. First Federal had been a successful player in the storage field, but Marc wanted to compete at a higher level: providing a wider range of data backup, disaster recovery and business continuity services. Companies such as IBM, SunGard and HP were already well established in the field, but Marc wanted to take on that business as well.

Marc founded Recovery Point in 1999 to do just that, and the enterprise quickly grew. “First it was a series of additional workplaces for customers to go if they were displaced,” Dick explains. “Then it evolved to provide mainframe systems and any other IT equipment a company might need to continue their business in the event of some kind of disaster.” Today, Recovery Point is the third largest disaster recovery company vendor in the United States. But while the company continues to grow, it does not let growth interfere with the ability of any customer to receive its contracted services. “We’re very careful to be under-subscribed,” says Dick, “because if you have a disaster that affects a regional area, you want to be sure you can serve all your customers. That’s why we’re very careful to be subscribed to the point where we can support all our customers if we need to.”

Dick’s involvement with Recovery Point was almost fateful. At IBM, he had been working with a small company where a man named Martin Husslage was the development manager. Shopping around at other companies, Martin had met Marc and was impressed with the business he’d built. He complimented the facilities and asked Marc what his next step would be.

Marc responded that he needed marketing, and Martin immediately thought of Dick. “It just so happened that I had had an interesting discussion with my management team at IBM about how I wasn’t happy with what was going on in a particular acquisition,” Dick recalls. “The

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very next day, the phone rang. It was Martin calling to ask if I was interested in a possible job opportunity he had found for me. I was just frustrated enough at the time that I said, ‘You know what? I might be.’ It was kind of fate that it worked out the way it did.”

Dick hadn’t planned to leave IBM. He was comfortable where he was and had almost three decades under his belt. Nonetheless, he drove from New York to Maryland to see Marc’s facilities and was blown away. “I saw what he’d done and where his ambition and drive were leading him, and I told him to make me an offer,” says Dick. “He did, and I took the job on the spot. I actually resigned from IBM that day, two months shy of my 30 year mark.”

Apart from the tremendous potential he saw in Recovery Point, Dick’s decision to move was motivated by two other main factors. The first was his new family.

He had married his new wife, Roberta, only a few months earlier and, at age 53, had become step-father to two college-age children and another son in the US military. That was in addition to his two UK-based daughters and four grandchildren. “I looked at where we wanted to be and what it would cost, and decided I needed the opportunity to earn more money,” he says.

The second, equally important factor, was the freedom the position entailed. “Marc gave me a blank sheet of paper and said, ‘We have no marketing, no identity, and no corporate mission. Go build it and take us to market.’ If you’re a marketing guy, those words are a dream come true.” Once again, although he knew it would be a challenge like none he’d faced before, Dick leapt at the opportunity.

Today Dick isn’t just responsible for the marketing team at Recovery Point—he is the marketing team at Recovery Point. “I made a conscious decision not to hire internally,” he explains. “I found some extremely talented contractors for design, web, photography, and technical writing. With this strategy, I can turn things on and off as I need to. Sometimes I do run into situations

where I need something and it’s not there because those contractors are busy doing other things, but I’ve learned so much in the last four years that I can fill many gaps myself. I now know how to build a website and optimize search engines. I know how to write press releases and build a social media marketing presence. I even know how to take good photographs. So even at my age, with all the things I’ve done, I’m learning new things as well, which is really kind of cool.”

Little surprise then, that in advising young people entering the business world today, Dick stresses the importance of recognizing opportunities when they arise. “Don’t be confused between a distraction and an opportunity,” he urges. “Don’t be afraid to try anything and everything. Even if your peers think it’s a bad idea or your parents don’t immediately see the value in something, don’t be afraid to try, because you never know where it’ll go.” Additionally, and perhaps of particular interest to a generation graduating with expensive college degrees to find themselves unemployed, Dick suggests learning a trade. “Why not?” he asks. “Learn a trade and use that to fall back on if times get rough. It’s good to have something practical under your belt.”

As Dick looks back on his career, he acknowledges that he wasn’t exactly “efficient” in his rise to the top.

“It wasn’t like I had a plan to go from here to here in six months. I just had a sense that things get in the way of those kinds of plans,” he says. “Where there are no limits, one’s potential is limitless. New challenges, people, and interests come along. For me, it was much better not to have a plan—to remain flexible enough that, when that next opportunity came along, I was ready to spring.” That flexibility and willingness to put himself out there and try is what allowed Dick Fordham to find success by seizing one opportunity, and then the next, and then the next, and then the next. And certainly, it will be what allows him to seize the next one waiting just around the corner, whatever it may be.

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Dan Frank A Perfect Landing Landing a jet on the narrow deck of an aircraft carrier is among the most challenging skills a navy pilot must master. These carriers have four arresting wires strung across their decks—cables woven from steel wire that the pilot aims to snag with the tailhook attached to the plane’s tail, thereby bringing the aircraft to a stop.

If the pilot flies in a little too low, the tailhook catches the two or one wires. If it’s too high, it catches the four wire, or none at all. And if the pilot lands the jet perfectly, the tailhook catches the three-wire.

As the CEO and Founder of Three Wire Systems, LLC, Dan Frank named his company in the spirit of this perfect maneuver. “I ended up starting the company after mounting frustration from working in corporations, as many entrepreneurs do,” Dan explains. He was in California working for a number of different software companies, none of which seemed to mirror the company culture and commitment to excellence and innovation that he craved, when he decided it was time to strike out on his own.

At the time, he had had a number of discussions with a friend doing government contracting in Washington, who told him about 8(a) companies and special federal programs for veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. He then discovered that the state of California had similar veteran business programs, so he decided to pursue a career as a state and federal contractor based out of California in 2004.

Dan quit his job and began consulting with smaller companies around the Sacramento and Bay Areas, learning more about the government marketplace each day.

A year later, he launched a company focused on federal contracting in the services sector, flying back and forth between California and DC. Within a year of that move, however, he and his wife decided the business would only flourish if they relocated to Washington. “I don’t consider myself a risk taker; I’m a fairly conservative guy,” he acknowledges. “But

Sacramento is a relatively small town, and I had no space left to grow. In reality, it was my wife who had the guts to push for this. I don’t think I would have done it without her encouragement because I tend to look at things from a more pragmatic standpoint.

“I can still remember leaving Sacramento to drive down and see my parents in LA,” he continues. “We took a flight out of Long Beach airport. My son was six at the time, and my wife was pregnant. She carried a small peony with her on that JetBlue flight all the way to Washington and planted it when we got to our new home. It’s still flourishing today.”

The peony was, in a sense, a manifestation of the fledgling business ideas he himself was carrying with him on that flight and would plant when he arrived in Washington. Venturing on new terrain, the Franks had $100,000 to use in the sustenance of their family and the launch of Dan’s business. They moved into their house in June of 2006, began the paperwork for his business in July, and opened the doors in September. With that, Three Wire Systems was born.

“Once I started the company, I had to decide what I was going to do,” Dan laughs. “I thought I knew about business from my years of previous corporate experience, but it turned out I knew nothing; instead, I had been narrowly focused on revenue generation and wasn’t exposed to anything else. I didn’t learn about business until I actually jumped in and started my own. Can entrepreneurship be taught? It seems to me that you have to do it.”

Dan refers to those early months, from September 2006 to March 2007, as “the dark days”—a time when he was subletting a cube from a friend’s office and trying to forge his path forward. “I would come in each day and ask, am I using my time efficiently?

Am I doing the right thing in the limited amount of runway that I have?” he recalls. “I never lost focus. I was obsessed—not with a worry about failing, but with an excitement about winning. I got up every day and

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focused on making connections. It’s a treadmill you resolve to get on and stay on.”

Fortunately, the pieces began falling into place. A friend needed a developer for a specific program for a government contract, so Dan found someone with the requisite skills and was able to take on the work as a subcontractor, earning around $30 thousand by the end of 2006. “Luck is the intersection of preparation and hard work, and that’s what I aimed to accomplish,” Dan recalls. Three Wire then received its GSA Schedule 70 within six months of opening—a rare feat for new contractors—and was also awarded a SEWP Contract, a large government-wide acquisition contract to procure IT equipment that has exceeded $10 billion in the last five years. “That was a real game changer for us in the beginning of 2007,” Dan recalls. With that, the products and services lines of the business began to evolve.

Also in 2007, a large prime contractor approached Dan about a veterans outreach program in behavioral health. Though a veteran himself, Dan knew nothing about behavioral health, but that didn’t deter him. “I decided to bid with them, and we won,” he says. “Taken together, the alignment of all those great opportunities is what really launched us.”

That contract developed into one of their main lines of business, VetAdvisor. The program harnesses technology to provide behavioral health and wellness coaching for military veterans within the VA. VetAdvisor has grown from a simple telephonic program focused on behavioral health to now encompass the three additional key areas of wellness, finance, and career development. “From a holistic point of view, all these categories impact veterans in unique ways,” Dan points out. “We’ve become the experts and navigational advocates in helping veterans from a coaching perspective, aligning them with our resources or directing them to the right government or private sector programs if we can’t help them.” Thanks to these successes and the bright future that lies before it, Three Wire employs a team of around 80 today, with a headquarters in Falls Church and a larger office in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, and with representation in Colorado and Texas as well.

With the dual themes of military service and entrepreneurship so prominent in his own life, it isn’t surprising that these currents run deep through his family history as well. His grandfather, a Jewish businessman who owned an animal feed lot in Germany and served in the German Army in World War I, was forced out of the country in 1938, venturing 66

to America by way of Ellis Island and then making his way to Chicago.

Growing up without much, Dan’s father developed a strong drive to make his own way in life. He was drafted in the Army and was about to be shipped to Korea when, at the last minute, he found out the Army was looking for computer programmers. He was a mathematician, so the military instead sent him to the first programming courses in the Army, affording him his training in computers. He later worked for several early technology companies and then left the corporate world in much the same way his son would many years later. “He was pretty forward thinking because, at that time, everyone was focused in hardware,” Dan explains.

“Most people didn’t think of software as the value add. They were the first independent software vendor, providing software for IBM and its competitors.”

Dan was born in California and came to the East Coast at a young age. His mother was an artist and part-owner of the Spectrum Gallery in Georgetown in Washington, DC, at the height of the 1960s art movement. “I would hang out at her art gallery in the evenings, and I remember seeing the black light shops and the Jimi Hendrix and Andy Warhol pieces that were so characteristic of the time.”

As a kid, Dan was more interested in sports and flying than he was in his father’s businesses. “It was always my dream to be a pilot,” he recalls. “My father traveled extensively, and I remember being fascinated by the planes whenever we dropped him off and picked him up from the airport.” Though his first jobs were refereeing basketball, football, and baseball events for ten bucks a game, and then washing cars, he pursued his passion for flying when his family returned to California by getting a job at the airport, where he washed and fueled airplanes through high school and into college. He then became a lineman, driving a fuel truck for several summers at a big general aviation airport in Southern California and at a flight school, which afforded him discounts for flight lessons.

Dan attended college at San Jose State and earned his degree in aeronautics and then embarked on what would become an eight-year active duty journey with the US Navy. His father served in the American Army.

With a sister serving in the Israeli Army, an Uncle who served as an OSS Agent in World War II, and a maternal grandfather who served in the American cavalry, it was a natural move, yet he doesn’t take the experience for granted. “I consider myself especially fortunate to have applied to the military at a time when President Reagan was building it up,” he affirms. “I didn’t have

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the highest grades because I studied hardest only what truly captivated my interest. Still, I was willing to put all my eggs in one basket, assuming that I would make it in the military. I was not going to fail. If I was going to leave, they would be carrying me out of there on a stretcher.”

In the Navy, Dan was afforded the opportunity to travel all over the world. “I was always fascinated by carrier aviation,” he emphasizes. He earned a master’s degree from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University during his service and authored a thesis on opening a flight school in Honolulu. When he finished active duty, he then entered the private sector.

After working at KPMG, he took a job with Sterling Software, where he had the opportunity to spend three years in Europe as an expatriate based in both Paris and Brussels, managing European, Middle Eastern, and African affairs. Sterling was then acquired by Computer Associates, so he transitioned over to Serena Software and then to a small software company called Unify. “Those were good companies, but they also had their drawbacks,” he remarks. “I took the negatives I saw within those environments and tried to create the opposite in Three Wire.”

This diverse expanse of experience has led Dan to develop and embrace a leadership philosophy that differs tremendously from leadership in the military, which was very command-and-control and relatively homogenous in terms of approach. “At Sterling, I began to pay attention to the differences between personality profiles, picking up on the best way to approach and manage people based on those differences,” Dan points out. “Learning how to approach people based on how they color their world is a key aspect of leadership, because only when you understand them in this way can you truly connect with them. Leaders are not there to motivate people; they’re there to create an atmosphere

where people can motivate themselves. And that is based on understanding and mutual respect.”

Operating with the deeply held belief that people respond to being heard and feeling that they’re valued, Dan aims to ensure that his employees have fun while they’re here at work. Giving back is an important aspect of the company culture as well, and since most of Three Wire’s employees are veterans, that passion about giving back is innate. “What goes around, comes around,” Dan avows. “What you give, you get. I didn’t truly understand this until the past five years or so. If you approach your life—business and personal—in terms of what you can give, you’ll get back in spades.

It may take years, but it works. Approach people with, ‘How can I help you? What can I do for you?’ It pays off.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, and when he speaks at the Youth Leadership Foundation to help inner city kids learn leadership skills, Dan stresses the importance of perseverance. “It’s really about not giving up, applying yourself, and making mistakes,” he explains. “We’re lucky to be in a society where mistakes are actually seen as badges of courage in many ways. If you’ve never made a mistake, you’ve never really tried.”

In making these mistakes, however, Dan emphasizes that one should always strive to do your best, even if you happen to be at an entry level job or internship at the very bottom of the ladder. “Whatever you’re doing, do the best you can, and somebody will notice,” he says.

“People will be watching for the superstars. The guy you’re working for could be your next mentor, and all they need is to see who you really are and what you’re capable of. Make sure you’re striving for a perfect landing—for that three wire—and you’ll find that aircraft carrier stationed in bigger and better places each time you come back down from flying high.”

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Kathryn Freeland Taking a Chance on You Kathryn (Kathy) Freeland was $300 away from declaring bankruptcy.

She knew starting her own company would be a challenge, but it was something she needed to do. Despite years of education and hard work under her belt, her former employers had taken her for granted, so her only option at reaching success within her career was venturing out on her own. Her husband, Greg, had a background in business development and gave her some helpful advice: “If your career is not going the way you want, start your own business.” Shortly thereafter, RGII Technologies Inc. was launched, but now, she saw it flickering away. All that stood between her and total failure was one last payroll.

Kathy has never been one to shy away from adversity, however. She had faced discrimination within the workplace. She had battled a breast cancer diagnosis. Most heartbreakingly of all, she had lost her firstborn son, Richard Gregory II (RGII). She had encountered the worst-case scenario many times before, and she knew the only way to survive was to move forward. With that, she cashed in her 401k, essentially signing over everything she had to her business venture. “I never thought of myself as a risk taker, especially since my father had always taught me to play it safe, but going all in turned out to be the best decision I ever made,” Kathy recalls. “If I hadn’t made that decision, then I never would have taken a chance on me.”

Luckily, her drastic decision paid off, and the company slowly began to stream in its own revenue, allowing Kathy to pay back her debts and RGII to take off. With the help of her husband, Kathy carried the company through its tumultuous adolescence until it was a stable, thriving business. She went on to sell the company, and has since acquired A-TEK, Inc., an organization focused on providing enterprise information technology services and solutions, scientific data management, and cyber security, where she currently serves as CEO. A southern girl at heart, Kathy grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where she spent her childhood learning from her hard-working parents and four older siblings.

Her father only had a sixth grade education, but through his lifelong work at the US Steel Plant, he was always able to provide for his family. “My dad understood that his lack of education meant he would have to use his hands to provide for us,” Kathy says. “And despite his limited education, we learned far more from him than we ever did in school. He taught my sisters and me not to rely on anyone else, and he taught us to use our hands so we could be self-reliant and independent young women.”

Not only did her father teach them how to fend for themselves, but he also instilled in them a deep sense of family values. The relationship between her mother and father was sacred, and set a standard for what she and her sisters would want in their future husbands.

Growing up, Kathy never saw herself as an aspiring entrepreneur, mainly because she had no exposure to that type of business leadership. “My father was a worker, so my reference point was getting a job and working hard to provide for myself,” she recalls.

She often looked to her three older sisters for guidance, since all had entered the working world by the time Kathy reached her teen years.

After graduating high school, she attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which she commuted to from home every day in a 1972 Pontiac LeMans, given to her by her father. She studied finance in the hopes of one day working on Wall Street, and every summer, she traveled to Washington, D.C. to visit her sister, who worked as a budget analyst for the Federal Defense Department.

The summer before her senior year of college, her sister introduced her to Greg Freeland, a young man working in her office as a presidential management intern.

Sparks flew between the two, and after maintaining a long distance relationship during her senior year at UAB, they were married the day before she graduated. “My father had instilled three main principles in us: to get the best education the Alabama school system had to offer, get a great job to support ourselves, and then marry great men, in that order,” Kathy laughs. “I guess I let him down in terms of order, but I followed Greg to Maryland and landed a job less than a month later, so Dad was happy.”

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During her transition to Maryland after graduation, Greg helped her write her resume so that her limited work experience, which included gigs at McDonalds and J.C. Penny’s, looked far more extensive and impressive than it really was. “We put on my resume that I was great with Lotus 1-2-3, which is what we now know as Excel,” she recalls. “I got a call from a company that was very interested to talk about my familiarity with the program, so my husband gave me a crash course in it, and I was able to get the job.”

While Lotus 1-2-3 may not have initially been her strong point, the job proved to be the ideal training ground for her future business endeavors, since it taught her all there was to know about budgeting in the federal government and the procurement process, from start to finish. She was assigned to a Navy Program, where her mentors fostered her development as a young businesswoman. She went on to work for three different companies between 1985 and 1992, all of which were involved in the fields of budget analysis and procurement associated with federal programs. During that time, she attained her MBA from the University of Maryland, College Park in order to move up in management, particularly because she had spent five years at her previous company and was projected to fill the next manager position.

In 1991 to 1992 timeframe, however, all of her hard work and dedication was cast aside when the managerial position she was next in line for was handed over to a man from outside the company. “They told me he had more of a rounded experience base, and had been doing similar work longer, which I saw as an acceptable reason for their decision,” Kathy explains. “What really upset me, however, was that they requested that I train him. I didn’t know how to respond. How was it that I was good enough to train him for the job, but not good enough to perform the job myself? I felt it was discrimination in the work place, and naturally I was very upset.” It was a devastating insult to Kathy, who had thrown so much of her life into her work, yet in the adversity, she found opportunity—the response that often sets leaders apart from their peers. “I knew I couldn’t just accept what had happened. I needed to do something,” she recalls. “That’s when my husband suggested I create my own business.

He said it sarcastically at first, but it got me thinking.”

It was an outraging moment in her professional career, which she had grown with diligence and dedication, but from the ashes of her efforts at her previous company came the birth of her own company, a thought that had materialized from her husband’s off-hand suggestion and grown over years of careful planning. “It would have been much easier to go work for someone else, since there are so many companies around the beltway that could have 70

used my talents, but something told me not to do that,” she recalls.

Though Greg worked in government contracting and business development, he had an entrepreneurial spirit himself, and he had helped new businesses get their footing before. With his encouragement and guidance, Kathy slowly but surely pieced together a business plan while maintaining her full-time job. It took the pair nearly three years of strategizing before she was ready to present the idea as a real company, which she initially called Freeland and Associates. “One of my former customers was the first to take a chance on me,” she recalls. “I went to him and said, ‘Look, this is what I’m trying to do. All I need is a purchase order, and I’ll do anything.’ So he decided to let us do an analysis of his computer infrastructure. I agreed to do it, but of course I had no idea what he was talking about. My husband reminded me, however, that there’s always a right way to do something, so we had to reach out to all our connections and find the right people to help us get that job done.”

In 1991, shortly before closing the deal with her first customer, hardship visited Kathy once more. She gave birth to her first child, a son whom she lovingly named Richard Gregory II, but the child lived only 50 days, leaving the Freelands shaken and heartbroken. In order to memorialize her son and the impact he had on her life, Kathy decided to rename the business RGII Technologies (RGII), for Richard Gregory II. “It kept his memory alive, and it helped me heal from his loss,” Kathy says. “It drove me to succeed, because in my mind, the success of RGII hinged on me keeping his memory alive. I wouldn’t have been able to continue as an entrepreneur if I hadn’t taken that approach because I was devastated.”

Having the company renamed in their son’s honor helped the couple push through the challenges that many entrepreneurs face when starting a new business, such as financial instability, which Kathy identifies as the greatest hurdle they had to overcome. When they began RGII, they had less than $5,000 saved up to invest in their company. They had bills to pay and a mortgage on their home, so they were unable to attain a small business loan, causing them to rely heavily on their credit cards to sustain the financial piece during the company’s fledgling months. They managed a $50,000 credit debt, and at one point, found themselves $300 from filing for bankruptcy.

It was that emergency funding from Kathy’s 401k that provided RGII its last lifeline, bridging the divide from failure to flourishing.

As RGII gained momentum, they entered into the Small Business Administration 8(a) program for minority small business certification to gain entry into the federal government contracting market. After nine years, they

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had grown exponentially outside of the program, causing them to begin their exit in 2001, hoping to be fully independent from the program by 2003, the 8(a) graduation date. At that time, however, the government was undergoing massive changes, which gridlocked RGII, since they were considered a “tweener”—too small to compete with big companies, and too big to compete with small ones. Responding to the challenge, they restructured their business strategy. Then, around that time, a company out of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey looking to gain entry to the federal government space approached Kathy about buying the company. Originally, selling RGII had not been part of Kathy’s immediate plan, although it was her exit strategy a few years later. However, due to the changing landscape within the government, the timing turned out to be perfect, and the company was acquired in July of 2003, a short seven months following graduation from the 8(a) program.

Kathy continued with RGII for three additional years after the deal was made, and was at last able to relax and focus on her twin daughters, who were at the time just entering high school. “The timing was perfect because those high school years are so crucial,” Kathy notes. “My daughters, Brya and Brynn, grew up with both Greg and I in business, so they sacrificed a lot to let us do that. That’s what they had known in childhood, so I was so happy to finally be able to spend more time at home with them.”

After the success with RGII, Kathy and Greg could have comfortably retired, but when their daughters began getting ready for college, they realized they needed a new challenge. Kathy was heavily involved in philanthropic projects, but she wanted to see if she still had her edge in business, so they decided to acquire A-TEK, Inc., a company very similar to RGII in size and scope, focused on providing IT services and solutions. “I understood everything that came with a new startup,” Kathy explains. “So instead of doing that again, we decided to identify a company with the infrastructure in place so we could hit the ground running and bring our experience, our capabilities, our energy, and our spirits to grow it from there.”

Founded in 1996, A-TEK was originally started as a contract and program management firm with a primary focus on supporting the government in several key departments, including that of Homeland Security, Agriculture, and the National Institutes of Health. Since Kathy acquired the company in 2010, it has emphasized its focus on IT in terms of scientific data management, information insurance, and security, as well as systems integration. Kathy shares the company with her equity partner, and in the past two years of working together, they have faced their challenges head on with a strategic

plan for growth. When they acquired the company, it had roughly 140 employees spread over twenty-six cities and sixteen states, bringing in $24 million in revenue, which she plans to grow to $100 million over the next five years.

Kathy feels that, despite her success in both RGII and A-TEK, her leadership skills are not innate. Rather, she has learned through her experience, modeling herself after those she admires most and focusing on perspective. “I ask myself what I would want in a boss, and then attempt to fit that mold,” she explains. ”I think the most important thing is staying true to your vision, and truly caring about the people who work for you. I consider myself a collaborative leader, and I try to surround myself with people who are smarter than me so I can learn from them as well.”

Having a mentor would have gone far in helping Kathy to avoid so many of the difficult lessons she learned through trial and error, but there were simply none available to her at the time. When RGII was beginning, she frequently reached out to entrepreneurs in the government space, but most saw her as a threat. Thus, to help other young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, she wrote a book entitled Navigating Your Way to Business Success: An Entrepreneur’s Journey. “It speaks to my journey as an entrepreneur,” she says of the book.

“It’s not the right or wrong way to start a business; it’s just how we did it. My hope is that the book will reach out to other entrepreneurs and students looking for a little more advice, helping them to learn from some of the mistakes I made and successes I enjoyed.” In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, she encourages the importance of education, emphasizing the importance of maintaining an unshakeable faith in oneself. “Don’t limit yourself,” she insists. “Be in a position where you can make the greatest impact and get the greatest happiness from that. Know that you are worth taking a chance on.”

There is no question that Kathy has mastered the art of rising from the ashes. With every great hardship, she has found an opportunity to bring happiness and success twice-fold. While she credits the wisdom bestowed upon her from her parents, and the encouragement from her husband, she ultimately traces this indelible resilience, and the success it has garnered, back to her faith. “My twins are my greatest success, but I might not have had them without Gregory II’s sacrifice,” she says. “God gave me double for my trouble. Even in the toughest times, my faith is what I draw on, regardless of what I’m doing or how successful I am. It’s who I am, and I give it all to God.” When you know you have the support, the belief, and the strength to rise up from anything, taking that chance doesn’t seem so hard after all.

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of rising from the ashes. With every great hardship, she has found an opportunity to bring happiness and success twice-fold. While she credits the wisdom bestowed upon her from her parents, and the encouragement from her husband, she ultimately traces this indelible resilience, and the success it has garnered, back to her faith. “My twins are my greatest success, but I might not have had them without Gregory II’s sacrifice,” she

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says. “God gave me double for my trouble. Even in the toughest times, my faith is what I draw on, regardless of what I’m doing or how successful I am. It’s who I am, and I give it all to God.” When you know you have the support, the belief, and the strength to rise up from anything, taking that chance doesn’t seem so hard after all.

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Sidney E. Fuchs A License to Learn Sid Fuchs was so close to finishing his master’s thesis at Louisiana State University College of Engineering that he could taste it. All he had to do was solve one last problem.

As he worked at it, however, he began to feel that the problem was impossible to complete. He turned to his professor, Dr. Robert Courter, for even the smallest of hints, but he was repeatedly turned away. “You have to find the answer yourself,” the professor would say, patiently but firmly. “Come back when you’ve made progress.” Sid slaved over the problem, but to no avail, and the only guidance his professor would give was a review of the process he had outlined countless times throughout Sid’s academic career.

“Observe what you know,” Dr. Courter would say. “What are your boundary conditions? What can and can’t you control? Break it into pieces and solve them one by one.”

Sid did, eventually, solve the problem, but what he got from the experience was more than just the answer he needed to complete his thesis and earn his master’s degree in engineering. Even more, he earned what he refers to as his license to learn. Since then, attaining more knowledge and expanding his arsenal of skills has been the ultimate motivator in his professional life, with salaries and titles a distant afterthought. He applies this method of breaking down big problems into small, more manageable ones in his everyday life, which has ultimately allowed him to become a nationallyrenowned businessman as well as a deeply-committed family man.

Today, Sid is the President and CEO of MacAulayBrown, Inc. (MacB), a premier National Security company that provides advanced engineering and technical solutions to Defense, Intelligence, and Homeland Security agencies. MacB was originally founded in Dayton, Ohio, in 1979 by Mr. J. MacAulay and Dr. C. Brown, who focused on supplying highend engineering technology like electronic warfare and radar systems to the Defense Department. The

company currently earns $350 million in annual revenue, with 2,000 employees worldwide. With its corporate headquarters in Dayton and its National Capital headquarters in Vienna, Virginia, the company serves as a defense contractor that provides a balanced offering of engineering and information technology solutions. Its current owners, Syd and Sharon Martin, took over the company in 2005 and have since grown it from $50 million to $350 million in revenue—a remarkable success given that the company was sold multiple times before it spun off on its own. The Martins had a vision of transforming MacB into a billion dollar enterprise. However, in order to do this, they needed to find someone with enough experience and wisdom to sit at its helm.

To their good fortune, they found Sid. Sid was born in New Orleans in 1961, the youngest of four children. His father, an auto mechanic, and his mother, a housewife, were hard workers by nature, and they wasted no time in passing this ethic along to their children. While he grew up blue collar and enjoyed the simpler luxuries of childhood like his bicycle, Sid learned the fundamental lesson of capitalism at an early age. “I discovered that, if you get out and hustle, you can make money,” he describes with a laugh. “I delivered newspapers and cut grass. There was one lady who told me she already had a boy cutting her grass for $5, so I offered to do the job for $4. By the age of eight, I was learning how to negotiate to close a deal.”

Sid was also conscientious of being wise with money, and by saving almost everything he earned, he was later able to put himself through college at Louisiana State University. “Even today, as CEO, I keep a careful record of my household cash flow,” he confides. “Not so much because I need to, but because I like to know where my money is, which can definitely be attributed to my upbringing.”

Among the first and most important mentors in Sid’s life was his father. Having grown up in the Depression Era, never graduating from high school and starting

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a family at a young age, Sid’s father always took his responsibilities as a worker and family man seriously. He was incredibly intelligent, and while he lacked a formal education, he knew that being smarter, faster, and more hard working than anyone else would always guarantee that his family would have food on the table. “My dad gave me my strong work ethic by demonstrating a model where one strives to be the expert at whatever one does,” Sid reflects. “He showed me that you need to know how to do it better than anybody, and you need to work harder than anybody.”

While instilling this work ethic, Sid’s parents were incredibly supportive of him in every walk of life.

Throughout his childhood, his dreams shifted from becoming a professional football player, to a professional musician, and he landed a full-ride music scholarship to Loyola University for guitar. However, while this offer was tempting, Sid understood that the life of a musician would be unstable, so he switched his efforts to journalism so that he might pursue his interest in writing.

With that goal in mind, Sid began at Louisiana State University, but during his freshman year, his father was diagnosed with cancer, putting him out of work and leaving the family with no income. Everyone pulled together to pay the bills, with Sid pumping gas and doing construction in between classes while his mother returned to work for the first time in her children’s lifetimes. The family survived and was able to continue seeing that ends were met, but the tragedy opened Sid’s eyes to the fact that what he really wanted was a job with some level of job security. His father had taught him almost everything he knew about auto mechanics, electrical systems, plumbing, and construction, and since he was good with his hands, Sid decided to study mechanical engineering. “When I told my college counselor my new plan, he told me the only problem was that I was horrible at math,” Sid recalls with a laugh. “I had to take the lowest of the low math classes at LSU and work my way up, but I eventually earned my undergrad degree and then my masters in mechanical engineering, with a concentration in numerical methods of high speed aerodynamics.”

While completing the final year of his master’s program, Sid began interviewing for jobs but found most of his options to be repetitive and boring. Amidst the monotony, however, he was approached by the CIA, who had a tremendous need at the time for intelligence officers with technical and engineering expertise. The thought of being part of a broader team that would have an impact on world events got him interested in the 74

CIA’s mission. “I generally make decisions based off my gut and intuition,” he recalls of his decision to pursue the job. “I chose the agency because I couldn’t see what the end would look like, and for me, that was very exciting.”

Thus, in 1987, he graduated and moved to Washington, D.C. to spend the next year in training, including the CIA’s Special Operations and Training School. An added bonus to the move was that his college sweetheart, Susan, had family in Virginia. Susan later became his wife, and being near family was wonderful for the young couple.

It took almost no time for Sid to realize he had made an excellent decision by joining the CIA. Most of his fellow engineering graduates reported feeling bored and stuck in their jobs, even though they were making respectable incomes. “Money was less important to me than learning new skill sets,” Sid explains. “I always strive to make choices that give you more choices.

Going into the CIA definitely opened doors, exposing me to government processes and policies, for example, and giving me overseas experience.” He began at the CIA as an operations officer and eventually became an engineering director, leading teams that were responsible for the design, development, and deployment of largescale overhead and ground based collection systems.

By the age of 32, he was promoted to a GS-14—an incredible achievement, but also dissatisfying in that he had reached the top of the ladder early in life and craved more field work. He was ready to evolve, and while many people were begging him to come work for them, he began considering getting his law degree or MBA. Eventually, Sid received an offer from Digital Equipment Corporation to cover intelligence issues for them as their Vice President, and he knew it was his chance to learn how to work in the business world and fine-tune his skills as a salesman. “You have to have sold something in your life,” he claims. “You have to know how to work with people and close the deal.” What closed the deal for him at Digital Equipment was that he would be quadrupling his salary, and while money has never been a motivating factor for Sid, he knew it would be a game changer for his family. “I saw it as a transitional step to advance future generations of my family beyond blue collar work, and I was proud to be able to give my kids what I didn’t have,” Sid explains. “I’m not disrespecting the past; I’m just hoping to escalate the future.”

Sid took the job and worked for Digital Equipment Corporation for two and a half years before moving to Oracle Corporation, where he served as Director of Advanced Programs. Soon after, he transitioned again to Rational Software, where he worked as Director of

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Global Strategic Services. “At Rational, I learned most how to articulate value,” he recalls. “I also learned to never confuse activity with results. During my seven years in the sales field, I learned how to communicate with my customer and position myself to be more desirable over my competitor.”

When the terrorist attacks of 9/11 hit, the status quo in Sid’s life shattered just as it did for nearly every other American. Because of the nationwide fear, every business was increasing their security, so anyone with an intelligence background was suddenly in high demand.

With eight years of experience in the CIA, Sid was not surprised when he received a call from Northrop Grumman Corporation, a Fortune 100 Aerospace and Defense company, inviting him to run their intelligence business. He took the job and became Corporate Vice President and officer, later becoming President and CEO of TASC, Inc., a Northrop subsidiary providing systems development, engineering, and operations expertise to Intelligence, Aerospace, and Defense communities.

During his time as President, Sid grew TASC from $450 million to over $1.2 billion in revenue in four years, which caught the eye of many other businesses in the field.

The work he did within Northrop was unparalleled, but just as the job had become routine and comfortable, Sid soon found himself ready for a new challenge.

After five years at Northrop, he was recruited by John F. Lehman & Company (JFL), a private equity firm focused on the defense and maritime industries, to be a President and CEO of a JFL portfolio company, OAO Technology Solutions in 2007. “At Northrop, I wasn’t learning the corporate finance side of the company,” Sid explains of his third major transition. “I knew that was a weakness in my arsenal, but working for a private equity firm, you learn it quickly. I always want to learn what I can to round out my experiences. I always want to acquire whatever skills so that I can be an effective, thoughtful, and impactful CEO. I have worked toward this by going from engineering, to project management, to sales, to consulting, to finance, to operations. I had several years in every field. I wasn’t an expert, but I had enough experience to be dangerous. I didn’t go looking for these opportunities, but when they popped up, I recognized them.”

After leading OAO to a successful sale in 2010, Sid eventually moved on to become CEO at ATS Corporation, a publically traded government IT services leader, so he could continue this trend of rounding out his skill set and experience running a public company.

After a year, however, the company underwent a sale,

which he took as his cue to leave. “I was forty-eight and decided that I needed time off, so for the next year, I rode my motorcycle, spent time with my family, played a lot of guitar, and smoked a few good cigars,” he recalls with a smile. “I took my family out to breakfast three times a week. It wasn’t so much a break from work as it was extending my life.”

Towards the end of his year off, he was approached by MacB, which was looking for a new President and CEO to lead it towards its goal of making the company worth a billion dollars in revenue. “I met with the board, and I think it was love at first sight on both ends,” Sid laughs.

“What attracted me was that it was privately held, with no outside shareholders, public money, or private equity money. Furthermore, the owners and I clicked right away. I really like them on a personal level. When you have a private company, it’s really important that you click with the ownership, because after all, the company is their baby.”

MacB also recognized that he was the man who could lead them to the billion dollar level since he had done it before during his leadership at TASC. He had a great track record of growing companies, and the leaders of MacB felt comfortable completely turning the reigns over to him. “I believe my style of leadership is focused on connecting on a personal level with the people who work for me,” he explains. “It’s hard to do that with two thousand employees, but people have to trust you before you can lead them. Simply being in a certain position doesn’t mean you’re a leader. I’ve learned from both successes and failures to reach out and build relationships so that people can trust me enough to have honest conversations about what’s working and what’s not. Ultimately, trust is the currency of all relationships.”

To illustrate this point, Sid recently published a book commenting on the power of relationships and networking called Get Off the Bench: Unleashing the Power of Strategic Networking Through Relationships.

He hopes the book will help people in all walks of life learn to help themselves through relationship building, which he readily admits was a strong player in his own successes.

To young people entering the business world, Sid emphasizes the importance of listening, learning, observing everything, and never treating one’s elders as one’s peers. “I’ve seen so many kids today come out of school thinking they know everything and can be a CEO,” he explains. “Yes, you are smart. You did go to a good school, but a degree doesn’t match a lifetime of contributions and experience. Your goal should be to get a mentor who is willing to show you what you can’t Sidney E. Fuchs

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learn from a book.” Even after being in the workforce for decades, Sid was never afraid to ask for guidance when he needed it. In fact, he hired an executive coach twice during his professional career. The experiences helped him smooth a few edges, build a results-oriented leadership style, and become more conscious of the demeanor he gave off to people around him. “I used to forget that the words of a CEO can be very powerful when you’re having an honest conversation, so I learned to put myself in other people’s shoes,” he explains.

In many ways, Sid attributes his current success to the accumulation of knowledge throughout his many career changes. Just as he had done in solving the last problem of his thesis, he can break his lifelong

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knowledge into a complex culmination of experiences that blend together to make him the savvy, thoughtful businessman he is today. He was appointed by the White House to the Board of Visitors of the National Defense University in 2002, and in 2012, he was inducted into the Louisiana State University College of Engineering Hall of Distinction—an honor that included an induction speech by Dr. Courter, the very professor who had given him his license to learn years ago. It’s a license that, with a strong sense of integrity and an endless pursuit of excellence, Sid strives to pass along to his own children, and to all young entrepreneurs looking for the answer to that one last problem that stands between them and success.

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Kathy Georgen One for the Community In the relatively small town of Vienna, Virginia, nestled in the midst of its downtown shopping area, just one block north of Main Street, you will find Georgen Scarborough Associates, a full-service accounting firm that breaks free of the traditional perception of accountants and financial service professionals. With close ties to the community, founding partners Kathy Georgen and DH Scarborough knew exactly where they wanted to open a firm, when they contemplated starting the business.

Kathy explains, “Both DH and I have lived in Vienna since the early 1980s and have been very active in the local community. When it was time to move forward with the business, there was no doubt where we would be located.”

Founded in 2008, Georgen Scarborough Associates was created to give their clients a more focused, personalized service than most accounting firms can provide.

Handling all accounting and financial services for individuals and small to midsized companies including payroll and bookkeeping, tax preparation, as well as financial statements, reviews and audits, Georgen Scarborough Associates is the community’s accounting firm.

When Kathy and DH, then colleagues at a previous firm, began discussing their potential new venture, they knew they wanted to have a different business model than that which they were currently working under.

“We wanted to start a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firm that was more person-oriented and ‘clientcentric’. We wanted to be able to get closer to the people.

Our previous firm had gone through a transition in ownership and the focus changed significantly. One day DH and I were discussing the changes and she asked me if I wanted to go off on our own. Another woman at the firm heard what we were discussing and said, ‘Just give me enough time to grab my purse.’”

Though they were ready to step out on their own, Kathy and DH were still considering when to make the transition when their dissatisfaction with working

with the firm under its new management became so unbearable that they both agreed to start their firm in the middle of the height of their business year - tax season.

“We talked about it immensely and the question was whether we could last another tax season or if we could not. The answer was that we could not,” Kathy recalls.

And so, Georgen Scarborough Associates was born.

With serendipitous timing, they found the perfect office space, stumbled upon a clearance sale on furniture where they were able to get all of their office needs met, and were able to set up shop within a few weeks.

“When we broke with the firm, we wrote letters to our clients saying that we were no longer with the firm, and asking if they were interested in staying with us. It had a release at the bottom for them to sign so that we could keep their files. After we were in the new office, we sent a postcard to follow-up and the clients flowed over; there were only a handful that didn’t come with us.”

Born and raised in Wausau, Wisconsin, a mid-size town northwest of Green Bay, Kathy was surrounded by a loving family. Kathy’s mother worked at Wausau Insurance, the city’s major employer other than the paper mill, and her father, a military veteran that served in World War II, owned and managed a clothing store for young men. With parents who were known throughout the community, Kathy grew up surrounded by friends and neighbors who knew and loved her.

“I would work with my dad sometimes in his store,” Kathy recalls, “I would do odd jobs or work the register sometimes. Everyone that worked there was so kind and nice and knew me. That’s probably the beginning of me wanting to be surrounded by community and people that work together.”

Suddenly, when Kathy was thirteen years old, her father passed away. After having such a strong role in her life, the loss of her father changed Kathy’s life forever.

“I remember people telling me, after my dad passed,

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that now I had to be strong for my mother... as if my childhood had ended, at thirteen years of age, and I was going to have to become an adult now and take on things for my mother. This began a rebellion in me that lasted through my teen years.”

That rebellion included Kathy getting into some tame adolescent mischief including the time she was taken to the police station for “stealing” her mother’s car.

“After I got my driver’s license, I wanted to go out with my friends one time. I told my mom that I was going out and she told me that I couldn’t. I remember we argued about it and I said something rude and took the car keys and left. Sure enough, soon after I saw the blue lights flashing behind me as I drove. I looked at my speed and I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong with my driving so when I pulled over I asked the cop, ‘Why did you stop me, I wasn’t speeding or anything,’ he said, ‘No, but your mother reported the car as stolen’, and then he took me down to the station and called my mom.”

After she graduated from high school, Kathy’s mother moved them permanently out to Fairfax, Virginia to be near her own sister, Kathy’s aunt. After having visited every summer for most of her life, Kathy was very familiar with their new home and was excited about the new beginning.

Once settled, Kathy enrolled at George Mason University, with a double major in Spanish and Latin American Studies and the intention of going into Foreign Service.

“In high school I was really influenced by my Spanish teacher and my focus shifted to foreign languages. So when I went to college, I really became enthralled in what was going on in the world.”

After graduating from George Mason, Kathy married her husband Bill Georgen, who, along with her mother, began encouraging Kathy to transition to the field of accounting. At the time, Kathy was working at FDIC as a financial analyst and she began taking accounting courses at night.

Kathy and Bill also began their family during this time, and Kathy stayed home to raise their two children, while still continuing to complete her studies in accounting.

The family traveled, living for three years in Germany and for some time in California. Fifteen years later, after raising her kids through their youth and completing her studies, Kathy sat for the CPA exam and passed.

“It was a goal for me to pass the CPA exam the first time. I said, ‘Alright, you’re either going to do this right now or you’re not coming back, because this is just nuts.’

I didn’t have as much stamina as all these young people,

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but I gave myself a kick in the butt and said, ‘Just do it; just pass the damn thing and you don’t have to come back!’”

Having inherited from her mother a “can do” attitude where if someone told her that she couldn’t do something, then she wouldn’t stop until it was done.

Kathy believes in the age-old adage, “If you think you can, then you can”.

From her father, Kathy gets her focus on people and community.

“My dad… the man had no strangers. He talked to anyone. When he got back from WWII he became a bartender before he ran his clothing store. He was very easy-going and easy to talk to.”

Being a part of the community and giving back is very important to Kathy. From a young age, she has always wanted to be involved in the community and to know the many people within it.

“When my father passed away, I distinctly remember the funeral director saying to me, ‘I have to set out a second guest book – the first guest book is already full’.

So my goal is to have to have two guest books at my funeral. I want to touch and impact as many people as my dad did.”

Not only does Kathy impact the people around her but she also gives back to the community, individually and through her firm.

“We do a number of both monetary and hour-wise service projects. We donate time and money to the Childhood Cancer Campaign of the Optimist Club of Greater Vienna. We have also done a lot with Alternative House (a half-way house for troubled teens). We try to do monetary giving and service hours to give back; because it just feels good and people see you out there - not just as a company but as a group of individuals.”

Kathy’s advice to young people, “There is a book called, ‘Do what you love and the money will follow’ and I really believe in that. Don’t make money the driving force. Make what you want to do the driving force. If you can get yourself there, happily, then everything else will fall into place.”

Kathy Georgen set out to live her life in service to others, like her father before her. Not looking for fame or celebrity but only wanting to be known in her neck of the woods, Kathy decided what she wanted and didn’t let anyone stand in her way. With a thriving business and a growing impact on her community, Kathy Georgen has already made it meaningful. An atypical CPA with an atypical journey to success, Kathy Georgen is definitely one for the community.

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Richard Guber People First When 23-year-old Rich Guber accepted an offer from Hal Magruder to come work for his home building company, he suddenly had people reporting to him for the first time—many of whom were older than he was. Even from those very early days, his leadership philosophy centered around one important concept: that one must get to know employees and clients as people first, cultivating an understanding of who they really are. Now the CFO and Executive Vice President of Embrace Home Loans, a national mortgage lender that acquired Rich’s company, he avows that knowing how to relate to people in this manner has been the foundation of his career. “I never feel that people work for me,” he says. “I conceptualize of it as working together. Respect and trust are key in getting things done in business. You can’t lead someone you don’t know.”

These lessons were put to the ultimate test several years later, when Rich and his partners were faced with the staggering task of guiding a financial services company, Mason Dixon Funding, through the financial crisis. Indeed, there were days it took every ounce of energy Rich had to put on a positive face that kept his employees and clients at ease.

“Are we going to make it?” people would ask him.

“We’re going to make it,” he would tell them. “Just do your job and leave the worrying to us.”

As he watched the bedrock foundation they operated upon crumble both nationally and internationally, Rich felt a sense of powerlessness, as though the crisis was so far beyond his control that there was nothing he could do. He and his team, however, did not despair.

Rather, they buckled down, met each morning, and mapped out what needed to happen that day. They lived in this style—day to day—ensuring they had adequate cash to run the business and monitoring every loan they were closing. They became keen experts at every minute detail of the business, and somehow, they made it through.

“It was all-consuming,” Rich reflects with a shudder.

“Banks across the country weren’t sure if they could

fund our loans, which would mean we were out of business. So we pulled together a network of local banks and small investors and did all that we could.

I had always made it a point to meet the lenders we dealt with and look them in the eyes to foster real interpersonal understanding—a practice that proved to be our saving grace. In today’s world of email, voicemail, and a startling lack of interpersonal relationships in business, that emphasis on personal connections was so important. When I called those people up to ask a favor, they remembered me. I was more than just an email signature. Those relationships we had were what got us through. That’s how we’ve always run our business, respecting and valuing interpersonal relationships.”

In fact, Rich wouldn’t be where he is today if his friend and business partner Kenny, who he had met through a mutual friend years before, hadn’t reached out to him with the offer to join Magruder Companies. “We’d have meetings at 6:00 AM, and I wasn’t used to getting up that early,” Rich laughs today. “Regardless, I was thrilled at the opportunity to create a product that you could reach out and actually touch.

The services aspect of the business went hand in hand with the actual tangible homes we were making, and I loved the whole concept that we were producing something nice in the community.”

Magruder Companies also managed some of the properties they built, so Rich experienced all aspects of realty—taking a rural piece of land, acquiring entitlements, putting in infrastructure, building a house, and developing the roads. “Watching a piece of dirt turn into a flourishing development with kids running around on playgrounds was among the most rewarding things I’ve ever done,” he remarks. “Sometimes I still drive through those communities today. The trees have grown, and you feel part of something very special. It was a good time in life.”

Together, the Magruder Companies team built a slew of apartments, single-family houses, townhomes, shopping centers, and office buildings in Montgomery

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County, Maryland. “That’s where I really grew my career and my understanding of what it took to create a remarkable product in a construction-type environment,” Rich remembers. “It was a great time in my life when we had a lot of fun, made a lot of great products, met wonderful people, and weathered storms like the S&L crisis in 1990. It prepared me very well for what I’m doing today.”

The team had seen some of their friends achieve great success in mortgage banking, a business they themselves understood after being homebuilders over the years. They had their own portfolio of loans and began as a lender, attempting to handle the tougher loans around the DC metropolitan area but quickly finding that it wasn’t for them, so they pivoted and became a traditional retail mortgage lender with a few loan officers. “We had one computer back then,” Rich laughs now. “Everything had to be done on that computer, from credit reports to spreadsheets. But we grew, one building block at a time. We’d get a loan and do a high five at the end of the day. We learned the business from the ground up and certainly made some mistakes, but our standing in the community as good, honest people helped us with that growth.”

With that, Rich and his partners, Hal Magruder, Kenny Kasnett, and Cary Reines, launched Mason Dixon Funding from scratch in 1996, working out of the Magruder offices in Gaithersburg until 2000 and then moving to a location in King Farm for three years.

They then relocated to a larger office, with their branch offices growing quite a bit. “A lot of those experiences were new to all of us,” Rich remembers. “Dealing with more people, more banking relationships, and the stresses and strains of owning a business—that was on our shoulders, but we enjoyed it. We really made something out of nothing. Being able to take that company and later navigate it through the market crash, creating something with truly lasting value, was an incredible experience that showed me what I was capable of.”

Before long, Mason Dixon had grown to nine offices from Delaware down to Lynchburg, Virginia. Except for one venture out into Alabama for a time, they kept their offices within a few hours’ drive of one another for ease of access and integration. Focusing on retail mortgage banking with fully commissioned loan officers that had relationships with real estate agents, builders, financial planners, referral sources, and affinity groups, those loan officers essentially built their own businesses and didn’t rely on leads from the company.

By the time Mason Dixon Funding was acquired by 80

Embrace Home Loans in 2009, Rich and his partners had built it into a company of 125 employees that was closing over $1 billion a year in loans throughout the mid-Atlantic region, making it among the largest privately-owned mortgage lenders in the area. “We felt that it was the right time to sell because, in order to do what we wanted to do and take ourselves to the next level, we needed a bigger company to align ourselves with,” Rich explains. “As the financial crisis was winding down and the Dodd Frank regulations were changing the industry, we knew we would definitely benefit from a larger company, a compliance department, and greater marketing support.”

Embrace Home Loans, formerly known as Advance Financial Services, is a direct-to-consumer mail program for residential mortgage lending headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island, that has evolved over three decades to do business in forty-six states. Data-driven and analytical, the company was founded in 1983 and eventually determined that it was time to branch out into another channel of business for the mortgage industry. That’s why they reached out to Mason Dixon, a retail mortgage lender with brick-and-mortar offices that could add a retail mortgage banking dimension to Embrace’s direct business-to-consumer model.

Rich and his former partners now represent the retail portion of Embrace Home Loans, which is about fifty percent of the total volume of the enterprise.

They all hold executive roles in the company, with Rich overseeing the business’s financial infrastructure.

“I’m sort of the outside face of the company when it comes to financial matters,” he explains. “I deal with banking relationships, and as we are a business heavily dependent on credit facilities, we operate off of a fairly sophisticated financial platform.”

Because the business is so heavily dependent on the interest rate environment, the low rates over the past several years have given Rich and his team the opportunity to fill in many of the seats that were vacant at the time they were acquired. “From an employee’s standpoint, we have a lot more to offer now in terms of a more robust benefits package, better marketing, and better technology and training. We’ve taken a lot of strengths from Embrace’s direct-to-consumer platform and translated them over to the retail platform, and it’s really added to what we can offer retail loan officers in the marketplace. We have so much support for our loan officers that they can really be focused on sales, and so many aides to help build their businesses that they’re really thriving. They have more time to sell and less to worry about in terms of administration. This, in

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

turn, allows us to be stronger as a company. Our goal is to become a $10 billion per year mortgage originator, landing us in the top ten privately-owned companies in the country.”

As a young boy growing up on Long Island in a town called Jericho, Rich couldn’t have guessed how his professional path would pan out. Those were the days when front doors could be left unlocked and kids were always outside playing hockey and football. It was a carefree kind of life, except for the tragic loss of Rich’s father to colon cancer when he was seventeen. Then, when he was a junior in college, his twenty-four year old sister passed away as well. “I tried not to let these significant losses consume me,, but they were certainly powerful and profound events for me at the time,” he recalls. “It really taught me the importance of valuing each day, and of loving your family. Today, my family is small but close, and we speak to each other multiple times a week.”

Though he didn’t really understand it when he was younger, Rich really appreciated how hard his father worked. He was in the music licensing industry, protecting the interests of artists when their works were played or reproduced around the world. “It was great going to work with him and seeing how people respected him,” Rich remembers. “I would sit in his big chair and really observe what a strong work ethic could accomplish. Now I run into people who will tell me how much I remind them of him, and that’s a great honor.”

Rich has also drawn a lot of strength over the years from his mother, who supported both a husband and daughter undergoing chemotherapy treatments simultaneously. “To make it through those times and still be a functioning, loving, wonderful lady is a true testament to the person she is, and I owe a lot to her,” Rich says fondly. “We’ve been through a lot as a family, but it does make you strong in a lot of ways because it doesn’t do you any good to wallow in self-pity. That’s not who I am, and it’s not who my family is.”

As a child, Rich’s goal was always to go to law school to become an entertainment industry attorney so he could work with his father, but later, he felt much more in tune with his natural affinity for numbers and his innate attraction to understanding how business, strategies and relationships were built. “I’ve learned a lot over the years by asking a lot of questions,” he remarks. He attended American University and then decided to stay in the Washington DC metropolitan area in 1983 after earning his degree, where he went back to graduate school for accounting.

Rich also went to work for a CPA public accounting firm for a year, which he found too limiting, but during that period of time he learned a lot about real estate, taxation, and partnerships—information he later utilized during his employment at the Magruder Companies. “I’ve looked at each part of my career as a building block for more opportunity,” Rich affirms. This sense of cultivation and big-picture strategic mentality hints at the undercurrents of creativity that define every successful entrepreneur. “Whereas the industry I work in is relatively straightforward, entrepreneurship is not,” he continues. “It demands a degree of creativity that really resonates with me and always keeps me thinking and challenged.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Rich brings his message back to the respect for humanity that has lent his business so much heart. “On your road to success, always remain a good citizen and a respectable business partner that never takes advantage of people,” he urges. “From a personal standpoint, live with no regrets. Spend every minute you can with your children or your loved ones.”

Whether he’s spending time with his wife and five children, focusing on making Embrace the best it can be, or looking toward the future, Rich demonstrates that it’s our relationships that make things happen in life, and our relationships that ultimately make those things worthwhile.

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Amanda Harper The Goal Standard “But we don’t know how to run a business,” Amanda Harper reasoned.

“Amanda, you grew up with two parents who each ran their own businesses,” her husband, Andrew, countered. “They talked about running those businesses every day, and whether you paid attention or not, it’s in your DNA.” Indeed, Amanda realized she had taken it for granted that the entrepreneurial spirit so innate to her character was one that burned in everyone. She also found herself recalling one of her earliest memories—a time when her teachers announced a competition in which the student who read the most books won. Amanda’s kindergarten class had just learned to read, so no one was expecting one of them to be victorious, but her mother had told her that if she really wanted to win, it didn’t matter how young she was. If she set a goal and tried hard enough, there was no reason she couldn’t accomplish it.

Amanda decided that yes, she would win the contest. And yes, she did. From that moment on, she became a strong believer that the only person that could hold her back was herself. “I learned that if you work hard and dedicate the time, talent, and practice, you can do it,” Amanda remembers. Now the cofounder and President of Gaeltek, LLC, recently named among the top forty most innovative IT companies in the United States, Amanda decided that she was ready to make that commitment to the business that Andy had proposed, and the success of that commitment continues to snowball today.

Since the day Gaeltek was founded in 2004, Amanda and Andy have mastered the art of monitoring, managing, and maintaining the network technology of small and mid-sized businesses. “Our clients think of us as preventive medicine for their networks,” she explains. “We take on the Chief Information Officer role for companies that are small enough that it doesn’t make sense for them to have their own IT department.

By taking on that responsibility for them, we allow the owners and employees to do the thing they do best,

which is growing their business. I like to say that they mind their business, while we mind their IT.” Andrew had been a weapons engineer officer in the British Royal Navy, and his last posting had been in the embassy in Washington, DC. The couple decided they wanted to stay in the United States, and Andrew assumed a position at the British Embassy for several years before leaving to pursue a career in the technology sector. “He enjoyed the work, but he began to notice that many companies in that market didn’t really value their smaller clients,” Amanda details.

“They would brush them off and didn’t treat them the way they treated the larger clients. This is problematic because of the vital role small businesses play in our country’s economy, and the small business community deserves to be treated better.

That’s when Andy approached me with the idea for a company focused on providing this treatment.”

At first, Amanda was skeptical. She was a press officer for the State Department at the time, and she didn’t want to give up her job. When she observed Andy’s unwavering confidence combined with the tremendous need in the market space for the service they would offer, she realized she was willing to see what they could do. With that, Gaeltek was born.

Amanda kept her job at the State Department through 2009, so in those early years, Andy was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the fledgling enterprise.

Now, however, Andy oversees the technical operations, while Amanda oversees the day-to-day management.

With its team of five employees, Gaeltek tends to service companies of between three and twenty-five users that focus on professional services themselves, whether it’s consulting, legal services, financial services, architectural work, or another field. “I love that no two days are the same,” Amanda explains. “There are always new challenges, and I love sitting down with business owners to talk about why they started their companies, what challenges they’re facing, and how we can use technology to help them overcome those challenges.”

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Though Amanda never could have guessed that she’d co-found an IT business, she was always defined by her very goal-oriented persona, even from the time she was young and growing up in West Virginia in a little town called Petersburg. With two thousand people and one stoplight, everybody knew everybody. Her father owned a medical practice, and her mother owned a photography business that allowed her to express her artistic nature and spend more time with Amanda and her sister as they were growing up.

As a child, Amanda remembers acknowledging that her family lived a secure lifestyle and worrying that she wouldn’t be able to maintain that same lifestyle when she grew up. “I never wanted for anything, but I was cognizant from the age of six or seven that state of financial security was not a given,” she says. “That knowledge governed many financial choices I made in my life, from saving early for retirement to being very fiscally conservative with the business. Thanks to that mindset, Gaeltek is debt-free and has been profitable from day one.”

Amanda’s first job was in the office of her father’s practice, doing filing and whatever else was needed. “It was unpaid at first, but that didn’t matter to me—I loved doing it,” she remembers. “All my friends would come to him, so I’d see people I knew all the time.” She also worked with her mother in her darkroom developing film and would accompany her to assist with shoots at various events. This inspired a love of photography in herself, and through high school, she worked on the yearbook and newspaper staff handling their photography.

After high school, Amanda attended Bridgewater College on an academic scholarship with law school in mind. The liberal arts college, however, exposed her to a wide range of courses, and Amanda soon found herself falling in love with astrophysics to the extent that, though she graduated with a degree in political science, she considered a major in that course of study as well.

During the summer before her senior year, she sent letters to the top five law firms around the area looking for employment. All of them wrote back saying they didn’t hire college students, save for one. That firm was impressed not only by her initiative, but by the fact that she had been elected freshman and sophomore class president. “There’s something about your character, and we’d like to hire you,” they said. She worked with them that summer and throughout her senior year, but the following summer, she realized that billable hours weren’t exactly what she wanted to do with her life after all.

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Uncertain of exactly what she wanted to do instead, Amanda was drawn to the management aspects of public administration and enrolled in the public administration program at VCU, which she also attended under partial scholarship. She was living in Richmond and worked full-time, first as a paralegal and then for the Virginia Department of Education as an assistant in their policy division. She began handling their public affairs and media outreach, and a light bulb went off. She loved it.

The department offered her a fulltime position in their public affairs office, which Amanda planned to accept when she graduated first in her Master’s program.

Yet several months before graduation, she learned about a program sponsored by the federal government called the Presidential Management Fellows. After a rigorous and highly competitive selection process, she was admitted. Designed to train individuals for management jobs in the government, the two-year program required its students to spend a period of time with the agency that hired them. For Amanda, that was Strategic Systems Programs, the arm of the U.S. Navy responsible for providing sea-based deterrent missile systems.

Amanda’s boss at the time knew that what she really needed was private sector experience, so he sent her to California to work for Lockheed Martin Missile and Space Company. Lockheed immediately put her to work developing a schedule for facilities to start production of missile system parts, opening her eyes to a new world of management she hadn’t, up until that point, experienced. Following her time at Lockheed Martin, she returned to Strategic Systems Programs as a program analyst monitoring shipboard systems.

While there, she was involved with writing speeches and presentations for the admiral with which she was working, and she knew that she wanted to become a full-time public affairs employee. With that, she then accepted a position at the State Department in public affairs—a job she loved because, like her role in Gaeltek today, no two days were alike.

Amanda was always competitive as a child, and that expresses itself in her leadership style today. “I always want to do better than I did the day before,” she avows.

“The reality is that numbers don’t lie. If I look at my business from last year, I can see the number of clients and the amount of monthly recurring revenue we had, and my goal now is to beat that. We share those goals with everyone in the company, and it’s a contest amongst ourselves to accomplish them.”

Aside from purely professional goals, Amanda and

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Andy are determined to maintain a healthy work life balance, which has been challenging for them in the past. “It’s very easy to stay in work mode all day and to keep bouncing new ideas off of each other, but we’ve been working on relegating that to the workplace,” she says. “I leave the office every day by 3:30 so that I’m there when my daughter gets home from school. And I don’t think or talk about work until she’s asleep.” Good parenting isn’t the only manifestation of this balance, however. Andy currently serves on the board of the Teach Them to Fish Foundation, which builds schools for impoverished children in Asia and Africa, and Amanda is a member of Building Bridges, Building Community, and an organization that supports the nonprofits in the area with the aim to strengthen community. As a Girl Scout leader as well, Amanda affirms that giving back is an important component of success. “Additionally, to thank non-profit organizations for the invaluable services that they provide, we take on at least one new non-profit per year and provide their IT support gratis for as long as they remain with Gaeltek,” Amanda adds.

“It’s something that, as a company, we’re very proud to do.”

Perhaps the biggest reason why giving back is so important is the fact that success, itself, is about relationships, as Amanda has discovered time and again throughout her career. Joe Walton, her first boss in the Navy and a trusted mentor, drove this message home time and again when he taught her the interpersonal side of business relationships. Joe treated every experience as an opportunity for Amanda to learn something, and he constantly challenged her to find alternative ways of accomplishing things. “He saw something in me that I didn’t necessarily see in myself, and that left a great impression on me,” Amanda affirms.

Another relationship vital to her success is the one she shares with her husband, who recognized and appreciated that her goal-driven and competitive nature was a perfect complement to his dreamer’s approach to business. For the Harpers, the key to working together successfully as husband and wife has been the alignment of goals and mission that keeps them looking toward the same horizon and operating at the same speed. Equally as important, however, is the keen awareness they share of one another’s strengths and weaknesses. “We divide our roles and responsibilities accordingly, and it’s always a team effort,” she affirms.

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Amanda stresses the importance of remaining open minded. “Even if you think you have a good idea of what you want to do, be open to what else might come along,” she urges. She lives this concept herself, not only in her professional life, but in her personal life as well, and the philosophy has led her to eat a deep-fried tarantula in Cambodia and bungee jump at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. “I’m terrified of heights, but I did it because I wanted my daughter to have tangible evidence—a video—of me overcoming my fear, so that she knows that if you put your mind to it, you can overcome anything.”

Indeed, Amanda is committed to the message that, whether you’re a small child or a small company, there are no limits to what can be accomplished. To achieve goals, one simply needs to set them, work hard, and continue to focus on the same questions that buzz around the Harpers’ dinner table each night: “What was the best part of your day? What did you do to help someone else?

What do you wish you had done differently? What are you going to do differently tomorrow?” For Amanda, the goal standard is the gold standard.

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Andrew Harper The Golden Rule Andy Harper had heard people preach the merits of the Golden Rule before, but it wasn’t until he was deep beneath the surface of the ocean, confined in a submarine with 140 other sailors for months on end, that he truly grasped its importance.

“The Royal Navy Submarine Service engenders a sense of teamwork that is second to none,” he explains.

“I realized very quickly that, in those circumstances, you have to get along with people. It was a real eye opener for me because we all had egos and attitudes, of course. You have different disciplines who all think they’re the best, but very quickly you realize that the main entity is the team itself, and the team functioning properly is what brings the solution.

Three months spent underwater on a submarine engender true tolerance and understanding. You have to treat others the way you’d want them to treat you, and you have to be willing to do yourself any task you assign to someone else.”

Now the cofounder and CEO of Gaeltek LLC, a full service IT consulting firm that specializes in preventing IT issues from afflicting DC-area business before they start, Andy brings this same team-oriented mission to the business world. “The sum of the parts is greater than the whole,” he affirms. “When you pull together as a team, you can deliver far better, and that’s what we do both for, and with, our clients. We create unparalleled synergies within our employees, and between Gaeltek and the companies it services. That’s why we don’t call our clients customers; we call them partners.”

Gaeltek was formed in 2004 after Andy realized how poorly businesses were being serviced from an IT perspective. He had served in America as a weapons engineer in the Royal Navy and wanted to stay on to work in the defense industry, but due to the political and economic climate of the time, that wasn’t possible.

Instead, he took a job in the British Embassy as an IT manager and then went to work for a small company that provided IT support to other small companies.

“I was there for all of a month before I realized how

shocked I was at how horribly that company treated its clients,” Andy muses. “They prioritized based on the amount of money the client paid them, rather than the relationship. It was completely at odds with how I wanted to deal with people. I always want to treat people the way I would like to be treated myself, and we founded Gaeltek under that mantra.”

Gaeltek was thus founded with the mission to provide top-notch technology support to small businesses, providing them the tools and value they truly require to do well in the current marketplace.

Setting itself apart from its competitors by assuming complete responsibility for its clients’ networks, the company is committed to providing solutions proactively, hedging off potential problems before they develop.

“If you think about it, IT providers generally make the most money when their clients are hurting the most, which didn’t seem like a fair business paradigm to me,” says Andy. “I used to manage a weapon system that had to be working 100 percent of the time, and if there were any glitches, you were making explanations to the highest level of government. That really taught me the importance of operational readiness, or keeping systems online. Just like with a new car, you want to keep a new computer system and network in the best possible condition, so we wanted to revolutionize the way computer maintenance is done, introducing the concepts of responsibility and vigilance.” That’s why Andy and his team came up with the idea to take full responsibility of maintaining their clients’ entire networks. By monitoring, managing, being proactive, and really looking at how systems work, they succeed in minimizing downtime, mitigating issues, and initiating immediate workarounds for each client because they are familiar with that client’s IT environment in its entirety.

This approach, known as managed services, has gained popularity recently, but in 2004, Andy and his team were ahead of the curve, though they didn’t know

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it at the time. Now a team of five, and each with a unique background, Gaeltek offers a more nuanced and holistic expertise that surpasses the nuts-and-bolts approach of its competitors. Andy’s wife, Amanda, handles the business-related aspects of the company, while he is more oriented around systems and configuration management. Another team member, Dave, was a database developer for the US Marines. “We’re not just here to support a technical tool when it’s broken,” Andy affirms. “We’re here to support a business doing business.”

Gaeltek’s clients span the professional services industries, including law firms and high-end retail stores that stand to better deliver their services through maximizing their IT capabilities. It represents its clients’ best interests, distilling complicated issues and translating technical jargon so that each party involved understands exactly where they’re going and why.

Andy grew up in a town on the outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland called East Kilbride, which had been built after the Second World War to give people better housing and the promise of a better tomorrow. His father, a driving instructor who ran his own business, always encouraged Andy to work hard for his education. His mother worked nights as an auxiliary nurse in a hospital to help make ends meet, and his older brother and sister both still live in the town they were raised in. “We weren’t wealthy and we didn’t go on fantastic vacations, and it frustrated me that my parents worked so hard but didn’t have much to show for it,” Andy remembers.

Young Andy had no professional aspirations growing up save for the fact that he was fascinated by engineering. An avid reader and deeply technical child, he was building radios by the time he was seven years old. He didn’t play any sports, however, and by the time he reached high school, he felt the itch to get out and do something physical. With that, he joined the Sea Cadet Corps. They valued Andy’s burgeoning technical expertise and also developed his leadership skills, lending him a new air of independence that inspired him to seek out and secure his first job—a summer gig at a small electronics company when he was 15.

Andy thoroughly enjoyed his experience with the Sea Cadets and toyed with the idea of joining the Navy, which his father discouraged because he thought it didn’t hold a future. Andy found out, however, that he could join the Navy as an engineer officer. His father said there was no way he’d ever get in because he was working class in the class strata of the UK—a challenge that would forever fuel Andy’s desire to succeed. “I decided I wanted to prove him wrong, so I went for it,” 88

he remembers. Through hard work and perseverance, he earned a reserved place at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth at the age of 15. If he got good grades at school, he would be admitted to the College as a midshipman, which was equivalent to an entry level officer in the US. Life changed dramatically for Andy at Britannia, where he learned incredible discipline. “We were all wannabe Naval officers who had been at the top of their classes, learning that we all had to work together to be part of the team,” he remembers. “We learned that the team is much more important than the individual, and that set us up for true success.” At age 18, he joined the HMS Intrepid, a landing craft carrier, and sailed across the Atlantic and around the Caribbean. “In Barbados, you really see the haves and the have- nots, which I wasn’t sure how to handle initially,” he remarks.

“You see some people who can get anything they want because they have money, while others didn’t even have running water. That was a real eye opener.”

Andy then passed out as a midshipman and went on to the HMS Illustrious, an aircraft carrier, where he got an ankle injury and was switched to a shorebased assignment for several months. He then enrolled in the Royal Naval Engineering College in Plymouth to start his three-year engineering degree. It was a rigorous course that stretched his abilities up until he graduated in 1988, when he underwent more training and ultimately became an engineering officer in the Royal Navy as he had always wanted. “All through that experience, I could hear my father in the back of my mind saying it wasn’t possible,” Andy laughs. “It wasn’t until the very end, when I qualified as a submariner and got my submarine dolphin badge, that I realized I had actually done it, and it was possible. That realization is a real cornerstone of the development of my selfconcept.”

After qualifying as a submarine officer and training to work with nuclear weapons at the age of 24, he was among the four people on the HMS Revenge who would be involved in the authentication of a fighting message for, essentially, ending the world. If his boss had refused to pull the trigger, that responsibility would fall to him. He worked in that capacity for several years and then went to the training side of things, monitoring and managing the Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles. “It was kind of like monitoring and managing a computer network, focused on operational management and maintaining high levels of availability,” he affirms.

He then went to the squadron staff, where he focused

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

on assessing submarine crews and their capacity to monitor and manage weapons systems. That’s when he came across an opportunity in DC as a head technical liaison for the Trident weapons program. Landing that position, he came to America to work in 1997 and fell in love with the country almost immediately. “There’s a level of optimism in the US that American citizens don’t even realize they have,” he remarks. “It’s the ability to say we can do this, and to go do it. There’s more optimism in America during the darkest days than there is on the brightest days back home, and I think that’s truly one of the strengths of this country. I wish people here understood what they have in that optimism, because they’d embrace it all the more.”

Optimism wasn’t the only thing Andy fell in love with during his three years of working here. His team had just done a test launch of a Trident missile near Coco Beach in Florida, and he met a woman named Amanda at the post-launch party. The two started dating and ended up marrying in 2002.

Andy spent a total of seventeen years in the Royal Navy, and he never really envisioned leaving it. There came a time, however, when he realized he could stick with submarines forever, or he could try something different. Thus, at the age of 34, he chose to leave, even though he was still several years from earning his pension. “For me, if I went back for those years just to earn that pension when I had the intention of leaving anyhow, it would have been a lie, so I decided not to,” he explains. “I’d had my eyes opened in America, and I saw another way of life. “ With his extensive relationships in the UK and with US contractors, and his nuanced understanding of how business operates in both climates, Andy had aspirations to work in the US defense industry, but took an IT support position at the British Embassy instead.

Up to that point, he’d been an engineering manager, developing deep technical knowledge but without actually doing the work. At the embassy, however, he turned over a new leaf. The September 11 terrorist attacks then changed the defense climate completely, signaling to Andy that he should pursue a different career path going forward. It was around that time that he began working at the small company that operated in such contrast to his code of ethics. “They weren’t being honest, and there was no way I’d do business with someone like that, let alone work for them,” he affirms.

“You do what you say you’re going to do, period.” Thus, Gaeltek was born.

It was over dinner one evening that Andy first brought up the idea of starting his own business to Amanda.

They hadn’t done any market research, but they felt they didn’t have anything to lose in trying. Amanda handled the financials from day one in her spare time, enthusiastic about the future. Very fiscally conservative by nature, she was a great grounding influence for Andy and an ideal complement, providing support in areas of business management where he wasn’t as well versed.

Gaeltek’s first year earnings were meager—so meager, in fact, that Amanda joked she wouldn’t have let him launch the company had she known how hard it would be. Thankfully, however, she still had her job, which provided a helpful cushion through those fledgling months. They kept growing one customer at a time, generating slow, steady, methodical, and sustainable growth. “I feel that I don’t have a creative bone in my body, which makes that whole period so remarkable,” Andy laughs. “I’m a true engineer. I’m not artistic, but I did come up with a business model—something I haven’t been exposed to, really. It’s been the linchpin of my imaginative life.”

Now that Gaeltek has evolved into a small company that’s nationally known and recognized as a thought leader, people look to it as model for how to run their own businesses. In this manner, Andy and his team aren’t only serving their own clients with the highest standards—they’re actually raising the standard of technology support across the industry. “I believe leaders develop others to bring out the best in them,” he avows. “At Gaeltek, we work as peer leaders to other IT providers to help them bring out the best in their employees as well. I want people to be able to go to any IT solutions company and know they’re going to get quality, and that somebody is actually going to care about their business.”

Recognized by CRN, a leading magazine in the IT industry, as one of the top forty managed service providers in North America, Gaeltek is still focused on the individual clients it serves. “The best part of my job is helping someone do something they thought they couldn’t do, and making their life easier in that way,” Andy remarks. “Technology is all about enabling.

People are scared of it, so I like that I can go and help people overcome that fear. It makes it easy to get up and go to work in the morning.”

In advising young people entering the working world today, Andy emphasizes the importance of listening.

“Try to pay attention when people are really trying to help you,” he says. “Seek to understand what others are trying to communicate to you. If I had my time again, that’s what I would focus on. I think I could have done even better if I had been able to comprehend the advice Andrew Harper

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people were trying to give me along the way. I think in every single walk of life, you have people who are trying to help you, so let them.”

One such person in Andy’s life is none other than Amanda, who unlocked a new dimension in her husband when she challenged him to run a half marathon. At the time, he couldn’t run more than a mile, but now, 20 months later, he’s just completed his second full marathon. “Running’s like therapy,” he remarks. “It gives me the opportunity to reset my thinking, which helps me build the business even more.”

Just as the Harpers support one another, Gaeltek seeks to support the surrounding community. The company donates to several charities, including the No Greater Sacrifice Foundation, a charity that provides for the education of the children of America’s fallen

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heroes, and the Teach Them To Fish Foundation, which helps develop crucial skillsets in individuals in developing countries. Giving back in this manner pays homage to the Golden Rule upon which Gaeltek was founded, supporting the community just as Andy and his team hope to be supported in times of crisis. “There was one crucial moment when we were faced with a technical issue we had no idea how to handle,” Andy remembers. “We called on the help of someone we had met, and what had been impossible for us to figure out was embarrassingly simple for him to solve.” When one approaches the world in this manner, treating others as teammates rather than adversaries and friends rather than foes, you’re automatically steps closer to those words that are as important in the world of business as they are in military service—mission accomplished.

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Christopher Harrison Drive, Discipline, Determination Chris Harrison may have grown up the youngest of his siblings, but even from his youngest years, he seemed to possess an innate knowledge that he would go places in life. His mother called it confidence.

Others called it determination.

His two brothers attended a nearby high school with a tremendous football program that won city championships year after year, so naturally, Chris decided to go to a different high school with a football program that always landed its team at the bottom of the league. ‘I didn’t want to be in the shadow of my brothers, for one thing; for another, I wanted to rehabilitate the team,” he recalls today. “My senior year, we swept the conference.” Now the managing member of CA Harrison Companies, LLC, a distressed asset developing company transforming properties throughout the DC metropolitan area, things have certainly changed over the years, but his determined commitment to improve, empower, and win remain just as compelling as ever.

CA Harrison was first launched in 1998 when Chris found himself transforming from an athlete to a real estate investor. As his professional football career was winding down, the DC real estate market was just beginning to gain momentum. “I was really just looking for a home and realized that homes in downtown DC were relatively cheap,” he recalls. “I was fortunate that my football career allowed me to buy not one home, but five homes, and that was the beginning of my company.” With that, he formed an LLC called Harrison and Harrison in 2000, later setting up CA Harrison Companies as a holding company in 2010 to incorporate all of the companies of the multiple properties he owned into one.

When Chris first got started, he focused on homes, but he has since moved on to focus on apartment buildings instead. Each ownership stake he has in an entity is thus owned by CA Harrison Companies, and since the majority of his projects are large-scale, he has traditionally partnered on them, though now he is

beginning to trend more toward solo ownership. One evolution in his business occurred when he branched out into condominium conversions throughout the early 2000s’; another came when he was holding several properties in 2007 at the time the housing market crashed, which prompted him to become a landlord doing stabilized rentals.

“The crash was a hard time. In any cycle of a career, you have highs that can be very high and lows that can be very low,” Chris observes. “Moments like that certainly test your inner fortitude and your ability to weather a storm. For me, the housing market crash was a changing point in my life in that it led me to reevaluate what I really wanted out of a career. Before that, anyone could do real estate because any house would increase in value. But when the housing market bottomed out, it led me to really take a look at my knowledge of the business and what I lacked. I honed my trade and got better at what I was doing, making sure that the mistakes I had made in the past were not repeated.”

As a result, Chris lost an asset, had to liquidate several personal assets, and repositioned another, which was a great learning experience that launched him into the business model he utilizes today. “It was a trying time, but it strengthened me and made me focus on what was important, both in my business and in my personal life,” he recalls. As a result, he got into taxexempt bond financing and began to keep a close eye on market conditions and trends.

Today, CA Harrison possesses around 150 units, with that number set to triple by the end of 2013.

He works primarily with consultants today, with an office manager handling the businesses day-to-day operations, but his current growth stride is certainly going to require additions to the staff. Chris is now negotiating a $50 million Winston Salem project near Wake Forest University and is bringing on a $400 million private equity firm who will in turn be bringing on a third party construction staff for Chris. “With

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funds, it’s not a one-and-done,” he remarks. “You stick with the fund if the deal goes well, and they continue to fund you and help your operations grow. I envision my company growing from a small business to a midsized business, and this provides a great route for that.”

Born in Petworth just off of New Hampshire Avenue in the District of Columbia, Chris seems to approach real estate with a drive and determination that stems from an innate affection and sincerity of spirit that one might find only in a true Washingtonian. “I’ve always thought this was a great, eclectic, diverse city,” he says proudly. “There’s a lot of history and a lot of culture.

It’s the hotbed of the greatest country in the world, and you can’t beat that!”

With his mother working as a nurse and his father employed as a warehouse worker, Chris grew up in a middle class household. They lived in an urban neighborhood that certainly had its own lesser elements, but his parents were strong-willed people committed to raising their children with strong ideals and bright futures. Chris got into a little trouble himself when he was younger, but his mother was closely involved in his education and encouraged him to get involved in sports. When he joined the Boy’s Club football team at age eight, Chris fell in love, and sports became “his thing.” “I played football and basketball, and the only reason I didn’t play baseball was because practice was on Sundays when I had to be in church,” he remembers. He also learned how to play chess when he was ten years old, and was a frequent enrollee in band and church camps.

Having grown up watching his father leave for work around five o’clock each morning without ever missing a day, Chris was quick to learn that being a Harrison meant having a driven, focused, unshakable work ethic that he could really be proud of. For his mother, on the other hand, education was paramount, and he went through childhood informed by both perspectives.

“Growing up in the 1980s amongst the advent of crack cocaine and murder in Washington, I was around it and not around it at the same time,” Chris reflects. “It was a weird feeling because you love the city you’re born and raised in, but you hear a lot of negative connotations—people calling it the murder capital of the world, or whatever. Because of the way I was raised, I felt that I was insulated from all that, even though I was at the heart of it. We made it through.”

Chris attended private school, performed well athletically, and earned high marks on his SATs, landing the world at his feet when it came time to select a college. He could have gone anywhere he 92

wanted and ultimately decided on the University of Virginia because of its ideal balance of academics and athletics, and its ideal location—close to home, but not too close. “For me, football was a means to an ends,” Chris remembers. “I loved it but never thought I’d play professionally. I decided to go to McIntire Commerce School as well, though many people told me it would be too hard to balance that program with my football schedule. I was determined to do things my way and have always lived life that way, for better or worse.”

After graduating from the University of Virginia, Chris was a starter in the NCAA and decided he was going to go to law school, but his coach finally put his foot down and said he couldn’t do both. He knew he had a chance to play professionally, but he didn’t want to give up on getting his degree, so after earning his Bachelors of Science in Commerce, he enrolled in a Master’s in Education program. By the time Chris wrapped up his college football career, he was the only NCAA athlete to earn both a bachelors and a Master’s degree while on scholarship—a testament to that determination that so characterizes his life’s story.

After college, that chance to play professional football evolved into reality. In the NFL, as a rookie free agent, Chris played in three games as a guard and tackle and was named the starter in one game. He was on track to become a starter for Detroit his second year but was injured in preseason. During the last game of the preseason, he played the first half so well that his coach asked him to play into the third quarter. During the middle of the third quarter, the coach asked Chris to give him one more series. It was the third down and he had just finished a play, when he was suddenly hit in the knee. His ligament was torn, and he was out for the season.

“I had had a severe leg injury in college and wasn’t expected to come back from that, but I did, so when I tore my knee up the same way, I was determined,” Chris explains. “So I went to play for Minnesota, where we were 15 and 1. We had an all-star cast; it was like the greatest show on turf!” The team had a great run but ultimately lost to Atlanta in the Conference Championship game before the Super Bowl, and after another injury playing for Baltimore, Chris began to feel as though it was time for a different course. “You’re sore all the time, even if you’re in the off-season, so I got it in my head to buy those houses,” he recalls. “I left Baltimore to go to Denver for the off-season training camp, but my mind just wasn’t on football. That’s when I called my real estate agent, launching my real estate career.”

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Whether it’s furthering his education, winning on the football field, or launching a business, it is clear Chris’s determination is compelling enough to take him where he wants to go in life. This determination certainly stems in part from the influence of his grandmothers, who were both very proud and resolute women. His mother’s mother was a domestic worker who struggled to raise her daughter on her own, never losing her pride in being a lady. “I especially remember a time when I was in high school, when she asked me to get her a glass of water,” he recalls. “I got her water in a plastic cup, but she eschewed it and said, ‘A lady only drinks out of glass.’ Of course that’s not true, but the concept of having pride in yourself no matter what your situation is was very powerful to me.” He learned just as much from his father’s mother, who cultivated his sense of confidence by singling him out at family gatherings for conversations about the letters they would send to one another.

Being able to see the connections between one’s past and one’s present lends unparalleled insight into one’s future, and in advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Chris emphasizes the importance of understanding the big picture in this manner. “A lot of us today are short-sighted in our thinking in terms of what we’re trying to accomplish,” he points out. “It’s especially hard when you’re young

and feeling the adrenaline of just getting out of school, out from under your parents’ wings, but setting goals early on is important. Sometimes the highest paying job isn’t the best job—it all depends on what you hope to accomplish in your mold.”

Beyond that, young people can take considerable lessons from Chris’s overall approach to life. It is a commitment not only to succeed every day, but also to smile every day. “Enjoy your time,” he emphasizes.

“As life goes on, it gets harder as you take on more responsibilities, and it’s important to remember the little things that make you happy. There has to be a balance in life, and it takes commitment and sacrifice to ensure you’re acting in moderation to maintain that balance.”

Though the road has been winding and diverse, Chris now couldn’t imagine it leading him anywhere else. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud to have been a graduate of UVA and a professional athlete,” he affirms. “But all of those things were precursors to what I’m doing now. This is what I think I was meant to do—a product of drive, discipline, and determination.”

Indeed, drive is what gets you up in the morning.

Determination is what allows you to persevere amongst adverse conditions. Discipline is what you use to set the bar high for your employees. That’s what success is—drive, discipline, and determination.

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Zia Islam Creating Opportunities to Serve In the twenty years before Zia Islam was born in India, his father cultivated a community of strong family values and a focus on education. Not only did he raise seven children on a very modest income, but he also invited relatives from neighboring areas to live with him and his immediate family so that they might have extra support as they pursued educations of their own. “For him, education was paramount,” Zia explains today. “And as his children, we considered it our birthright.”

Within six months of Zia’s birth, however, a sudden tragedy threatened his future. His father was struck by lightning, paralyzing him. “When I was a young child, I never played with him or spoke to him too much,” he recalls. “I saw him and knew he was my father, but he was always sick.” Yet that did not stop Zia from learning a great deal from the man who had done so much to build the bonds of the Islam family strong through loyalty and learning. “Although we did not speak much, he still impressed upon me the value and power of education,” Zia affirms. “He may have been paralyzed and sick, but I still learned a great deal from him.”

That knowledge, however, lay dormant for a time. “I was the youngest of seven children, and I knew that my siblings were devoted to their education and that it was important to their success, but I didn’t truly grasp the magnitude and meaning of that,” Zia recalls. “For a long time, I was just a regular student. I did not realize that, without education, I had no means of surviving.”

That would change dramatically, however. When Zia was ten, his father made a modest and temporary recovery, but by the time Zia turned 14, he passed away.

“Suddenly, I knew,” Zia says, remembering his flash of insight. “And although my father was now gone, his lessons came back to me through my brothers.” One of his brothers, Frank, had left India for the United States when Zia was in first grade. In the wake of their father’s death, Frank gave his younger brother the support he critically needed. “He took care of me and guided me,”

Zia says. “When my father died, I was in grade nine.

I felt alone and lost. Frank would write to me and encourage me to focus and work hard. That’s when I woke up and everything started to change. That’s when I began a new pursuit of excellence.”

His father’s influence also echoed through another brother, Shah, who was studying to be a doctor when Zia was in high school. “He was a great role model. He lived in India and guided me every step of the way. He taught me the meaning of dedication and hard work.”

A few years later, shortly before Zia was to leave home to attend Aligarh University, his mother passed away. “My mother was not educated, but she was an extremely kind, caring, and loving person,” he remembers warmly. “She was a nurturing person. With her patience and understanding, she took care of not only my sick father and us, but also our entire extended family. She instilled in me the importance of family and the meaning of unconditional love.”

With both of his parents gone but their lessons and spirit still very much alive in their children, Zia’s focus intensified. “There was no other choice,” he says. “My parents had passed away, and my brother was in the US working hard. I realized that I had to make the firmest of commitments to work hard and focus myself.” Now the President and CEO of Zantech IT Services, Inc., an IT services provider that specializes in the federal government space, that commitment has carried him across borders and oceans, through bad times and good, redefining his visions of success and reconstructing his concept of a happy, fulfilling life.

After obtaining his undergraduate degree and a masters in mechanical engineering, unleashing his latent capacity for greatness and ranking at the top of his class, Zia looked west, to the United States. He explored scholarships to masters programs at American universities, and in the meantime took a position as a lecturer at King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia to save money. After saving

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a considerable sum, however, a one-two punch of unforeseen events of international scale threatened to throw him off track.

“By the beginning of 1991, the bank I had my savings in, Bank Commerce Credit International, was under intense scrutiny from international regulators for its complex and opaque operations, and was eventually forced to close,” he recounts. “At the same time, the Gulf War was escalating.”

With American forces bombarding Iraqi forces in occupied Kuwait a mere twenty miles from Zia’s university in Saudi Arabia, and his savings lost into a maelstrom of suits and counter-suits between BCCI and its creditors and regulators, he had no choice but to leave the country and return to India. There, although feeling blessed to have his life, he had to face the fact that he had lost everything else. But with the lessons and gifts of his parents still engraved in his heart, and his vision of following his brother to America, Zia would not be deterred.

Just as quickly as the doors of opportunity had closed on him when he lost his savings and his teaching position, new doors began to open. To his great wonder, he received a letter from the Ohio University informing him that he had been awarded a full scholarship to their master’s program in systems engineering. Frank loaned him six hundred dollars to fly to the U.S., and he worked as a TA while pursuing his degree.

In 1994, near completion of the program, Zia received a call from General Motors. With a strong recommendation from his academic adviser, who sang his praises as a hardworking, capable man who could handle anything, Zia joined GM at their Kansas City plant to work on a re-launch of the Pontiac Grand Prix.

This was the beginning an illustrious career there that would last the next fourteen years.

During his tenure at GM, he earned the ASI Six Sigma “Black Belt Award” for Design and received the GM Chairman’s Honors award. He rose to Senior Project Manager, worked all over the U.S. and Canada, and frequently traveled to Germany and other international destinations. He worked evenings for a GM program that helped designers to become engineers. And all the while, true to the promise he had made to himself in India years before, he remained focused, always looking to what was next and always learning.

Zia’s boss, Phil Boulanger, was also his friend. “I was his right hand man from around 2004 up until my last year with GM in 2007,” Zia describes. “He was a very smart man, and I learned a lot from him. He was a gogetter kind of guy. He never left things for tomorrow.

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That was my philosophy too, and it worked out very well for us.”

Eventually, Phil retired, and though Zia had evolved into a dedicated company man, he found himself drawn toward a possibility he had imagined impossible before.

Though he had achieved status and prestige at GM, he found himself wanting something more—he wanted to work for himself.

A few years earlier, Zia had considered investing in a hotel business, but was not ultimately convinced that it was worth his time and resources. That’s when Frank, who had worked in the federal contracting space, first began to help Zia explore the IT space in Washington D.C. “I had a desire to be an entrepreneur, but I wasn’t sure,” Zia explains. “I had a dream, and with Franks’ help, I began to see the outlines of real possibility take shape.”

He began discussing the idea with his wife, whom he had met in Canada. She supported his desire to explore the idea and urged him to think it through carefully, lending some color to the rough outline their future was beginning to acquire.

Zia spent the next few weeks speaking to friends and family and incubated his ideas, but his true ‘aha’ moment arrived suddenly one early morning at 2 AM. He sat upright in bed and then woke his wife, telling her that he finally had the whole idea in his head and was ready to make it a reality. “I asked her to write my plan with me,” Zia recalls fondly. “She’s a good writer and a great communicator. She could see my excitement, and thus, at 2 o’clock in the morning, we started to write my business plan.”

This dream was built on much more than a desire to further his own fortune. “At the forefront of my mind was that if I could have a successful business, I would be able to help others,” Zia explains. “Business is not just about making money. It’s about making a difference in the lives of others. To me, that would be the true test of my success—whether my business truly took care of its employees and clients, always acting with their best interest at heart.”

The next week, Zia met with his brother, and his plan began to unfold rapidly. He worked out a plan with his wife to travel to Virginia, where he would take a shot at his dream and open a business. If it didn’t work out within a year, he would regroup and head in a different direction, but for those twelve months, he would give it all he had.

“It was a big risk to leave GM,” he acknowledges. “I knew I could start again somewhere else if my business failed, but it would be starting over.

With my wife’s support and guidance, I got the strength

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I needed to take my chance.”

Today, five years into taking that chance, Zantech has sixty employees and revenues of $20 million. It provides IT support services like program management, enterprise architecture, and web development to an array of federal agencies that includes NASA, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense.

The specific services Zantech provides are as vast and varied as its clientele. For NASA, they’re focusing on creating a website with animated and game-type solutions that inspire children to take an interest in math and science. For the Army, they provide a mobile application that allows troops on the ground to access online training resources. Whether they’re serving children domestically, adults stationed overseas, or someone in between, Zantech continues Zia’s personal pursuit of excellence in all that it does.

For all it has accomplished, Zantech is a proud recipient of numerous industry awards, including #1 in Inc. 500’s Government Services and Washington DC, and #21 in the nation in 2012. It has made several

top 100 lists, including those of Diversity Business. com, SmartCEO’s Future 50 awards for 2012, and the Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce “Best Business of the Year Award”. But success has been far from easy.

“Operating a business like ours is difficult,” Zia reflects.

“It’s very time-consuming. It’s closer to your heart than to your mind. You cannot ignore any challenge. You must take full control and seek to understand every single aspect of it. It demands a lot of you, but it’s worth it.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Zia emphasizes the importance of pursuing a profession that resonates with one’s true passions and interests. “Whatever you do, do it from the inside,” encourages, echoing that life-changing moment when he stopped half-heartedly pursuing education because others wanted him to, and instead began wholeheartedly pursuing education because he, himself, wanted to. “Do it from the bottom of your heart.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re going to be a musician or a scientist. Whatever you do, pursue excellence. Do it for yourself, and do it the best you can.”

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Peter Jablow Building Bridges Imagine an elderly woman trapped in a stronghold of isolation because Alzheimer’s has destroyed the bridge that leads to her family and memories. Now imagine a young boy trapped in a similar stronghold because he was born blind and autistic, never having a bridge to begin with. Now imagine something that can be a bridge for these two individuals of such different ages, different life experiences, and different afflictions. This bridge is made of notes, not nails. It’s made of songs, not steel. It’s the bridge of music, and the Levine School of Music is building it.

“When I heard that music therapy was being used to address the growth of autism across the country, I felt that we, as an institution, had an obligation to offer such a significant service to the community,” says Peter Jablow, the President and CEO of the Levine School of Music (Levine). That was in 2008, and as the recession hit and enrollment dipped for the first time in years, a Trustee of the school, Marian Osterweis, performed a thoughtful feasibility study and found that the Washington metropolitan region was underserved in music therapy. “The need existed, and I felt we could fill it well, so we approached a local foundation, who generously provided us with a grant to develop a business plan for the new venture. I then took the plan to Levine’s Board of Trustees, who perceived the incredible value in the service and urged me to launch it in spite of the recession.”

The program has now been up and running for more than a year, and Levine is also running pilot music therapy programs in three Sunrise retirement homes.

“Some Alzheimer’s residents have trouble speaking and go into a virtual shell, but if you start playing a song from the era in which they grew up, they come to life,” Peter explains. “It’s remarkable. It’s about reaching people in ways they’ve never been reached before.”

This requires approaching things in ways they’ve never been approached before, and Peter’s leadership follows in the grand tradition of others who formed Levine to do just that. As the preeminent center for

music and music education in the greater Washington area, Levine was launched in 1976 by three visionaries— Ruth Kogen, Diana Engel, and Jackie Marlin—who remain on its board today. Having originally come from New York City, the forward-thinking founders decided that Washington needed a music school, so they put together a plan and filed the corporate paperwork.

Tragically, a lawyer and good friend named Selma Levine passed away in a car accident earlier that year.

“She was an accomplished violinist, well known not only for the quality of her legal work, but also for her ability to bring people together through music,” Peter explains. “Naming a community music school after her was the perfect tribute.”

Though the organization had a humble beginning in the basement of a Georgetown church, the founders resolved to hire only the highest caliber faculty. They then found Joanne Hoover, who served as the first director and grew the school beautifully. Interestingly, the school’s first violin teacher was Sheila Johnson, now a prominent figure in black entertainment and an internationally known entrepreneur.

Thus, through hard work and an indelible passion for music, a foundation for service and success was laid. When Ms. Hoover departed, however, the school struggled to find a suitable replacement. “Every enterprise goes through peaks and valleys,” Peter points out. “Levine was trying to define its role in the community, present and future. Did it need to raise new money to start new programs? What did the community want? To some extent, Levine began as a one-room schoolhouse, and over time it added new room after new room and became a sprawling rambler that needed some creative renovation.”

When Peter was hired ten years ago, he took on the rambler that Levine had become and sought to add structure and focus, converting it into a growing enterprise with defined skills and sophisticated specialization. He tightened up its programming to make room for services that targeted specific needs within the

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community, like the music therapy program. Today, the Levine School is an $8 million organization that hosts 3,500 students each week. With a faculty of 160, Levine serves the greater Washington community through four campuses–two in D.C., one at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland, and one in Arlington, Virginia.

Its main campus is a 35,000 square foot Italian villa on the historic register that provides an ideal atmosphere for the kind of transformative musical experiences Levine is known for. More than simply a great school, it is a cultural institution that provides music services and programs to the community, including over 200 performances around the metropolitan area each year.

Decades before Peter was leading Levine to new heights, he was honing those leadership skills as a teenager in a variety of competitive sports and student programs. “I was cocky enough to think I had a better way of doing things and that I could convince others to believe in the cause,” he laughs. He was born and raised in the heart of Manhattan, where his parents and grandparents worked in the garment district manufacturing women’s coats and suits. “Growing up in New York was an education in itself,” he points out.

“You become street smart whether you realize it or not.”

As an aspiring athlete, Peter would yearn to escape the concrete of the city on the weekends. He wanted to be the next Mickey Mantle and could bat from both sides of the plate, and he would stay up late into the night listening to Les Keiter recreating baseball games on the radio.

Peter started college at the University of Pennsylvania studying metallurgical engineering, but he was not particularly drawn to the field and soon decided to transfer into liberal arts, ultimately earning a degree in Psychology. He didn’t know where he wanted his professional path to take him, so to appease his father, he took the entry exams for law, business, and medical schools. However, instead of going to graduate school, Peter decided to try his hand at teaching for a few years.

He was head counselor at a boy’s camp in Maine during the summer after he graduated from Penn, and then landed a position teaching at the Millbrook School in upstate New York.

Peter arrived at the school in the fall of 1971 to find a stuffy, strict institution that was a distant cry from the contemporary thinking style he had learned in college.

“I knew I was either going to be a change agent at the school, or I was going to leave,” he remembers. In faculty meetings, he did not say a word for many months but instead soaked up information as he heard the Millbrook faculty puzzle over the school’s distressing drug problem.

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Then, at one faculty meeting in December, four months after he had arrived at Millbrook, Peter finally raised his hand to address the headmaster and his fellow faculty members.

“I just want you all to know that if I were a student at this institution, I would definitely be on drugs,” he challenged. The headmaster asked why, to which Peter replied that Millbrook, though it meant well, wasn’t speaking to this generation and offered an outdated learning environment. “It seemed to me to be an education model that didn’t work anymore,” Peter explains.

He expected to be chastised, but the headmaster instead said he agreed with many of the points Peter had made and challenged the young teacher to offer a plan to support his ideas. Peter said he would be happy to do so, but would need a budget and a defined commitment from the school. With that, the headmaster reallocated some funds, and soon thereafter Peter became the Director of Student Activities. With that, he created programs where, instead of students having to attend study hall whenever they had free time, athletes, professors, musicians, and other interesting speakers came in to talk with the students about an array of diverse and exciting topics. “We created opportunities where the kids could participate and use their minds in different ways, and I brought in people from all over the country and from organizations like the National Geographic and NFL Films,” he explains. “It really was an attempt to transform the culture of the school, and to stimulate thinking in new ways.”

Peter stayed on for three years before deciding to attend graduate school in journalism at Boston University. While getting his Master’s degree, he worked for the Real Paper and the Phoenix, did radio news and reviews on the NPR affiliate (WBUR-FM) at the University, and worked on the Suburban Report for the NBC (WBZ-TV) affiliate. “I was loving the various parttime jobs, but then my wife and I decided to have our first child, so I felt I needed one better paying job,” he remembers. With that, he became the communications director for a regional nonprofit called the Metropolitan Cultural Alliance, a trade association for the non-profit arts and entertainment community. Then, after advising a group of arts leaders in Washington, D.C. who were starting a similar organization, he accepted the position to become the first Executive Director for the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington in 1978. After working for five years in that capacity, he met Abe Pollin, among the most philanthropic and transformative figures in Washington. Abe invited Peter to come to

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work to launch his ticketing business, the mid-Atlantic TicketMaster franchise. Peter accepted Abe’s offer and ran the franchise for the next ten years.

Next, in an effort to spend more time with his growing family, Peter began his own consulting group, and among his clients was National Public Radio (NPR), a wonderful membership network providing invaluable radio news and cultural programming throughout the 50 states. Delano Lewis, the CEO of NPR and a good friend, asked Peter to develop a plan to make NPR more solvent, more efficient, and better as an operating institution. Del liked the plan that Peter proposed and wanted him to join NPR as its COO to implement the plan himself. “How often do have the opportunity to work for a national treasure?” Peter points out. “It spoke to me. What NPR does, nobody else does in the journalistic world.”

Peter worked at NPR for five years and loved his tenure there, putting the organization on the road to success and helping to restructure its operations. What started as a $40 million organization when Peter began working with Del, grew quickly to a $70 million organization, and has grown to well over $100 million today. He also picked up invaluable leadership practices from Del, who believed firmly in engaging everyone, listening to disparate views, and brainstorming in a room of people who may disagree with one another. “He was so interested in what the dissenting voices had to say that he would even go to the extent of engaging people he knew he ultimately wouldn’t agree with,” says Peter. “I found that fascinating and inspirational.”

All in all, up to that point in time, Peter’s professional life had been nothing short of charmed, but after Del retired and Peter helped to train NPR’s new CEO, he made what he refers to as the first bad career move of his life. At that time, in the middle of the dotcom boom, and with his background in media, journalism, and management, he had several opportunities to lead dotcoms in New York and Boston, but he instead decided to stay in Washington and start the media practice at KPMG Consulting, which was about to go public and become Bearing Point.

However, after six months in his new position, he knew it wasn’t the right fit for him. “For Bearing Point it was all about billable hours and valuation,” he explains. “At that time, I was also serving as Chairman of the Board of Round House Theatre in Bethesda, which I enjoyed much more, and that really spoke to me. It was then that I was approached by a headhunter, whose client was the Levine School.”

Peter had known Levine since its beginning. At first, he said “thanks, but no thanks” to the headhunter, as it was too soon in his Bearing Point tenure to consider an

alternative. But when the headhunter came back some nine months later with an altered job description and the promise that Levine was a far different institution than the one he had known in the past, Peter reconsidered.

Extensive talks with his thoughtful wife, Judy, led him to realize that working for a major nonprofit might mirror the excitement and passion he had felt working with NPR and Round House Theatre, and though the Levine School operated on a smaller scale, Peter was intrigued by its complexity, as well as its immense potential to grow and serve more people in the Washington region.

“What Levine was providing was very unique, and of the highest quality, and its Trustees impressed me not just with their vision for Levine, but with their passion for music and music education as a transformative force in our society,” he says. “My own passion had always been in the nonprofit sector, so it felt like a great match. If you can do well by doing good for the community around you, why would you want to do anything else?”

In advising young entrepreneurs today, Peter stresses the importance of following one’s passion. “Whether there’s a job out there for you or not, there’s always something for you to do,” he says. “If you have a good idea, work at it and develop it. If you’re passionate and dedicated and work hard, you will find a career. If you love going to work every day and really enjoy what you do, it makes all the other challenges in life a whole lot easier to confront. Get in, dabble, and experiment with your life. Find what really speaks to you, and then pursue it with ungodly passion. For many, success back in the 60s and 70s was measured by how much money you made and who you worked for, but I don’t think it works that way anymore. It’s what you do that makes you happy, no matter how much or how little money you make.”

Beyond this, Peter sings the merits of being able to do well through doing good. With students as young as four months and as old as one hundred years, Peter is helping Levine reach more and more people each day. “It’s remarkable how the language of music touches people in ways that move and motivate them,” he says. “And the great thing about it is that there’s something in music for everyone. We have students who go on to conservatories like Curtis, Peabody, Juilliard, or Northwestern, but most of what we do is geared toward those who just want music to be part of their lives. It allows people to enjoy life through a language that speaks to them in a whole different way.”

Whether they’re building bridges to memories of the past, the possibilities of the future, or a brighter today, Peter and his team are charting new terrain with a timeless tool and helping more people because of it.

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Suzanne Beauvoir Jackson What’s In A Name?

Suzanne Jackson can still remember in vivid detail the soft hum of people in the hallways and the lights reflecting off the floor that moment when she received the first great lesson of her career in healthcare. It was the beginning of a summer program in healthcare administration at the University of Michigan, and Suzanne was accompanying the CEO on rounds for the first time.

“We were rounding in the facility, interacting with patients and employees to get a sense of how things were going,” she remembers. “The University’s Health System is huge, but it was amazing to me that the CEO knew staff by name. He had started his career in human resources and really emphasized that an effective leader is able to connect with every employee, regardless of their position, because each one plays an important role in making the hospital work.” Now the CEO of Dominion Hospital, a subsidiary of the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), Suzanne has used her own impassioned ability and voice to bring people together to build the hospital’s success from the ground up, creating a corporate culture that demands excellence through empowerment.

HCA is the largest for-profit healthcare organization in the country, owning and operating 163 hospitals and 110 freestanding surgery centers in 20 states and England and employing approximately 199,000 people.

Dominion Hospital is one of HCA’s four freestanding psychiatric specialty facilities and is the only freestanding psychiatric facility in Northern Virginia.

“Dominion has been providing mental health services for over three decades, and the patients we serve are not the stereotypical image most people have in their minds,” Suzanne explains. “They’re people you see in the local coffee shop or at the grocery store. They’re your coworkers and neighbors. One in four Americans has a mental illness, and contrary to popular belief, the majority of these individuals are functioning members of society contributing to a greater good.”

In 2007, Suzanne was looking for a professional

opportunity that would bring her to Washington, DC, where her husband resided. At the time, an informal meeting with the Division President was scheduled, as HCA did not have an open position, and Suzanne certainly did not have her sights set on a CEO role.

Additionally, HCA was still questioning the future of Dominion, uncertain that they were going to keep it operational. However, on the day of the meeting, the current CEO of Dominion had decided to relocate out of the area, and HCA found itself in need of a new leader for the hospital. During the meeting with the Division President, Suzanne was able to inspire enough confidence in her leadership ability that she was offered the position.

“Everything just fell into place, and though I had always worked in organizations with multiple service lines, I knew that leading an organization focused on one specialty service would allow me to continue growing,” she remarks. “I went to school to learn how to run a hospital, and that’s what I brought to the table. My goal was to run Dominion as a well-oiled machine that functioned efficiently and focused on patient care. I reasoned that, best case scenario, I would do a great job, stabilize the organization, and convince HCA that Dominion was a vital asset.”

As the new CEO, Suzanne hit the ground running and focused on reestablishing good community relations. She reached out to key stakeholders— schools, community service boards, local emergency departments, and insurance companies—to let them know that Dominion was ready and willing to provide exceptional services to those in need. She also focused on developing an organizational culture of engagement, accountability, and quality patient care.

“When I walked in, Dominion had an apathetic and unstructured culture, characterized by the knowledge that the hospital’s future was uncertain,” Suzanne explains. “That energy translated into the organization not performing at its potential, so I worked with the team to come up with specific, creative strategies to

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improve the culture and the patient experience.”

When Suzanne arrived, the hospital had between 23 and 60 patients at any given time. After five years of her leadership, that number now ranges between 67 and 92, and their revenues have more than quadrupled. “To me, that is a reflection of peoples’ renewed appreciation of the services we provide, and of the fact that we’ve been able to get the right team in place,” she affirms. “There have been some hard decisions over the past several years, but we’ve been holding people accountable and showing that this is the new day and the new attitude of Dominion, where old modes of operation are no longer acceptable. By executing on strategy and focusing on creating an environment where people can do their best work, we’re really achieving our ultimate goal of excellence in providing care to patients.”

The new day and attitude to which Suzanne refers stems from a timeless principle that has been ingrained in her since the earliest days of her childhood. “My parents taught me the importance of integrity—that your word is all you really have,” she recalls. “With this in mind, you must ensure that you do what you say you’re going to do and live by example, because once you break someone’s trust, it’s very difficult to rebuild, if ever.”

Her parents also stressed the paramount importance of working hard and making the most of every opportunity. When Suzanne’s father immigrated to the United States from Haiti, he had to start from scratch, working as an elevator attendant while going to school to become a laboratory technician. “He taught me that you have opportunities that not everyone is afforded, so you have to take advantage of them,” Suzanne points out. “You have to be grateful for the opportunities you’re given, work hard, and focus on the positive to be successfully. You need to make it happen.”

This go-getter attitude transcended what others might think of as limits. With a White Jewish mother and a Haitian Christian father who had four daughters from a previous marriage, Suzanne hails from a biracial and blended family that is far from conventional, yet she has used these characteristics to cultivate a unique spirit and charisma that have unlocked many doors for her. “I didn’t let anything stop me from connecting with people,” she reflects. Outspoken, friendly, and headstrong, her friendships defied clique boundaries. “I never wanted to be with just one group,” she continues.

“I was friends with the cheerleaders, the “nerds”, the kids in my neighborhood. I never wanted to be classified in one bucket. I didn’t want to be defined by a label; I wanted to be self-defined.”

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substantially and working multiple jobs to raise their children in the suburbs of Chicago, where they hoped better school systems would open the doors to brighter futures. Both parents worked in the hospital laboratory, and Suzanne looks back at her childhood plans to be a singing, acting doctor and laughs. “I’ve always been someone that likes to help people, and I think that’s directly related to my family,” she affirms. “A lot of who you are and what you believe is tied to your childhood experiences, and my parents always had lots of friends around from diverse backgrounds that all helped each other. It became important for me to feel that I was making a meaningful impact and helping people, and pursuing a career in healthcare felt like a great way to do that.” She reconsidered direct patient care, however, after volunteering at a hospital in high school and finding that the experience made her squeamish.

Suzanne then decided to pursue biomedical engineering, but she soon realized that it didn’t fit her spirit and desire to connect with people. She was in college at the time at the University of Illinois, and she took an assessment at the campus career center that listed good career matches based on her interests and strengths. Healthcare administration was on the list, but she had never heard of it and didn’t give it much thought until one afternoon, while working as a chemistry tutor in the Office of Minority Student Affairs, she happened to be sitting at a random desk when a random fax came through the machine beside her. “For no apparent reason, I grabbed the paper and noticed that it was information about a summer program in healthcare administration that was looking for minority students,” she recalls.

The deadline for applications had been extended for a week, so after some consideration, she submitted her information and was chosen for the University of Michigan program that essentially launched her career.

Suzanne then enrolled in the University of Michigan’s graduate program in health services administration, where she pursued a path that was as unconventional as her background. While her classmates got internships in individual hospitals, she instead landed an opportunity at Hewitt, a benefits consulting firm, which led to a consulting position at Ernst & Young after graduation.

She flourished in that capacity, working on new projects every four to six months and traveling substantially, which exposed her to a wide variety of hospitals instead of just one. “I didn’t want to be doing what everyone else was doing,” she says. “By taking my own path, I was able to really hone my analytical skills and cultivate a unique skill set that set me apart from everyone else.”

In 2002, Suzanne happened to meet an HCA recruiter

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

at a healthcare executive’s conference, who told her about HCA’s Executive Development Program. The program sought to address succession planning for the organization with a special focus on ethnic and gender diversity, providing a fast track to executive positions.

Ready for a change, Suzanne landed the position and became an Associate Administrator I for a year and a half. She then served as an Associate Administrator II for two and a half years before moving into the Chief Operating Officer role. Coupling field experience with didactics, they brought her back to the corporate office once a quarter to meet with other associates and to work in teams to address real-life cases. “It was a great experience that offered me the opportunity to move out of consulting and back into the hospital,” she says.

“What’s more, the program positioned me to have relationships in the company that were outside the bounds of my own hospital, so I had a wider knowledge base to reach out to concerning issues or challenges I was facing.”

One such challenge came a year and a half into her tenure as CEO of Dominion, when she believed a decision had been made in error and spoke to her division president about it. “It was a powerful conversation that changed my outlook concerning my role as the CEO,” Suzanne remembers. “The division president shared with me the importance of every decision I make as a CEO and emphasized my responsibility to the organization to serve as its advocate. In that moment, my responsibility and role became crystal clear. I was, and still am, responsible for the livelihood of over 200 employees and over 2,000 people who trust our hospital each year. Every decision I make or don’t make impacts them. Every time I don’t speak up and advocate for the organization, it impacts them. This epiphany allowed me to find my voice as the organization’s leader.”

With this passion and drive, however, Suzanne has also learned to cultivate the balance and diplomacy necessary to deliver messages effectively. “Any strong leader must be able to self-reflect and make the necessary adjustments to style and approach in order to produce the needed results,” she affirms. “You have to be firm but fair and communicate in a manner that’s uplifting to the individual. And all of this must rest on a foundation of integrity, which defines the type of leader you will be and how others will perceive you as a leader.

It’s about the decisions you make and the actions you take, regardless of whether people are watching you or not. Never say or do anything that you would not be proud to see on the front page of the paper the next day.”

Suzanne’s commitment to integrity is not just a relic from childhood—it’s a resolution that is affirmed on a daily basis through the strong sense of Christian faith that resides at the center of all she does, as well as through her husband and daughters. “My family and faith keep me grounded and focused on the important issues in life,” she says. “My goal, whether it’s leading an organization or having a five minute conversation with someone, is to leave things better than when I arrived.

I want to make people more productive, more positive, or better in some way; we are here to make a difference in other peoples’ lives. Having a loving and supportive family assists me in accomplishing this.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Suzanne emphasizes the importance of pushing onward toward excellence regardless of external variables that aim to thwart success. “Don’t limit yourself, and always keep your mind open to things that are presented to you,” she urges. “Don’t get trapped in the box that is the conventional approach to things. Explore the opportunities presented to you, and be prepared to do the work to take advantage of them.

Focus on learning from the situation you’re in and recalibrating as necessary.”

Beyond this, Suzanne’s example shows that a thriving business relies first and foremost on the rich network of human connections that make it all possible. “The more I grow as an executive, the more it becomes apparent to me that one should invest just as much effort in relationships as one invests in the work at hand,” she avows. “How you are able to connect makes a big difference. Are you going to be the kind of leader that influences others to do well and achieve because you’re able to connect with them and share your vision, or are you going be a dictator? As much as you need to be driven to do well and perform, you have to be driven to connect with people and value relationships, because that’s what truly counts.”

With this in mind, years after she first did rounds and observed the CEO who knew the names of all his staff, Suzanne is now that CEO. Because what’s in a name?

Everything.

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Louisa Jaffe A Perfect Blend On the morning of September 11, 2001, LTC Louisa Jaffe now retired from the United States Army Reserves, was working as a supervisor for a cable provider in Florida, not on active military duty. A few weeks out of the year she trained at the Pentagon where she worked for the Office of the Secretary of Army Public Affairs.

She never imagined that the very desk she worked at earlier that year would cease to exist -- forever.

“On 9/11,” Louisa recalls today, “the plane that hit the Pentagon took out the entire Army public affairs office. My usual desk went up in flames that day.”

The resounding transformation of our nation’s identity with that tragic event was felt on a very personal level for Louisa and her family when her cousin’s son also was killed in the attack on the World Trade Center. Indeed, the paths of every single American were altered that day, in ways small and large. For Louisa, now the co-founder, CEO, and President of TAPE, LLC, it served to cement the insurmountable commitment to serve her country that had been a fundamental aspect of her character all her life.

“I was really angry,” she recalls. “As with so many others, I wanted to do something, so I called up the Army and asked them to put me on active duty. I said I’d go to Afghanistan or wherever they wanted me.

I just wanted to serve.” To which she said the Army responded by saying, “Why yes, Louisa, thank you for volunteering, we were just about to call you anyway.”

By October, 2001, ‘Louisa was on active duty and back at work in Washington DC, and living in Virginia.

But before long, she would face a brick wall of her own which meant the formal end of her career in the military. That wall was her nearly three decades of active and inactive duty.

“I expected a long tour of duty after 911” Louisa says.

“Ten years earlier, Congress had put forth a stop-loss order during Desert Storm. After 9/11, I expected this to happen again, as did the unit I was supporting. But it didn’t happen. My 28 years were up, and with no

waiver available. I was out.”

Louisa’s military background extends far beyond her own service. Her father was an Ordinance officer in the Army Air Corps in World War II who participated in loading the atomic bomb “Little Boy” into the Enola Gay bomber, which dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, contributing to the end of the War in the Pacific. The existence of the 509th Composite Group that Louisa’s father belonged to was classified for many years, but shortly before his death, he and the rest of the 509th Composite Group were given a Unit Award for being the unit which ended the war, as recognized by former President Harry Truman and bestowed upon them at a reunion in Washington DC in 1999.

“In the War, my father reported to then Captain Paul Tibbets,” Louisa says.

“Tibbets was the pilot of the Enola Gay. There was a long time when her father was proud of his contribution, though it was not generally acknowledged to the public until later in his life. Still, our family knew what he had done, and that he had this great sense of pride in his moment in history. That had a big influence on me.”

Louisa’s uncle also served during World War II in Europe as part of the 82nd Airborne Division, seeing major action in Sicily, Anzio, and Operation Market Garden. “They were right in the thick of real war,” Louisa explains. “This was a tradition that became a part of me, and at an early age I knew that I wanted to go into the military. I didn’t talk about it with my family, it was just there. I knew it would be interesting and meaningful, and something I would be proud to do.”

These military currents are not the only forces imprinted on her childhood, however. At the end of the War, her father left the military and her father reignited his lifelong passion: entrepreneurship. “I grew up in a very entrepreneurial family,” she says.

“My father liked to buy businesses, run them, and then sell them. I was often involved in them when I was growing up, although I didn’t think of it then as being

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hooked by the entrepreneurship thing. It was just how life was in my house. I probably have a brain hardwired for that kind of thinking, but it was cultivated in that environment by my father.”

Louisa recalls one of the more mundane jobs her father had her help him with while he worked as a stockbroker. As a teenager, she was responsible for stuffing envelopes with stock reports, which she found absolutely tedious. But she remembers that at some point she started to catch glimpses of what was written on the papers, and she started to ask her father questions about the stock market. “He probably had some ulterior motives there,” Louisa says with a laugh, “trying to get me to learn something!”

When Louisa was older, she became more involved in the various businesses her father invested in. She worked for him as a cashier in one of his convenience stores and at one time she was even a real estate broker for his real estate investment firm. “He would sell one business and buy another,” she says, “just on and on.

He didn’t care what the business was; he just loved to create revenue and jobs. The art and science of entrepreneurship was what he was all about.”

Growing up with her father, Louisa inherited his work ethic and passion for business, but her desire to succeed was all her own. When she eventually left for college in the late 1960s, she found a new obstacle.

“My college advisor was an elderly man,” Louisa says.

“A British professor. When we met for the first time to discuss my major, I expressed interest in English. He explained that there were different English programs and said flat out that we both knew I wasn’t going to do the post-graduate program, because women don’t go to grad school. That was my first real encounter with sexism in the work place.”

Louisa was upset, but she refused to play the victim.

She understood that there was discrimination against women—she had experienced it first hand, and not for the last time—but she was reluctant to align herself with any group or movement that “did a lot of public whining about how unfair it all was.” “I wasn’t looking for excuses to blame someone else if I did not have enough imagination to create success,” she affirms. “My attitude was that I would succeed despite the obstacles that were being placed in my way. Those obstacles, helped to fuel my determination for success.”

When Louisa graduated in 1972 and applied for a job at a travel agency, the owner came out to interview her. “We were talking for just a few minutes,” Louisa says, “when he asked me, ‘Why should I hire a cute little girl like you? You’ll just get married and leave me.’

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He didn’t care that I had a college degree.”

It was around this time that her father suggested that she speak with military recruiters. “The day I went to speak to the Army recruiter, it just so happened that the regional director for recruiting command was a woman, from the Women’s Army Corps (WAC),” she recalls. “I got to go in and talk to her, and even though I did go on and also explore the Navy and Air Force, the real truth was that when I left that office, I wanted to be like her. I wanted to be what she was!”

Louisa received a direct commission as a Second Lieutenant in the WAC in December of 1973, and was on active duty for six years. In 1978, the WAC was merged into the United States Army and for the next 22 years, she would serve in the Army Reserves, assigned to the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR) as a Public Affairs Officer.

During that time, Louisa pursued several career paths while serving in the public affairs office at the Pentagon, or other locations for about two months a year. She received a second bachelor’s degree and worked for her father on a citrus grove he had invested in. She also worked as a supervisor for Xerox and for a cable provider in Florida. But her true passion through and through was always service time the military.

It’s understandable, then, that when 28 years were up forcing her retirement, Louisa did not take it well.

One night, she found herself bemoaning her fate at a networking event at her church in Virginia. “I was saying how I couldn’t believe it,” Louisa recalls, “that I had been in the Army for 28 years, and that I had to leave. A few weeks earlier, I had met a man named Bill Jaffe, and that night we would have our first real conversation.”

“Maybe there’s a whole new way you can serve your country,” Bill had suggested.

“At that moment I just wanted him to feel sorry for me,” Louisa says, laughing. “But he refused, while he felt that I could still pursue my passion and continue serving my country.”

Bill had been in government contracting for about 25 years. He began describing his occupation to Louisa, and something clicked. “He was telling me about his work,” Louisa explains, “about how important it is, and how much the Army needs good business people.

I had the business background. I had had it since I was old enough to stuff envelopes. And I knew how the military worked. The more I learned, the more it appealed to me, the more I realized that contracting was the perfect blend of entrepreneurship and working with the military.”

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

A year and a half later, Louisa and Bill were married in Las Vegas with an Elvis impersonator as witness.

“My husband knows me so well,” Louisa says, “and he loved me so much, and he even gave me a red, white and blue wedding ring.” Shortly after they tied the knot, they decided to form a service-disabled, woman-owned government contracting firm called Technical and Project Engineering, (TAPE), founded in 2003. “Bill helped me see that the wall I hit, the end of my time of being in the military, could actually be a bridge,” Louisa says. “That there could be a whole new way I could work for the military. And so what led up to founding TAPE was truly my entire life experience up to that time.”

Today, the TAPE team consists of expert system engineers committed to the highest integrity in their work. “We design and implement processes, systems and management solutions,” Louisa explains. “We also do research and development, testing and evaluation, education and training as well as cyber security and contract support.”

For the first year, Bill was a consultant for hire “We called him Rent-a-Bill,” she laughs. “In that first year, we did $135 thousand of hard-won revenue. Then followed a few more years of contracting for the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, and others.

Then we got a break. It wasn’t blind luck; we created an opportunity for ourselves. The break was with the Army.

It was almost as if, in my imagination, I created the opportunity long before it actually happened.”

TAPE actually won the bid taking the work over from a larger incumbent firm. Bill had done the original work on the subject of the bid: Army Training Models (ATM).

Today, the incumbent firm is TAPE’s subcontractor.

In an incredible leap, TAPE went from $135 thousand in revenue in 2003 to $850 thousand by 2005. The next year, before winning the Army contract in 2007, they finished at $1.6 million. By the end of 2007, the first year with the ATM contract, our revenue jumped again to $6.5 million. Over the next few years, they reached $16.5 million, $19.5 million, $21.5 million, and in 2011, TAPE’s revenues were $25.5 million. “But it hasn’t been accidental,” Louisa avows. “We did get a break in winning the ATM contract, but we rose to the challenge. We had to build a whole new infrastructure and hire an executive staff and more employees.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Louisa emphasizes the importance of being bold, whether one finds oneself confronted with outdated gender stereotypes or competition that may be larger and more established.

“Don’t be afraid to challenge entrenched beliefs or entrenched opponents,” she avows. “In finding that perfect blend of business, expertise, and passion, you become a force to be reckoned with.”

Today, Louisa and Bill Jaffe are committed to offering their employees benefits that rival those found in bigger companies. They offer a generous 401K, and instead of pulling money out of the company, they remain very focused on putting that money to work, creating a good employee experience. “We haven’t pulled money out of the company,” Louisa says. “We’ve got our eye on a bigger target.”

And what is that target? 100 million in annual revenues, and the perpetual pursuit of finding new, invaluable, and fulfilling ways to safeguard and serve the country we call home.

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Bryan Laird Jump and the Net Will Appear Twenty years ago, Bryan Laird’s honors English class wrote out the dreams they hoped to achieve by age thirty and buried them in a time capsule. Most young students typically dream of becoming firefighters or doctors, but Bryan scripted out a different plan. “I wanted to be the head of research and development at AT&T with two children and a wife,” he laughs today.

Now the President of MBL Technologies (MBL), a company providing cyber security, privacy and project management consulting services to the civil sector of the federal government, things didn’t go exactly as he planned, but that’s a good thing.

“The really compelling aspect of my upbringing was that my parents never put any pressure on me or tried to influence me in a certain direction,” he explains.

“My father happened to introduce me to technology early in my life, and this touched an inherent aptitude in me that I was free to pursue through my development.” The real game-changer, though, came when Bryan listened to that entrepreneurial voice within, making the decision to leap when he co-founded MBL. MBL was launched in January of 2007 and has since provided invaluable security services to federal clients like the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare. It offers a broad range of services that include project management, vulnerability scanning, privacy protection, creation of policy, and training. The MBL team also performs some commercial work, primarily around small to mid-sized consulting firms who handle government data. Like the federal government, these contractors work with very sensitive medical and financial information and consequently must comply with a complex set of rules, regulations, and legislation. MBL helps them navigate this web.

Bryan left Booz Allen and Hamilton back in August of 2007 to accept his first subcontract with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a component of

the Department of Health and Human Services. His business partner, Matthew Buchert, kept his normal job and worked for MBL on nights and weekends, while Bryan would provide services for the client during the day. The partnership was complementary: Matt had access to startup capital, an advantageous status as a service-disabled veteran, and a savvy business intuition, while Bryan had the relationships in the market as well as the knowledge on how to deliver in that space.

Both worked day and night, seven days a week, to further the growth and improvement of the company. Thus marked the fledgling stages of MBL, in which the company’s first several subcontracts were acquired through preexisting connections to clients in the industry. These experiences with subcontracts then gave Bryan and Matt some past performance and qualifiers that lent them a competitive advantage going forward, allowing them to win their first prime contracts.

As the company’s momentum escalated, they hired two additional employees in 2007 and a third the following spring.

These “early adaptors” held a strong belief in MBL and displayed true courage in leaving established companies for a startup. As it turns out, two of these individuals, Danielle Shostal and Ryan Tappis, are still in place at MBL today as its top leaders. Another, Erich Schadle, continues to provide expert consulting services to a mix of MBL federal and commercial clients. Bryan freely admits that MBL would not be where it is today without the support of these impressive team members.

Hiring was then placed on hold for a while as they went through the contract re-compete process.

After several years’ worth of strategic maneuvering, they then won two considerable prime contracts in September of 2009 that represented a combined $50 million in revenue over five years, allowing them to increase their team to 25. Today, MBL has around 30 employees and additional contracts doing work for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare Bryan Laird

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and Medicaid Services, and Bryan and his team have positioned themselves to win multiple new contracts going forward.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, however, and after a promising new team member had to leave MBL earlier this year, Bryan realized that the vessel’s rudder seemed to be off. “I had my doubts that I wanted to be in the business at that point and I realized that, in many ways, I was setting the tone for the company’s morale,” he remarks. “I wasn’t personally set on the goal of growing the company, and that attitude itself was affecting our capacity for growth. That’s when Matt and I met to discuss MBL’s future, and we decided we wanted to take the company to the next level instead of abandoning ship. So we changed our tone, regrouped, and started over again. We decided not to give up, and that change of attitude has really reenergized us.”

This mind over matter mentality hearkens to an attitude and work ethic that has been evolving in Bryan since the earliest days of his childhood growing up in a small town in eastern Texas. His father was a computer programmer for a weather research facility, and his mother worked for State Farm as an administrative assistant. They both modeled a tremendous work ethic for Bryan and his younger sister that has fueled his professional pursuits ever since. They also furnished their children with opportunity, encouraging them to focus on their studies. School was always to be the Laird children’s first priority.

In the summers of his youth, Bryan enjoyed doing yard work to earn extra spending money and would also run a makeshift candy shop at school. He would purchase bulk candy from Walmart, take it to school, and sell it by the piece at a reasonable markup. “I made quite a bit of money doing that until the principal decided it was a distraction and shut me down,” he laughs. “I think I made a couple hundred dollars over the course of a school year doing that. It’s kind of an example of how our system doesn’t necessarily encourage creativity and entrepreneurship, and that’s something to think about.”

Beyond a commitment to academics that ultimately earned him the title of valedictorian upon graduation, Bryan was also a prominent member of his high school’s football team, and the experience provided a solid foundation for the dogged determination he would exhibit later on in life. His linebacker coach was tough as nails, and he instilled in Bryan the mentality that he could get through anything, no matter what it was or how seemingly skewed the odds were. Many of the players Bryan had to tackle were a lot bigger 112

and stronger than him, but this didn’t matter. “In many situations, I found that the mental piece is more important than the physical piece,” he said. “Again, it’s a situation of mind over matter.”

As a strong student and athlete, Bryan felt a natural draw toward the Naval Academy and received an appointment there upon graduation from high school. He was competitive by nature and housed a strong sense of confidence that had been honed by his experience in sports throughout grade school, yet his four years at the academy broadened the scope of his physical and academic horizons extensively. “They do a good job of breaking you down and rebuilding you with a new sense of confidence that most people don’t typically have access to,” he explains. “One of the best things to come out of my experience there, and my experience with service in general, was a comfort in leading people who might be better than I was in many respects.”

After the Naval Academy, Bryan then fulfilled his duties with the Marine Corps, which he recalls as an instant band-of-brothers experience. He did five years of active duty and then stayed on inactive reserve for a time after assuming a position at a company called KPMG, followed by seven years at Booz Allen. Those seven years marked a time of mentorship, learning, teamwork, and professional development that would prepare him mentally and strategically for his leap into entrepreneurship in 2007. “When I first joined Booz Allen, it was significantly smaller than it is now, and there was a strong family feeling,” he remembers. “In fact, I showed up on my first day of work with a black eye I had gotten in a rugby game the weekend before— something my colleagues joked with me about for years to come. In addition to the friendly atmosphere, the company really taught me how to consult in a manner that was good for the customer. I also picked up invaluable skills regarding running a business unit, how to deliver quality products, and how to build a good team.”

Among the most influential figures Bryan met during his time on that team was a woman named Terri Hall, who operates entirely upon intuition and is a phenomenal leader as a result. “She just knows what to do in most cases, and we formed a strong partnership early on while working on a Health and Human Services contract,” he reflects. “She has amazing energy and would stir things up as a change agent, and I would then come in as the structure guy who would let the dust settle and allow things to progress.”

When he asked Terri what she thought about him

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

starting his own company, she was very supportive and immediately gave him a magnet that said “Jump and the net will appear.” That’s exactly what he did when he left to launch MBL, and the net did in fact materialize.

As this net continues to solidify into a firm foundation and MBL moves beyond its fledgling five years into a prominent force in Washington’s cyber security sector, Bryan acknowledges that the company’s history has only just begun to unfurl. “We’ve done well so far, and I certainly count my blessings,” he acknowledges. “This gives me confidence for the many hurdles that are undoubtedly left to clear.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Bryan begins by emphasizing the importance of really digging in and getting one’s hands dirty. “Just because school taught you that things

should go one way, reality doesn’t always necessarily allow things to happen that way, so you have to stay flexible in your thinking and approach,” he encourages.

“In doing so, it’s important to take every opportunity to learn.” This approach is what took Bryan’s mindset during his senior year of high school envisioning himself as an AT&T employee, and transformed it time and time again as he navigated through his experiences at the Naval Academy, the Marine Corps, and in a professional environment that ultimately allowed his leadership skills and entrepreneurial talents to be fully expressed. What’s to come in the next twenty years?

Experience suggests that whatever can be imagined today can’t really do justice to where the road will actually lead, so don’t be afraid to take that leap and find out what kind of net will appear.

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Chris LeGrand Doing Well by Doing Good Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?

Years ago, a pastor posed these questions to his congregation in a Sunday sermon. Chris LeGrand, in high school at the time, happened to be sitting in a pew that day, and decades later, those questions still echo like guiding hymns in the back of his mind. Now the CEO of Futures Group, a global health consulting organization committed to working toward transformative change in 35 countries at any given time, he has found that answering these questions is a lifelong process that keeps both his personal and professional paths developing in tandem.

With over 540 staff members worldwide, Futures Group obtains consulting contracts from developed country governments like the US, UK, and Australia to assist developing countries with public health infrastructure and programs that benefit their citizens. By providing assistance in this manner, Futures Group helps to promote positive American influence around the world, helping developing countries veer toward capitalism, free democracy, and equal rights. Aside from the altruistic component of their work, Americans want safer, more secure countries with good economic growth, which are less likely to breed terrorist cells. Through its assistance, Futures Group helps to promote this stability and achieve this national goal.

Futures Group was launched in 1971 by two gentlemen who were true futurists—big thinkers, economists, and modelers who were looking into the future (hence the organization’s name) and trying to predict trends. They began consulting with Fortune 500 companies at the board and C-level to help those businesses navigate the road that lay ahead of them, planning for changes in technology, foreign policy, and anything else that might affect them. They began developing models to help with these predictions, and the company still maintains that core today, using evidence to inform good decisions. In the late 1970s, they began looking at trends like family planning and fertility in developing countries and whether birthrates would outstrip their economy’s ability

to educate and care for the population.

Chris first became involved with the company in 2005 after seeing Futures Group from the outside and admiring its tremendous reputation and global impact.

The company he was with, Constella Group, was doing domestic public sector health work, getting contracts from US government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. They acquired Futures Group, and as President of Public Sector Business, Chris became very passionate about its international endeavor. “I began helping to integrate the two companies, and its mission never left my blood after that,” he affirms.

Two years after Constella Group acquired Futures Group, the entire organization was sold to a large publicly traded company in the D.C. area, but after a year, it was clear that the Futures Group component of that sale wasn’t a good fit. “With its low margin work in high risk areas like Afghanistan, Futures Group was not going to do well within that larger company,” Chris explains.

“So we pulled together private capital and, along with the chairman of the original company, we executed a management buyout in the fall of 2008 and took Futures independent again.” Chris became CEO, and with a senior management team that had equity in the business, they were motivated by the chance to be entrepreneurial and to have a positive impact on a global scale.

When Chris took over as CEO, he was focused primarily on reinstating its reputation, infrastructure and stability. There were certainly obstacles—making payroll, designing the HR philosophy and systems, getting corporate insurance—but he never regretted the responsibility. “We knew it was us making the decisions, and by that point, I had enough experience and confidence to run with it,” he affirms.

As a for-profit organization doing public sector work, Chris and his team do well and do good at the same time. “For developing countries we go into, we can be a positive influence by demonstrating a successful

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capitalist economy in a democracy in which people are free to pursue their dreams and where hard work pays off,” he points out. “We’re a mission-driven company, but the addition of a profit motive drives transparency, efficiency, and innovation that many nonprofits don’t have. We can, for example, incentivize our employees and give them equity shares, granting them more reason to deliver better for our clients.”

With a background that is strong in mathematics and analytics but even stronger in mission and a globalist view, Chris leads the company with both of these vital influences in mind. He is hardwired to perform the most thorough analysis possible, but as the company’s lead decision maker, he often finds himself needing to make quick choices. “This means that I have had to rely much more on my gut, and I am now very comfortable making quick decisions with little data,” he explains.

And then there’s the mission. “I consider myself a globalist,” he affirms. “I think of myself as being part of the world, first and foremost. I’m driven to help people connect internationally across cultural and language barriers to find those common threads of humanity.” This drive is mirrored not only in his professional life, but also in the most fundamental currents of his personal life, as evidenced by the choice that he, his wife, and daughter made to expand their family in 2000 by adopting their son from Russia. “He’s an integral part of who I am,” Chris confirms. “While we’ve made a difference in his life, he’s transformed our lives.” As a family, the LeGrands are genuinely citizens of the world.

Chris’s cultivation as a globalist began through the ample international exposure he received growing up, as his father traveled extensively designing textile manufacturing plants around the world. “I saw the world through his eyes,” Chris remembers. “He would come home with those 35 millimeter slides, and on Saturday nights we’d just sit and look at those together for hours on end.”

Chris also recognizes his lifelong faith journey as playing a pivotal role in his passion for Futures Group.

Growing up in a Christian home, he knew his life was driven by a unique purpose, but he didn’t know what. “I was very focused on finding my core purpose for being here on the earth,” he says. “I believed I was here for a reason, and I needed to find it.”

In the early nineties, he began to seriously feel that this purpose lay in international affairs, and this feeling was cemented when Chris traveled to Russia and Latvia in 1994 with his church choir. “I had grown up thinking of Russians as my enemies, but there I was, sitting across from people from a “different world” 116

and singing together. I saw that they cherished family and relationships and had hopes and dreams for their children. They cried, laughed, and loved,” he recalls vividly. “It had a transformative impact on me, because when you actually get beyond nationalistic thinking and sit down one-on-one with people of another culture, you see that the connection of humanity is far stronger than the cultural differences. It’s extremely powerful.”

To further this vision of unity, for the past 10 years, Chris and his family have been deeply involved in the mission of a faith-based non-profit in India, ServeTrust, which provides food, shelter, health care, job training, and unconditional love to the most marginalized people in India. With visits to India to see the work first hand, and in helping lead an international advisory board, his whole family gets involved and sees the world through the eyes of India.

Raised in South Carolina, Chris was a singer, a strong student, and loved sports, but was haunted by his small stature, which was daunting in high school. In college, however, he joined the chorus, which gave him a whole new lease on life. “I ended up being president of the chorus and found that I truly enjoyed leading groups of people toward a vision,” he recalls. “I realized I was very comfortable with public speaking, especially when it was something I was passionate about.”

In college, Chris majored in mathematics like his mother, who was a math professor. He then moved to Washington, D.C., and took a job doing statistical analysis on weapons test data for BDM International, a large defense contractor. His first boss at BDM was a retired lieutenant colonel—a calm, quiet, caring man who was deeply committed to his family. “He was a great example of how to live a good, balanced life between work and family, and how to treat people like individuals and with dignity. I still remember those things to this day,” Chris observes.

When he came to Washington in 1987 at the age of 22, Chris thought he’d move back to South Carolina within a year. That didn’t happen. After several years as a statistician and analyst, he decided to try something new and accepted a position in the corporate finance group of the same company. He stayed in corporate finance for three years doing financial forecasting, analysis, and budgeting, where he was thoroughly educated about how a business is run from a financial standpoint. He then transitioned back into their technical line organization and got involved in health-related projects with the FDA, Department of Defense, and Health and Human Services, which nurtured a passion for health and health data. Even though he was working full time with a new

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baby at home, Chris attended night classes and earned his master’s in Information Management and Information Technology from the George Washington University during that time.

Chris was with BDM until it was acquired by TRW in 1998, and at that point, he and his family were ready to try a new geographic area and lifestyle. He began looking for companies in different regions and found a position with Constella Group, a small 150-person firm in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina. “It was a big leap for us,” he remembers. “It was like pulling the net out from under us. But the chairman and primary owner of the company was an engaging entrepreneur, and we made a great team. From the beginning, he said that nothing was off limits and that I could have as much leadership as I wanted to take. Every time I expanded my role, he backed off a little more. We dreamed big. That was a great move, and we had a blast.”

In their quest to create results as big as those dreams, Constella Group brought in an executive coach as they tried to grow the business. With that coach, they developed a leadership philosophy that permeated deeper and deeper into the organization. “I am absolutely sure that that’s why the company was so successful, and I still work with that coach to this day,” Chris remarks now.

One of the Group’s greatest successes came in the aftermath of several acquisitions aimed at building out a commercial practice supporting pharmaceutical companies. The organization bought several companies and attempted to merge them together, which wasn’t working as planned, so the CEO asked Chris to take on the challenge as the acting president of the commercial business. He jumped in without hesitation and managed to turn the business around completely. “It was a near disaster,” he recalls. “We were losing money, key staff were leaving, and there was no strategy. But I put the pieces back together, earned the trust of the staff, and got a clear strategy for how to move forward. The business went on to be very successful.”

Ultimately, Constella Group grew from $14 million to $200 million in revenue while Chris was onboard, and he grew along with it. He had begun in a smaller role running the information management division and ended up serving as chief operating officer of the company, and then president of their Public Sector business. He helped close on and integrate the company’s eight separate acquisitions, and just as the chairman had said in the beginning, nothing was off limits. Futures Group was Constella Group’s largest acquisition, and the rest is history.

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business

world today, Chris stresses the importance of remaining open and malleable. “Don’t get pigeonholed in one thing early on, despite the pressure to do so,” he says. “Taste a lot of things. In your 20s, you have a whole lifetime ahead of you, and the reality is that what you think you want to be doing at 22 probably won’t be what you want to do at 45. So get as broad an experience as you can, and know that there are very few decisions that can’t be undone.

Don’t fret so much about forks in the road. Make a decision, start down a path, and in almost all cases you can undo it and start down a different path.”

Along with that, he would pose to any young person the same three questions that were posed to him long ago.

These queries place the questioner on a journey of selfawareness, and self-awareness is among the most crucial components of leadership. “Learn who you are and how you want to occur in the world,” Chris emphasizes.

“Know what’s going to have an impact and what will give you energy and passion.”

In answering his own set of questions, the matter of “Why am I here?” is clearly laid forth in Chris’s mission to promote human connection across a global sphere—a vision that blurs the line between personal and professional for him. “I don’t distinguish much between personal and professional because who I am is a whole person,” he affirms. “Being a part of Futures Group has allowed me to connect my personal passions with my professional world, and that’s really powerful.”

When it comes to “Where am I going?”, Chris notes that Futures Group merged with an Australian company in 2011, so they are now focused on streamlining the enterprise and positioning themselves on a bigger platform. They’ve also been looking at franchising the Futures Group name to work through other organizations in developing countries that are already local, thereby empowering those countries from the ground up.

“Furthermore, we know that focusing on technology and informatics can multiply the effectiveness of foreign assistance,” Chris says. “With this in mind, we’re looking at new business arrangements and models and embracing new technology that can help get decision makers the information they need in even the most remote locations.”

That leaves the last question. Who is Chris LeGrand?

“I’ve come to realize that the answer to that question is not static,” he avows. “It changes over the years because life experiences evolve you. That’s what this life journey is all about—continuing to grow who you are.” By doing well, doing good, and asking the right questions in this manner, one can ensure that the answers will be right as well.

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Todd Leibbrand A Glass Half Full In the summer of 1967, Todd Leibbrand was twelve years old. Living with his parents and two brothers in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, an elite suburb of Detroit, he was focused that summer on attaining his dream job: delivering the Detroit Free Press in Grosse Pointe.

While his home was in the same neighborhood as the Ford and Dodge families and many of his classmates were from very wealthy households, Todd’s upbringing was of modest means but broad vision. “I wanted the paper route job because I wanted to make money,” he recalls simply. “I didn’t get an allowance, but I was surrounded by wealth and I saw what could be done with it.”

As a boy, Todd had plenty of ideas about what he would buy with the money he earned. But the summer of 1967 was a different story. That summer, Todd would for the first time have a vision of how he might use the money he earned as a force for good in the world. In fact, he was inspired by a historical turn of events that unfolded practically on his doorstep.

On Sunday, July 23rd, a police raid on an after-hours bar on 12th Street in Detroit, less than ten miles away from Grosse Pointe, precipitated one of the deadliest and most destructive riots in American history. The riot lasted for five days, and 43 people lost their lives in the turmoil. Governor Romney ordered the Michigan National Guard onto the streets of Detroit, and President Lyndon Johnson deployed U.S. Army troops into the area. “There were tanks stationed around our community,” Todd recalls of Grosse Pointe during the riot. “My Wellesley educated mother, who had been planning to go into the inner city to work as a teacher, was forced to abandon this altruistic dream of hers. But I started to have my own dream.”

As planned, Todd worked the paper route. He was already aspiring to be a stockbroker once he grew up.

His father and some of his friends had an investment club they founded in the late fifties that consistently beat the Dow Jones Industrial, and Todd himself was exposed to the stock market through a classroom simulation. Indeed, when it came to conceptualizing

making a living, Todd had outlined the means, but to what end? In the years following the Detroit riot of 1967, his idea of what he could do with the modest income he was earning took a clearer shape.

“I thought about all the high school teachers and college professors who were really smart,” Todd says.

“And I asked myself what they were doing in the summer time. Wouldn’t it be great to have a summer camp with these teachers that would bring kids from rich and poor neighborhoods together in one place where we could all work together to help everyone get along more effectively?

When I was thirteen years old, that’s what I wanted to do.”

Forty-five years after the Detroit riot, Todd Leibbrand is the founder of BEST Kids, a mentoring program for children in the child welfare system in the District of Columbia, where he is also a board member and mentor. Founded in 2001, BEST Kids’s mission is to start early with children who have been abused or neglected, attaching them to a longterm mentor that will stay with them throughout their childhood and help them overcome the trauma they have experienced.

Today they work with 61 active matches, and another 20 mentors are going through the screening process.

“Our strategy is really to focus on training and supporting our mentors,” Todd explains. “We’ve been blessed to have child psychiatrists and other mental health professionals on our advisory board who help coach our staff and mentors. We focus on keeping our mentors attached to their mentees on a long-term, consistent basis, and we make sure that they make regular contact with their mentees, preferably weekly, no matter what.”

Every child in the program has been the victim of abuse or neglect. Often, they have been removed from the home at least once, and some of the parents have had their parental rights terminated. Financial instability in these families is the norm, forcing them to relocate frequently and adding further strife to the lives of their children. Most often they live in single parent Todd Leibbrand

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households. “An alarming statistic that really gets to the root of these problems,” Todd notes, “is that over 80 percent of children in the child welfare system will go on to become parents within four years of “graduating” from foster care. So the cycle repeats itself. You have kids having kids. Many of these kids become homeless, incarcerated or part of the underground economy, and those are trends we’re fighting to abate.”

When Todd was 14 years old, he had a vision for how to bring people together to work out their differences.

But as an adult, he came to understand that it takes more than a summer summit to solve entrenched socioeconomic problems. “The genesis of BEST Kids,” Todd says, “came from my experience volunteering for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in the District of Columbia. In 1993 I was matched with an eleven-yearold child who had been kicked out of public schools for fighting and couldn’t read the most basic three-letter words. What I found, though, was that he was a quick study when it came to games, and he had plenty of street smarts. I reached out to mental health professionals and teachers and found ways to get him engaged in learning. He became interested in learning how to read, and with consistent attention, he began to find his way.

Years later, after encouraging him and helping him into better schools, he passed the Maryland Literacy Test, and his success really inspired me.”

In Washington, DC, it is a reality that the huge majority of children in the child welfare system are black. Growing up in the sixties in what was at the time an enclave of the rich and powerful, Todd had several experiences with racism that both shocked and helped him form an idea of how things could be better. In one, he wondered why there were no blacks living in Grosse Pointe, and then met the son of a prominent figure in the Grosse Pointe real estate industry. He learned from this classmate how his father wouldn’t sell a house in Grosse Pointe to a black person. In another, Todd saw with his own eyes how young individuals could put themselves above segregation, even while surrounded by it.

“I needed a job to help pay for private college,” Todd explains. “My parents would only pay for a state school, but I wanted to go to a private college, so I got in contact with a family friend who was a highly-placed executive at an automobile stamping plant and landed a wellpaying summer job just before graduating high school.”

The owner said it was the first time a young person had called him directly, rather than having their parents do it for them. Todd learned later that, because he showed such initiative and drive, it was the first time this 120

man had recommended a newly minted high school graduate for any position.

“At lunchtime in the stamping plant, all the black workers would sit on one side of the cafeteria, and all the white workers would sit on the other side,” Todd remembers. “The only integrated table was the college kids. I would sit there with some black college kids and talk to them about the 1967 riots. The perspectives they shared with me, augmented by the experience of that cafeteria itself, really opened my eyes.”

After graduating from college and then earning his accounting degree, Todd worked for a public accounting firm and secured his CPA license. The firm’s largest client, for whom he was the senior auditor, was expanding into the south, and the client explored hiring Todd. The offer was too lucrative to pass up, so Todd forgot his dream and became a controller of a Louisianan subsidiary of his client. The Treasurer of the parent firm brought Todd to the Washington, DC area, where he eventually worked as a controller for a Real Estate Developer. He then accepted a position at HealthPlus, an HMO, before joining the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). At SBA, he works with venture capital firms to liquidate their private equity portfolios—a position he continues to hold today.

“It wasn’t long after I began working for HealthPlus as a controller that I realized I did not like working in the back office,” Todd reports. “I was just married, and my wife used to be a career counselor at George Washington University. She suggested that I take a career class, and that’s what brought me to the SBA. I had worked with private companies auditing and then preparing their financial statements, and the synergies with venture capital seemed to make sense. On my first day, they sat me at a temporary desk. I opened the drawer of the desk and happened to notice an issue of Washingtonian Magazine. There was a story inside about the best places to volunteer, and I noticed that CASA’s mission of befriending a child and speaking up for their best interests in court appealed to me. That’s how I started volunteering for them. I went through their training, and eventually I was connected to the child who helped form the genesis for BEST Kids.”

Developing the founding principles for BEST Kids thus flowed directly from his CASA experience. “I was exposed to a wonderful support team of teachers, mental health professionals and staff that serendipitously manifested itself,” Todd explains. In 1995, he and a group of CASAs started an urban scouting initiative that became the basis of BEST Kids’ experiential learning program that brings all its mentors and

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mentees together each month. “These children needed the unconditional love of a family,” he affirms. “They needed a sense of belonging to something positive, and hopefully our monthly peer groups and program in some small measure help.”

However, these children need more than a monthly group. They need to be adopted into loving families, yet the number of competent foster care parents—much less adoptive parents—is dismal. “These children needed a consistent, caring and competent adult in their lives, more than simply an advocate,” says Todd. “This is not an easy task, but the obstacles I’ve encountered along the way have been necessary to help me understand the best way to help the children in the DC welfare system.”

One of those obstacles arose at a time when Todd, himself, was clearing the final hurdles before starting a family with his wife. “My wife and I adopted our son from Moscow,” he details. “When we traveled to Moscow to get him, I sent my mentee postcards to make sure we kept in touch even though I was away. But when I came back, he didn’t want to see me. The Director of Devereux Children Center in Georgetown at the time, Marilyn Benoit, M.D., told me that I should show up at the regular time to see him so he knew I was still there for him. I showed up three times at the prescribed time before he started coming down from upstairs to see me, at which time we rekindled the relationship. I learned how important it was to have someone coach you through the mentor process—someone who can help you work through obstacles so you don’t end up giving up on your mentee.” Todd brings these principles to life today through BEST Kids, where he stresses the paramount importance of regularity and reliability of contact with the children they mentor. Ensuring that his team of mentors is well supported as they aim to lay a foundational relationship upon which their mentees can rely is a pivotal aspect of Todd’s approach, and has served him well since opening the doors to BEST Kids.

Looking to the future, Todd is focused on working with the Chairman of the BEST Kids Board of Directors, Ed Allen, to make sure that the mentors are supported and prepared for a sustained, long-term commitment.

Even as they maintain and raise the quality of these relationships, Todd is looking to increase the quantity as well, expanding the net of BEST Kids’ influence to jurisdictions beyond the confines of DC. “It certainly makes sense to diversify from DC into Fairfax, Montgomery, Arlington, Alexandria, and Prince George’s County,” he says. “There are a lot of synergies

that we can activate, and we can learn from other agencies while working together to make a difference in these kids’ lives. We’re looking to expand funding sources around these areas, and to build awareness and to demonstrate what we’re doing here in the District.

We may not be able to reach every child, and that’s heartache. But I have to focus on the glass being half full.”

In his pursuit to build better lives and better futures, Todd isn’t only looking at the glass as half full--he’s looking at what it’s full of. “These kids might have attachment disorders from the trauma they’ve experienced, but they also have talents,” he emphasizes.

Drawing upon the concept of asset-based development of communities, the mission of his organization extends beyond building trust with each individual child and asks society at large to reexamine the lens through which it perceives these children and the geographies that shape them. “If you look, you’ll find that the drug abuse and crime that exist in inner cities are also present in rich suburbs. And yet, as a society, we define the suburbs by the assets they have, and the inner city by its apparent deficits. But what we must do is find the assets and talents in the inner city communities, uncover them, and encourage them to grow. That’s what we’re working on at BEST Kids.”

In advising young people entering the professional world today, Todd emphasizes the importance of being a lifelong learner. “As the world continues to advance at a rapid pace and new discoveries render old understandings obsolete, it’s more important than ever before to keep learning and evolving with the times,” he advises. “Find your passion and follow it, and allow yourself to transform along with that passion as new discoveries are made and the world continues to unfold.” Beyond this, it’s important to pay attention to the injustices that persist, and to remain cognizant of ways—large or small—that one can address those disparities. Whether one volunteers one night a year to further a cause, or makes a career out of improving the lives of those in need, making a concerted effort to ensure that the glasses of others are half full will undoubtedly render yours the same.

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John Marks A New System For most of his early years, John Marks was a fighter.

He fought against those things he considered unjust, including the Vietnam War and the abuses he saw of the intelligence agencies. Amidst all that fighting, however, John suddenly had an epiphany. “I came to the realization that the work I was doing and the way I was proceeding in the world was being defined by what I was against,” he explains. “I decided I didn’t want to be against things; instead, I wanted to be for things. I wanted to focus on building a new system, rather than on tearing down the old one.”

So, in 1982, John founded and became President of Search for Common Ground, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to transform how the world deals with conflict – away from adversarial, win-lose approaches and toward non-adversarial, win-win solutions. This is John’s vision. It embodies a paradigm shift from a you-orme world to a you-and-me one, and John has dedicated the last 30 years to making it a reality.

John started Search for Common Ground with one employee. Now, it has grown to 600 employees working out of 50 offices in 30 countries across the globe. “Our modus operandi is to understand the differences and act on the commonalities,” John notes. “Within that framework, we use such traditional conflict resolution techniques as mediation, facilitation, and training. In addition, we utilize less conventional methods, such as television and radio production, music videos, participatory theater, and community organizing. Thus, we employ a broad mix of tools, and we operate across whole societies. One of our specialties is producing ‘soap opera for social change,’ which we are now doing in 17 countries.”

John and his colleagues are convinced –and have hard data to prove it – that popular culture, containing convincing messages, can have an important impact on changing mass attitudes and behaviors. The challenge of resolving conflict between whole peoples and nations is certainly formidable, but John and his

team believe that bringing key people together in a collaborative atmosphere is the best way to resolve conflict. He compares this process to what most people understand about resolving conflict on the personal level. “If you make non-negotiable demands of your spouse, divorce is a likely outcome,” he points out. “If you give your children direct orders, they probably will stop listening. Acting in an authoritarian, adversarial manner tends to be ineffective, whether you’re a spouse or a parent – or a government.

One of Search for Common Ground’s greatest successes involved the 1994 Peace Treaty between Israel and Jordan. In the months before the Treaty was signed, the organization brought together a group of former generals from both countries to unofficially consider possible security arrangements that would make both countries feel safe. Participants worked out a series of understandings that were taken back to the King of Jordan and the Prime Minister of Israel, most of which were included in the eventual Treaty.

“The two governments probably would have gotten to the same place anyway, but we showed in advance that agreement was possible and would be mutually beneficial,” John explains. “We brought together important people who had the ear of their leaders and helped to create openings for the official process.”

Another significant event came in 1998, when Search for Common Ground worked in partnership with USA Wrestling to take the American national wrestling team to Iran. It was the first time Americans representing the United States had openly traveled to Tehran since the seizure of the US Embassy in 1979. On returning to the United States, the wrestlers and John were welcomed by President Clinton to the Oval Office, and footage of the event was broadcast to Iran as a signal that the US hoped for better relations. “This was a good example of how we use innovative means to try to find constructive solutions to contentious problems,” says John. “Unfortunately, the two governments did not, in the end, take advantage of the opportunity.”

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To a large extent, John’s life path was formed by entrepreneurial currents he picked up from his father—even though father and son came of age amidst distinctly different backdrops. John’s dad, David Marks Jr., felt compelled to drop out of college during the Great Depression in order to support his parents. “He did what he thought he had to do, and he did it extremely well, although it left him with lingering resentments,” John affirms. “By the time I became an adult, the times and the choices were very different. Growing up in an upper-middle class family in northern New Jersey, I felt as if the world would always provide for me, which gave me the courage to seek new possibilities. I wanted to do something meaningful, and I was moved by Kennedy-era idealism—ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Inspired by the heady atmosphere of the 60s and early 70s, John wasn’t afraid to risk everything for what he believed in. “It was a time of both alienation and new possibilities for people of my age,” he remembers.

Rather than go into his father’s business, which his father was urging him to do, John passed the Foreign Service exam while still a senior at Cornell. In 1966, his first assignment was to spend 18 months in Vietnam. In 1970, much to the chagrin of his parents, he resigned in protest against the expansion of the war into Cambodia. Now 27, he went to work for Senator Case, an anti-war Republican Senator from New Jersey, and was responsible for managing the Senator’s CaseChurch amendment, which eventually cut off funding for the War. “I didn’t have a sense of needing to be in a linear career path, particularly during those years,” he remembers.

Next, he became a bestselling, award-winning author of books that described abuses of the intelligence agencies. First, he co-authored with Victor Marchetti a book entitled, The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence.

Then, on his own, he wrote The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”. He directed a project at the Center for National Security Studies in Washington and then he spent 18 months at Harvard, first as a Fellow of the Institute of Politics and subsequently as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. “I wasn’t quite sure what I ultimately wanted to be doing,” he says. “But I did what I thought I needed to do, and did it the way that seemed logical to me. As Napoleon said, on s’engage; puis on voit—you become engaged, and then you see what opportunities come next. My experience has been that it doesn’t work to try to map out everything in advance.”

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path would undergo a paradigm shift from advocate to peace-builder. But such a shift occurred, and it led him to found Search for Common Ground in 1982.

Those first years were not easy. John was recently divorced with a five-year old son. “It was difficult—I used to stand up in living rooms and share my vision, and people would donate money,” he recalls. “That was our main source of revenue, and one thing you learn when you start a new organization is that you are the float and the only one who will work without pay. But I was able to put the organization together, one project at a time. The image that I like is of that of a child’s toy truck that moves forward until it hits a piece of furniture, bounces back, and then finds an alternative path forward. I am the same way. Once I have my sights set on something, I tend to keep going towards it, no matter how circuitous the path.”

For the first eight years of its existence, John’s new organization focused on finding common ground between the US and the USSR. Its most successful project involved forming the US-Soviet Task Force to Prevent Terrorism. Participants included a former Director and Deputy Director of the CIA, along with the KGB’s former head of counter-intelligence.

Together, they established modalities for how their former employers could cooperate to prevent terrorism.

“They agreed there could be no political or ideological justification for blowing up a civilian airplane or a bus full of kids,” says John. “Many of the measures our Task Force on Terrorism proposed were adopted by the two governments.

“US-Soviet cooperation of this sort would not have been possible at the height of the Cold War, and many other profound changes were also taking place in the early 1990s,” John continues. “For example, ideological differences between East and West were generally thought to be the prime driver of conflict around the world, and the notion of ethnic warfare was not given prominence. But after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 ethnic conflict became widely recognized as a principal cause of violence around the world. Under these new circumstances, Search for Common Ground was generally recognized as having expertise in conflict prevention.”

With that shift in perception, the organization started to grow at the rate of 20 to 25 percent a year, expanding into the Middle East, former Yugoslavia, and Africa. “We became respectable and credible not so much because we had changed, but because the world around us changed,” John remarks.

Unlike his father, who was a business entrepreneur,

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John is a social entrepreneur who wants to change the world, and he has kept his work ethic very focused on that goal as his organization has grown. His efforts are carried out with and supported by his wife, Susan Collin Marks, whom he met in 1993 in her native South Africa while working on a television series.

The pair clicked almost immediately, but she insisted on waiting nine months before moving to the US to marry John. First, she wanted to complete her work in helping assure a peaceful transition for South Africa from apartheid to democracy. Susan now serves as the senior Vice President of Search for Common Ground, and she and John complement each other very well.

“She’s much more intuitive than I am, and much better at understanding and working with people,” John points out. “My strong suit, on the other hand, is finding creative ways to rearrange reality. Susan calls me a ‘master builder.’ She’s a partner I can completely trust, and I talk through with her the major problems I face. Working and living with Susan has very much improved my ability to make good decisions.”

John finds his toughest challenge to be determining the right mix between effectively managing the organization and maintaining its entrepreneurial edge.

Personally, he’s more drawn to the entrepreneurial side of the work, but he recognizes that the administrative aspects are equally important and that the right balance must be struck. “If you spend your time only thinking about what you want, you’re not going to be successful,” he points out. “You have to factor in what others want, and create a win-win in which both their needs and yours are satisfied.”

With this management style, John has built Search for Common Ground into an organization with a budget of around $35 million. Funds come from the European Union, the governments of the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Scandinavia, as well as from various UN agencies, US foundations, corporations, and individual donors. “I believe we do good work that merits recognition, and our funders

are willing to pay for that,” John affirms. “We’re now raising more money than we’ve ever raised before. Will that continue? I think the quality of our work speaks for itself, and I think we’re well positioned for what the future holds.”

Search for Common Ground usually has around a dozen or so interns, and to them and other young people entering the working world today, John stresses the importance of following a career path that has inherent meaning. “Do something that makes your heart sing if you possibly can,” he says. “I’m 69 years old, and I have a wonderful life doing exactly what I want to be doing. I love going to work in the morning, and I have no regrets. For more than 40 years, I have been committed to making the world a better place.

I’ve found different ways of doing it, but that impulse has stayed the same, and I believe that I’ve remained true to it.”

John attributes much of this success to his intense concentration on the work of his organization. He has remained highly selective about what he gets involved with, and he refrains from spreading himself so thin that his goals become diluted.

With these considerations in mind, John employs a style of management modeled after the Japanese martial art of aikido. “It’s the opposite of boxing, where you hit an attacker and try to reverse his energy flow by 180 degrees,” he explains. “In aikido, you accept the energy of the other person and blend with him, diverting his energy by 5 or 10 degrees and finding a way to make both of you safe. This means that, as a manger, I accept people as they are and look for ways to reframe situations and perspectives so that conflict is defused, allowing people to work toward common goals.”

And more than anything, John’s story details the importance of being open. Only with true openness can major shifts occur, and only in the wake of such shifts can we hope to develop the new systems that free us from old problems.

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Judy Marks Impatience Is a Virtue People often say that patience is a virtue, but what about impatience? From the time she was a small child, Judy Marks loathed sitting still, challenged the status quo, and lived her hunger for the next thing. As a baby, she was constantly on the move. As a child and young woman, she dove into everything school had to offer—academics, athletics, and student government.

Her drive led her to finish her college degree in three years and to attain a management position by the age of 23. Whether impatience was a fire licking at her heals or a sparkle in the distance compelling her to race toward it, she has been impatient for forward motion all her life.

Now the President and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. (SGT), impatience is the virtue that has earned her a sky-high vision and global impact that allows her to challenge the world just as much as it challenges her.

Siemens Corporation is a large German technology innovation conglomerate that was launched 165 years ago and remained a cohesive unit throughout the substantial turbulence that rocked the country during the World Wars. It has since emerged as a 400,000 person, $100 billon, 190 country player dedicated to helping the world address the toughest industry, energy, infrastructure, and healthcare challenges of our time with an unwavering commitment to ethics and innovation. “Our role at SGT is quite simply to sell and deliver to the U.S. government any solutions they need from the Siemens portfolio,” she explains.

While its mission is simple, SGT’s task is actually quite sweeping. Its portfolio contains energy solutions and technology, including renewable energies, energy generation, transmission, and distribution. It also encompasses infrastructure, including technologies, control systems, and lighting in buildings. It is also the largest water technology company in the world, as well as one of the largest builders of trains and locomotives, with their Sacramento manufacturing facility producing 70 electric locomotives for Amtrak’s northeast corridor.

Along a different vein, they have a robust healthcare

business that specializes in imaging and diagnostic technologies and other healthcare software. “My organization’s responsibility is to be the window to the government,” Judy confirms. “If any cleared employees are needed, they have to be US citizens, and they have to be part of this entity. If a federal contract is required to be held by a US company, we do that as well. So we have a full range of skills, offerings, and service deliveries, and my goal is to accelerate these capabilities and help serve our customers’ missions in the federal marketplace.”

SGT first originated as a small proxy company in 2002. After focusing on cost effectiveness and growth throughout the economic downturn that swept the globe, Siemens then switched gears in 2010 to identify their market opportunities for growth. They were interested not only in where markets were growing, but also the areas in which they were potentially underperforming their competitors. As they had never focused nationally on the federal marketplace, they earlier had decided to go to market locally. “Now we’re local everywhere,” Judy says. “Siemens has 60,000 employees in the U.S., located in every Congressional district in the country. We did well in the federal market in the past, but there was no coordinated approach across the different Siemens businesses in terms of market channels or buying contract vehicles.

So the question was, if we focused, could we surpass our competitors, gain market share, and profitably grow our top line?”

Thus, SGT was formally launched in October of 2011 with the goal of doubling, within five years, the roughly $1 billion in federal business they were doing previously. Leading a team of 550, Judy’s passion for entrepreneurship in large enterprises has led her to a role whose impact is as sweeping as her vision.

“Healthcare, energy, infrastructure, and industrial solutions are national challenges,” she points out.

“They’re not going to go away with sequestration, weapons reform, or scaling down the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s what got me excited—thinking Judy Marks

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about the next chapter and what problems I wanted to help our government solve. That’s why I came to SGT.” Judy’s career started with IBM Federal Systems, and having spent almost three decades working within the federal marketplace, she’s taken on its mission as her own. “My background is in engineering, and I can’t think of a more complex problem set to solve,” she affirms. “When you think about the challenges facing our warriors or our citizens, there’s nowhere else that has problems on this scale, or, conversely, solutions on this scale.”

The IBM group she started with was acquired

by Loral, which in turn was acquired by Lockheed Martin, so Judy stayed in the same enterprise for the first 27 years of her career, learning its ins and outs.

“It’s a class act company,” she says. “I had the privilege of leading two divisions while I was there, which was phenomenal.” With her evident passion for growing businesses inside large enterprises, she was a natural choice for Siemens when it began looking for someone to lead SGT. “Technically, SGT is only my second employer,” she laughs. “I’ve only interviewed for jobs twice in the 28 years I’ve been in the workforce.”

Among the driving forces in her decision to accept the position at SGT was the scope of the opportunity.

Having spent 27 years in the same enterprise, she knew everyone and had an incredible network. She had over 4,000 people working for her in one of her division leadership roles, and she had already tried her hand at starting businesses. “What really compelled me to try something new at that stage of my career was the opportunity to experience a true global company,” she explains. “At the end of the day, in a regulated business like defense, I was working for an American company that did business overseas. I now work for a global corporation, so on any given day, I’m talking to people all over the world with diverse backgrounds, figuring out global strategies for product sets.”

The other reason she made the switch was the personal challenge it promised. “Could I transition my leadership skills to an enterprise where I knew no one?” she asked herself. “Going in, meeting, aligning, collaborating, friend-raising, and being effective quickly—that’s the ultimate test. That’s what I wanted to do. I could have stayed where I was and been comfortable. But I was 47 at the time, and I knew I never wanted to look back and wonder if I should have done it. So I took that leap.”

Judy grew up in Philadelphia as the youngest of three siblings, enjoying a positive childhood that was molded by her parents, who were both good role models and pressed upon her that she could do anything she put 128

her mind to. With that advice, she decided to put her mind to everything, excelling in academics, athletics, and student government. “Things came easily to me, and I was always impatient to push forward,” she says.

“I wasn’t necessarily an extrovert, but I’ve grown into it, and now I get energy from walking into a room full of strangers.”

On some weekends, Judy would work handling the cash register for her uncle, who had two stores on the Italian Market in Philadelphia. Her father also owned a small department store in a suburb nearby, and she worked there as a teenager behind the counter in sales or in gift-wrapping during the holiday season. “That was our livelihood,” she says. “As the business went, our lives went. My father worked his way up and was a self-made businessman in retail, and he wanted to instill those values in us as well. To this day, it doesn’t matter the size of the contract we have or what we agree to deliver—I still remember that people do business with people. It’s still a personal business, and my main priority and focus is serving the customer.”

Working with her father, Judy also had the opportunity to see how he led, coming to appreciate his approachable style and his skill at setting objectives.

“He drove results, but he did it with people feeling that they were part of the team,” she reflects. Her mother, on the other hand, was a substitute teacher and drove the pursuit-of-excellence aspect of her character.

Judy never felt that there were any preset conditions imposed on the path she would follow through life.

Several of her grandparents were immigrants, and her parents were both in the first generation of their families to attend college and greatly valued higher education “I never had constraints or expectations put on me, other than to excel and find something that mattered and made a difference.”

When she enrolled at Lehigh University, Judy knew she wanted to pursue an engineering degree but couldn’t decide between the very established field of electrical engineering or the brand new area of computer engineering. She sought the advice of her father, who then directed her to the Dean of the engineering program. With his advice, she chose electrical engineering knowing that it would form a sound basis for the future and completed her degree in three years. “Yes, I definitely do have an impatience to me,” she laughs. “I won’t deny it.” She started with IBM Federal at age 20 and was in management there by age 23. Having come out of school in 1984, it was a great time to be a female engineer, as there weren’t many. “I never had specific CEO-level aspirations,” she

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

continues. “I just aimed to be the best I could at what I was working on. I trusted the enterprise around me to take care of me, and I was blessed to be at IBM at a time in the 1980’s when leadership development was valued. I continued to learn and grow and stretch, and I worked hard.”

The enterprise did take care of her. In 1989, at the age of 25, she was promoted to become the assistant to the President of a half-billion dollar division, where she had the opportunity to be the fly on the wall in meetings to see how decisions were made, how people reacted, and how people behaved. “It was an MBA-like education in real time,” she says. “As you watch how decisions are being made on a daily basis across a variety of subjects, you’re learning general management, and it was a tremendous experience.” Her multiple assignments had her located in upstate New York, and then down in D.C. in 2005, and she worked in that capacity until she received the call for SGT in 2011.

Amongst her successes, Judy is quick to acknowledge the failures that have lent her the depth that makes her so successful today. “The earlier you fail, the better,” she says. “I think of failures as reset moments, because they can help to remind you what’s really important after you’ve been caught up in other things.”

And what’s really important? Aside from her family, which is the proudest accomplishment of her life, Judy recognizes the pattern of development of her own knowledge base and how each piece fits together to create the expertise she wields today. Prior to SGT, she spent 27 years learning every aspect of her business, using her engineering mindset to identify systems that she could decompose and understand. By the time she was leading projects, she knew how things worked from the inside out.

“I like being at 50,000 feet, but I can dive as deep as anyone if need be,” she affirms. “From the creation of an idea, to how you sell it to a customer--I’ve led business development and marketing for organizations. From how you propose an idea, to how you win business-I’ve won some of the big ones. From how you run a program, to how you deliver it as a portfolio with a whole business, motivating a team of thousands of people to get behind you—I’ve done that. I had a tremendous opportunity to learn every part of what we do, and that was a journey that began when I was very young. So value your experiences, even at the bottom of the ladder, because they can go a long way to inform your leadership style later on.”

As a result of this textured past, Judy’s leadership style has always revolved around reaching out to employees,

making sure to address questions like “What’s the vision? What badge am I wearing? Do I believe in the company I work for? Do I believe in where this leader is taking me?” To win the hearts and minds of the people on her team, she facilitates a quarterly call to everybody in the field to make sure they’re part of the conversation. “People need to keep hearing messages, and they need to see where their livelihood is coming from,” she says. “People make a decision every day about what kind of work they’re going to do and with what kind of spirit, and connecting with them in this manner raises that work ethic and that spirit while raising the overall effectiveness of the company. Ideas come from everyone, not just from the top of an organization. That’s the strength of diversity. No one person has all the answers. Leadership is about creating an environment where you allow the people around you to do their best.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Judy is often asked how she has managed to build an exceptionally successful career while also building an exceptionally wonderful family.

With a loving husband and wonderful daughter, it was the Marks’ willingness to blaze their own path and commitment to making it work that eventually made it work. “Everyone has their own story with their own solutions—you just have to decide what’s right for you,” she explains. “You can have it all, just not at one time. There are sacrifices, and you have to understand that. No one says you have to make them. It’s all your decision, but know that you’re the person to make that decision. You need to make it, and you need to live with it. In making these life decisions, you create your own normalcy. I have a husband and daughter in my life, and we’ve created what’s normal for us. No one else understands it, but you can’t let others judge you. No one follows the same path, and no one’s walking in the shoes you’re walking in.”

The most empowering aspect of this philosophy is that, as long as one remains committed to following certain legal, ethical, social, and moral principles, there is no wrong choice. “Create your own path,” she says. “Think through things, but don’t take too long making decisions. Information is a powerful thing, so use it to make the best decision you can and then move forward. Work hard, because work ethic is still valued in American enterprise. And don’t be afraid to be impatient, because change is a good, inherently positive thing.” If change is as good as it is inevitable, then this frame of mind sees a future destined for greatness, so why shouldn’t we be impatient to get there?

Judy Marks

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George Newstrom Adapting for Success Fort Ord, California.

Fort Hood, Texas.

Wiesbaden, Germany.

Nurnberg, Germany Mannheim, Germany.

Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

“I literally grew up all over the world,” says George Newstrom. “With my father in the military, we moved every couple years, and we had to learn how to adapt quickly. We had to be social, meet new friends, and establish new relationships.”

Now the Corporate Vice President of Dell US Public Services which includes Dell Services Federal Government, Inc. (DSFG) and the Education, State and Local (ESL), George takes the skills he cultivated in adapting to the changing terrain of his youth and applies them today to the changing world of business, achieving a dynamism in DSFG that has allowed it to become a prominent branch of the corporation today.

“Michael Dell had a vision as a student at the University of Texas—selling computers directly to people,” George explains. That vision has since evolved into a global, $60 billion company with over 100,000 employees, serving industries all over the world. One such industry is the United States Federal Government, and in 2009, Dell purchased Perot Systems, an IT services provider launched by Ross Perot in 1988, to address the industry’s needs.

“As a company, Dell is widely recognized and highly respected, with a great brand around the hardware component of information technology,” George affirms. “I’m actually involved in a different sector, exploring how customers and clients use technology to help their business perform better. That’s what Perot Systems did, and that’s what we do now in DSFG, with a myriad of subject matter experts highly trained in different agencies of the U.S. Government.”

George joined DSFG as their Executive Director and General Manager in October of 2011. “It was

pure timing,” he says, reflecting on the events that led to the transition away from his previous company, Lee Technologies. Lee Technologies was sold in early 2011, and George was ready for a change. He briefly entertained the notion of retiring, and though he quickly discarded that idea, he still declined when a friend at Dell asked if he wanted to come onboard. The friend then offered him a different set of responsibilities that extended into the intelligence and cyber worlds.

“I was intrigued with that, so I came on board, and now I’m responsible for the whole thing,” he says. It’s an interesting evolution for Dell to learn this type of business, with an environment whose nuances and laws are changing every day. You have to stay current and be responsive. There are always challenges, but knowing the business, the city, and the players helps.

That’s what I bring to the table.”

In addition to building this adaptability through his childhood, George also began building a strong work ethic at an early age, finding time for a constant string of odd jobs even as he played sports every season throughout his youth. He had a paper route, and he would work as a busboy at the officers’ clubs at the bases where his father was stationed. And while his father was always gone with the military, George modeled his character after his mother. “She was the matriarch and patriarch of the family, and she’s still my hero today,” he avows. “She taught me to work hard, to be ethical, and that I could do anything.”

As soon as he graduated from an American high school in Germany, George hopped on a C-130 military transport plane and flew to Dover, where he took a Greyhound Bus to California to start college.

He attended Hartnell Junior College for two years and then finished up his BA in education at the University of California, Davis. “I wanted to become a teacher because I enjoyed learning and teaching others, especially history and math,” he remembers. “I tutored a lot while in college and always got a lot of enjoyment out of it.”

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Coming from a family of modest means, George earned every cent of his college tuition and remembers with particular fondness his stint as a school bus driver.

“I liked working and doing things, and I sure liked making money,” he remarks.

When George was in graduate school in 1970, he won the first and only lottery he would ever win in his life— the draft. His father had served in the Army, and George was not interested in following in his footsteps, so he instead enlisted in the Marine Corps. Halfway through graduate school, however, he received an offer to attend Officer Candidate School. With that, he trained in Quantico for a year and was then transferred to Camp Pendleton in California. After a great experience there, George was ordered on an unaccompanied tour to Okinawa just as he crossed paths with a recruiter from EDS, a company also founded by Ross Perot and specializing in something George had never heard of before—computers.

EDS had a component called the Systems Engineer Development Training Program, which entailed a yearlong internship followed by 12 weeks of intense coding training in Dallas and then an assignment. “I loved the Marine Corps, but in the wake of Vietnam, there was little funding and training,” George remarks. “Again, it was all about timing. The recruiter found me just as I was about to make the decision.”

EDS became a leading global IT services company, and George started as an intern. His first assignment was for BlueShield of California doing work simplification, looking inside their customer base and identifying opportunities to provide technology solutions. “I loved writing code because computers are binary—yes or no,” he laughs. “I then got the ultimate offer that corporations make to employees—managing people.

They said I could always go back to the coding later, so I accepted the promotion and began managing people, which felt very natural.”

With EDS, George went from California to Austin, Texas, to assist with a new venture—launching an insurance company that underwrote the Texas Medicaid Program. In that capacity, as a manager, he worked for a senior vice president named David Behne.

“For whatever reason, we gravitated toward each other,” George remembers. “He pushed me to succeed, and somewhere along the way, he said he would work for me one day. I must have been around 25 at the time, and it really excited me. Promotion opportunities would pass by, however, and I wondered why David didn’t give them to me. But again, it was all about timing, and finally he called me in because he had found the right 132

situation, the right people put it together, and the right customer…and he was right!”

That opportunity led to another opportunity in Montgomery, Alabama, which in turn led to an opportunity in Baton Rouge, which in turn led to an opportunity in Indianapolis. EDS then wanted to promote him to headquarters, so he moved his family to Texas for six weeks. At that time, his boss moved his division to Washington, DC. “We had always been West Coast people, but there I was on March 1, 1984, in Bethesda, Maryland, taking over a division,” George remembers. “Then, on June 1, 1984, I came in and there was a sticky note on my desk saying General Motors had just bought EDS. Two hundred people had been transferred over the weekend to Detroit, including my boss. That left me in charge of all of healthcare, including David Behne’s division in Texas. Almost a decade later, his prediction had come true.”

At that time, George started working for Paul Chiapparone, one of the two detainees in Iran who was very close to Perot himself—extremely aggressive, hard charging, and a perfectionist to the tee. “When you work with someone like that, it’s hard at the time, but you learn an incredible amount,” he reflects. “He taught me the importance of really going out into the field to meet with our customers, which has proven vital.”

When Chiapparone was promoted to Vice Chairman of EDS, George took over the federal and state government business supporting EDS employees all over the world, and in late 1999, a new chairman came in and offered him a position running the business in Asia. With that, George moved to Hong Kong for three years—a perfect capstone assignment that lent him a new perspective on Eastern ways of life.

EDS was ten years old when George first joined and was $100 million, with 3,000 employees. By the time he left 28 years later, it had reached $20 billion and 100,000 employees. George held various leadership positions in the health care and government sectors that culminated in Corporate Senior Vice President and President of EDS Asia Pacific. “Ross was a very demanding man, but we knew the rules,” George remembers. “Like the codes we wrote, he was binary. We knew what he expected of us, and if someone came short of those, they were out.

But if we did meet expectations, he was as loyal as the day is long to his employees. He really stressed that, if you make a commitment to a client, you have to meet it no matter what.”

Out of the blue, at the end of 2001, George received several calls from Virginia Governor Mark Warner, who had just been elected and wanted George to join

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his cabinet. George didn’t say yes, but he also didn’t say no, and that was enough for the Governor, who promptly appointed him Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia. “Warner wanted to improve technology, not only doing well for the Commonwealth, but also using it for economic development,” George explains. “He wanted to build the state and bring companies into it. And while the inside of government is not bottom-line enough for me, it was a great experience.”

After three years as secretary, George served as President and CEO of WiSPER Technologies, a startup venture focused on voice recognition technology in medical practice. Then, in October of 2006, he was invited by a colleague, John Lee, to serve as President and COO of Lee Technologies, a $65 million company specializing in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of data centers. “I knew how to do large companies and how to do transactions, and Lee wanted to get into government business,” George recalls. “It was another perfect timing, perfect situation.” In that capacity, he worked to position the company to further advance its leadership position in the growing missioncritical infrastructure market until its acquisition in 2011, prompting George to accept his current position at Dell.

Beyond his textured professional career, George and his wife, Susan, have placed great emphasis on charitable work and giving back. With a special focus on supporting educational opportunities for children, George has held advisory and leadership roles on many foundations and boards, including the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Advisory Board, the National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service, the 1998 World Congress on Information Technology, the Information Technology Association of America, the Virginia Technology Council, Lee Technologies Board of Directors, Raytheon Trusted Computer Solutions

Board of Advisors, the Board of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance. “I like to think I can and have had an impact on the work I’ve done and the people I’ve touched, including my kids, Doug and Kristen,” he says.

For all his successes, George is quick to admit that he’s had failures along the way, and he credits those failures as critical steps in the journey toward true achievement. “Failures show us what our next step should be,” he affirms. “I see too many people lament their failures and look for someone to blame, but that’s unnecessary. When you’re stuck on a rock, there’s no time to talk about how you got there. Just focus on getting off the rock, and surround yourself with people that handle those situations well too.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, George stresses the importance of adapting to the changes in the world around them. “Timing can change your life, but you also have to change your life to fit the times,” he remarks. “Learn technology and learn it in a big way, because it’s the way of the future. At the same time, however, don’t follow along with the current trend of losing the ability to communicate face to face.

Learn another language. Demand and expect more out of yourself than you think you can do. Don’t settle for mediocrity. Set high goals for yourself, and through the journey to reaching them, don’t forget to enjoy life.”

Beyond that, George’s example highlights that adaptability can be a lifelong skill, allowing for unparalleled foresight and exceptional resilience regardless of life’s circumstances.

“Leadership is about having some vision about what the outcome might be, looking at the risks and mitigating what you can,” he says. “It’s about making decisions and moving forward. It’s better to act and make a mistake than to remain stagnant, analyzing a situation to death. If you let yourself be afraid of the unknown, you’d be afraid of everything in the future.

Instead, be confident in your ability to adapt to that unknown, whatever it may be.”

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Ben Saleh Making a Difference Ben Saleh always knew that he wanted to be a success and to make a difference in the world. Growing up in the Middle East, Ben had dreams of one day leaving the war-torn area and finding a place where his ideas could flourish. Today, heading up his own company, US21, Inc., Ben can do just that.

Founded in 1998, US21, Inc., now a global, woman-owned, multi-division, supply, services and procurement corporation, had a long and windy road in the company’s evolution to this point. Started as an Information Technology (IT) hardware sales and services business, US21, Inc. began small and grew steadily.

Unfortunately, in 2001, as major computer companies like Dell and Hewlett Packard began to offer direct sales online, the business was hit hard.

Ben recalls the difficult decision he and his wife had to make… whether or not to close the business.

“My wife was pressuring me to get a job but I couldn’t envision myself working for someone else again. I knew I needed to come up with a really good concept; to somehow get out from under the financial difficulties of the business. I said, ‘Just give me one more chance to find something to build the business back up again,’ and she reluctantly agreed.”

Ben didn’t know how they were going to turn the business around until late one night while watching television when inspiration struck him. Ben noticed that some consumer markets were being underserved due to their inability to obtain typical financing options for purchasing IT hardware like computers and laptops.

Ben realized that the gap in the market wasn’t being filled by anyone at the time and he capitalized on it.

“I was thinking about those customers who don’t really have a lot of credit and they can’t go to the big stores and get a computer. So I decided that I would target that group and begin to provide my own financing options. I put an ad on the television and in the first 2 minutes after it ran we got about 30 calls.”

In that first day, Ben sold five computers and within

the month they had sold 65. Each computer cost the company $500 to purchase and he sold them for $1,000 with the financing.

“The customer would put down $450 and then pay $100 each month for the remainder of the balance.

By six months, we had about 700 clients and I had a residual income of about $25,000-$30,000 per month.”

Soon after turning the company around, he was approached to partner with another IT firm whose major focus was on purchasing used computer parts and re-selling them for a profit. Though the partnership didn’t work out, Ben learned the benefits of offering refurbished equipment to his clients and he began to incorporate them into his own business.

Ben started purchasing HP servers from companies that were closing and re-selling them on eBay. With the combined new and used hardware sales and financing, US21, Inc. was expanded rapidly.

“I remember the largest one I did was about 700 servers from a company in Fresno, California. While we were loading the servers onto the truck, I was on the phone with a company in Annapolis, Maryland that wanted to purchase all of them. Before we even had the truck fully-loaded at the site, they had wired the money for the servers into my account. I told the truck driver that instead of coming to Virginia that he would be delivering to Annapolis!”

By 2004, Ben had a network of loyal clients who utilized US21, Inc. for all of their IT hardware needs.

Then, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan grew, some of Ben’s clients began to approach him about obtaining items other than IT equipment. Many of his government clients were requesting assistance with procuring military tactical equipment (such as helmets, vests, boots, etc.).

“I really never had any experience with obtaining tactical equipment so I contacted a colleague who was ex-military to come onboard and provide some sales training. Later that year we started getting random requests for communications equipment. Many of Ben Saleh

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our customers were traveling to deserted or hostile territories with very limited network infrastructure; they were looking for reliable means of communication and we were given the task to provide a solution. Soon enough, we partnered with a Dubai based satellite company that provided a full range of communication products and services. We became one of the largest U.S. service providers (in the first year) and started offering a full range of satellite products to the U.S. Army and federal contractors all over the world.”

The company continued to provide products and services in IT, Satcom and tactical arenas for the next few years. Ben decided to look at the company strategically and when they analyzed the business’ areas of focus, it was clear that the tactical equipment division was becoming lucrative and the market was not as saturated as IT had become. At this point US21 decided to take the tactical division to the next level by manufacturing its own tactical line.

“In 2010, we decided to branch out into five divisions: IT, Satellite Communications, Tactical Equipment, Safety and Medical Supplies, and Global Services which handles logistics and specialized product lines.”

In 2011, US21 continued to expand by securing a number of awarded large contracts with federal agencies, large primes, and commercial clients worldwide.

“We know the culture of the Middle East and Africa and we have a lot of partnerships with companies in Dubai, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia and Libya. We have established many solid relationships based on mutual trust. We are proud of our reputation. We emphasize customer satisfaction and quality service; a winning combination.”

Last year the company brought in revenue of almost $16 million and this year Ben is anticipating they will reach $20 million. With a new satellite location in Dubai and another location planned in Saudi Arabia, US21, Inc. has found its mark and the future looks bright.

It wasn’t just important to Ben to succeed for riches alone; his desire for success was motivated by a specific purpose—to make a difference.

“I wanted to make a lot of money to help my parents, to help my people, to help my relatives. I wanted to be something one day because I wanted to help and make an impact. I wanted to be able, if someone calls me up to ask for money and needs it, to just write them a check.”

Growing up in the Middle East wasn’t easy for Ben and he planned to leave as soon as he could, but his parents insisted that he stay until he completed high school.

Ben finished high school and when he graduated, his cousin, who was attending the University of Tennessee 136

at Martin, sent Ben an application and he was accepted.

Ben attended University of Tennessee for almost a year but the small town of Martin, Tennessee was not exciting enough for him.

“I was like, ‘this is not New York, this is not Los Angeles – where’s the life?’”

Ben’s cousin agreed and they both left school, his cousin moving to Chicago and Ben staying with family in Philadelphia. After a few months, Ben decided that Philadelphia wasn’t a place where he could build a future and he visited a friend in the Washington, DC area. This is where Ben found his new home, but living in the DC area while working his way through school wasn’t easy.

“I did not come from a wealthy family and school was expensive, life was expensive and nobody gave me anything. I did everything by myself. I worked full-time while I went to school and things were really hard. It took me a long time to finish and I worked very hard to get my degree. I had a lot of insecurity around this time and I was able to overcome all these issues and finally finished my school.”

During these hard times, Ben relied heavily on his best friend and cherished confidante, his mother.

“My best, best friend, the person that I could pick up the phone and tell anything to and not be judged, the person who always believed in me, was my mother. I got all my strength from my mother; she was the drive for me. When she passed away five years ago, it was like someone ripped something out of my heart. She really had that much of an impact on my life. She never meddled, she would just listen and pray and give me unconditional support.”

During college and shortly after he graduated, Ben worked as a waiter and a personal driver. One day while driving, he met a man who owned a computer company who told Ben to stop by his store to talk about Ben’s career and possibly working for him. Ben went to the store and, after answering some questions and expressing his willingness to learn, was offered a parttime position repairing computers.

“He started me off at the bottom, learning all the different components of a computer and how to assemble and fix them. But I realized that I did not want to be working with the actual computers, I wanted to be working with people and selling the computers.”

The owner was hesitant but Ben won him over and was soon working as a sales rep.

Ben was doing well in sales and then one day he picked up the owner’s phone line by accident. It was a government buyer looking to purchase computers. Ben

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sold them $1.5 million worth of equipment and when the owner found out, he offered to purchase Ben a trip to wherever he wanted to go as a reward.

“I remember saying, ‘I don’t want you to send me on a trip to London or Italy. I want you to pay me a bonus for the big money that I brought in for you. I need to secure my future,’ and he gave me a $15,000 bonus; which at that time was really a lot of money.”

Ben became the sales manager with nine sales reps reporting to him, but he still wanted to make a difference for his future. He decided that if he could make million dollar sales for someone else, that he could do it for himself.

“I felt like it was the right time to take chances, because once I was married, I wouldn’t be able to take the same chances. I would be responsible for my family.”

Ben stepped away from that position and started US21, Inc. and the rest is history.

Now that his company is a global success, Ben can spend more time with his family and on making the impact that has been so important to him.

“I love my wife so much. She tells me all the time that she is proud of me and appreciates how hard I work. She is such a great help to me. She never makes things hard on me. When I have to travel and am away from her and

the kids she manages everything. My wife enables me to finish my mission in life. I am so passionate about business mentoring and talent.”

In addition to his immediate family, Ben also extends a helping hand to his family back home.

“I’ve seen a lot and I’ve been through a lot and I don’t want that to happen to anyone else. I have ten of my little cousins that I pay for them to go to school in Jordan.

They are all in Jordan universities and I told them that I don’t want any of the money back; I just want them to help somebody else. Two of them have already graduated and they called me up and said that they had finished their promise and that they would honor me at their graduation. That is why I do what I do. That is what I’ve always wanted.”

From driving cars and waiting tables to becoming a highly influential executive of a multi-million dollar conglomerate in the global marketplace, Ben Saleh reflects the reward of hard work and dedication. On a mission from the start, and with the conviction to always strive to reach it, there should never have been a doubt that Ben would get there. Whether it’s providing support and services to his government and military clients or helping his close and extended family, Ben Saleh truly knows how to make a difference… and he does.

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Peter Schwartz A Change of Mind It’s a moment of crisis that most business owners know all too well—that morning when one wakes up and realizes that something isn’t working, and that something needs to change. It’s a critical juncture—one in which doubt threatens the otherwise indefatigable conviction that is a critical component in starting a business and leading it to success. At first glance, it might look like the beginning of the end. But, for those with the willingness to change their frame of mind, the faith to stay committed, and the strength to accept that their biggest obstacle is none other than themselves, it marks the beginning of a timeless adventure: the hero’s journey.

The phrase was first coined by Joseph Campbell, a philosopher who examined some of the greatest stories in human history and realized that, while differing in detail, they each possessed similar tenets celebrating the evolution and resilience of the human spirit. “The hero’s journey begins when someone heeds the call to ‘adventure,’” explains Peter Schwartz, a Chair for Vistage International, who has built his career around guiding business leaders through the experience. “To make it through to the other side, the leaders I coach have to transform themselves somehow. They have to identify and wrestle with that part of themselves and their thinking that needs to change, and a stage of disillusionment inevitably follows. If you can rise from that dark place through strength and faith, you come out on the other side a very different person. It’s an enduring, resonant process that dates back to the earliest religious and mythological stories, able to stand the test of time because it resonates with us today on such a fundamental level.”

It’s not every line of work that takes the ingredients of the world’s oldest stories and applies them in innovative ways to the current business climate, yet Peter feels as though he’s been preparing for this professional role his entire life. Indeed, not every fifteen-year-old reads unabridged editions of Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey, but Peter did. He had been fascinated with mythology ever since he was first introduced to the

timeless stories in grammar school, recognizing them as epic tales of exploration—not only of geographic terrain, but of the terrain of the mind and soul. Now, as a Vistage Chair, he specializes in navigating the latter.

At once a think tank, coaching, and peer advisory program for some of the world’s most innovative and successful CEOs, Vistage was founded in 1957 and has since amassed nearly 15,000 members worldwide.

It is headquartered in San Diego where around fifty employees design and support the Vistage experience that is then dispatched through 500 international chairs. Each chair oversees one or more regional groups, running them according to the program’s time-tested structure for success. As one such chair, Peter facilitates three local area groups of noncompeting business owners and company presidents throughout the DC metropolitan area. Two of his groups deal with chief executives of companies in the $10 to $500 million range, while his third is a key executive group wherein CEOs can enlist their second-in-commands so that they might benefit from peer advice as well. “These groups offer an environment where leaders can come each month to interact with peers without holding anything back,” he points out. “I focus on bringing together a diverse group of individuals who are truly committed to running their businesses better.

And in this context, amazing things happen.”

Born in the boroughs of New York City to parents of very modest means who had both been raised in challenging environments themselves, Peter is the oldest of four. He watched his father work his way up from an entry-level position at a wood preserving firm to become president of the company, learning the value of a strong work ethic and the importance of seeing a journey through to the end. Peter’s first job was a paper route. After that, he proudly served as an altar boy at the Catholic Church his family attended. After close observation, young Peter noticed that the altar boys who worked weddings and funerals made tips, and that the captain of the altar boys determined the schedule

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and made assignments to those gigs. “Wanting to be top dog has always been innate in me,” he laughs today.

He quickly attained his goal, making a few extra bucks while also learning important management skills that would help him down the road.

Most would say that Peter was a golden child, readily excelling both academically and athletically. Although success came easily to him, however, it was not attained without its obstacles and drawbacks. He suffered a sudden deterioration of his eyesight at an early age, and after falling in love with the sport of baseball and advancing his skills considerably, he suddenly found himself unable to play. “Looking back now, I realize that, for a long time after I lost my skill in that sport, I was resolved not to let myself care about anything that much again,” Peter concedes. “I was going to play it safe from then on. I got into swimming, but that was only a quest for medals. There was no joy in it.”

For Peter, achievement had become the name of the game, and this pattern held into adult life as he continued to succeed, but never with joy or passion. He attended one year of college at Temple University but then had to transfer after the Philadelphia plant where his father worked shut down and he could no longer receive in-state tuition. Peter was putting himself through school and had no choice but to transfer to Old Dominion University in Virginia, where he earned his degree in Psychology. Upon graduating from college, he accepted his first job with Rider Truck Rental facilitating truck leasing. He then accepted a sales position with a company selling telephone systems against the newly deregulated AT&T—a role he found exceptionally daunting at first.

“To my great fortune, however, my manager helped me see that it wasn’t my sales ability, my knowledge, the product, or a disinterest in success that was holding me back,” Peter explains. “Rather, it was my thought process. He taught me that, if I could unwrap my conceptualization of the job and reframe my thinking, I could change the way I performed, and that’s exactly what happened.” Indeed, Peter quickly became rookie of the year at a Fortune 500 company, all thanks to a change of thinking.

With that, Peter’s journey—both personally and professionally—took off. As he rose from sales, to sales manager, to VP of sales, and ultimately came to run his own company, he immersed himself in studies of how the mind works. “As I then went out and joined other startups at the senior management level, I felt this inclination to really examine my purpose and my experience in each role so I could be as effective as 140

possible in each capacity,” Peter affirms. “You see, our thought processes are like operating software that run in the background of our daily lives. We aren’t aware of them until we bring them to the surface and really examine them, which allows us to make a decision about whether they’re working or not. By striving to bring these patterns to the surface in each new experience I transitioned through, I learned a lot about leadership and recognized that my assumptions about it needed to be challenged and changed.”

The last startup Peter had a hand in guiding was a dotcom venture. With his assistance, the company rocketed from four employees to 430 and raised $75 million in venture capital within five years. When that success then suddenly dissolved with the dotcom collapse, a light bulb went off just as suddenly for Peter when he started to learn more about coaching, which had just made an entrance into the professional scene. “I noticed that young people I had hired were coming into my office at the end of the day wanting to talk about things that were external to their jobs,” he remembers. “They were seeking me out for advice, so I started to take note of what made me so approachable.”

Continuing the self-study that had always been a hallmark of his character, he began to see his nuanced perspective of the business world in a new light, and with a new purpose. He graduated from Georgetown University’s leadership coaching program and earned two certifications in neuro-linguistic and neurosemantics, a discipline that examines how habits of thought and patterns of behavior can be examined and modified to achieve greater success personally and professionally. He is certified in several of the leading leadership development instruments. With this wealth of knowledge under his belt, Peter realized that, even as he had pursued certain short-term horizons through his startup ventures, his life had always been oriented toward one long-term culmination, and that was coaching. “I recognized that there was another path for me, and that I had taken business startups as far as I wanted to take them,” he avows. “I didn’t want to run another company, as I had already climbed that mountain. I wanted to do something else entirely—I wanted to work with small businesses and help leaders take them to the next level.”

After the tech bubble burst and his dotcom went under, Peter accepted a position as a principle in a consulting firm that assisted manufacturers in contracting with the federal government. He was running that company when Vistage first asked if he was interested in becoming a member. When they

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learned about his array of coaching credentials and his self-powered passion for the art, they immediately offered him a position as a chair, and he knew he had arrived at the right place. “I had always done what golden boys were expected to do—achieve, achieve, achieve,” Peter remarks. “I was a successful CEO, but it felt more like something I had to do, not something I wanted to do. I never wanted to be king because you’re restricted to your own kingdom. I wanted to be the guy who traveled from kingdom to kingdom, learning and advising the king with that knowledge and experience.”

Today, having experienced the business world from so many vantage points both external and internal, and having completed a hero’s journey of his own, he is exceptionally equipped to help others as they hazard the most treacherous—yet most rewarding—roads.

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Peter stresses the importance of trusting one’s instincts. “If you find yourself drawn to

something, pay attention to that,” he urges. “Forget the money, because it will follow as long as you’re doing what you love. Be willing to work hard and to pay the price. Find great mentors, and be willing to work as hard for yourself as they’re willing to work for you.”

Beyond those concepts, Peter reminds us that, while the hero’s journey was first told in myth and fable, it remains alive and well today. “Leadership is the continual focus of attention and commitment on a desired future amidst the mayhem of day-to-day life,” he affirms. “It’s taking the necessary steps to bring those visions into reality over time. Whether you’re leading your life, raising a family, or building a business, anything with an element of creation is an opportunity to put this into practice.” As we stop to remember what matters most to us, and what ideas we’d like to bring into reality, we remind ourselves that a change of lifestyle, fortune, or circumstance is really only a change of mind away.

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Mike Shelton Making the Decision “If we make the wrong decision, will someone die?”

Mike Shelton has posed the question time and again to people under his command, both in the military and in the corporate world—people who come into his office distraught and anxiety-ridden. “The words hit them like cold water, putting everything in perspective,” he remembers. “When you stop to realize that nobody’s life is at stake in that decision, it suddenly becomes much more manageable. You weigh the facts, you make a decision, and you live with the consequences. If nobody’s going to die as a result of what you decide, you know the consequences are manageable.”

Mike learned this lesson through living it.

After experiencing combat situations of the highest stakes in Vietnam, he learned that there really are only two decisions—those that get people killed, and all the rest. Faced with the former as a 22-year-old when a recoilless rifle shell missed his head by six inches, exploding and severely wounding the Seabee next to him and sending Mike flying through the air, guaranteeing he would never be the same.

“If you’re going to send people into that kind of danger, you have to be prepared to share that burden,” he explains. “You have to be willing to share that kind of danger yourself. You can’t send people off to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself. The old military principle says that you lead from the front, not from behind. It’s easy to sit back in the base camp making orders, but it’s much harder to be the guy out there saying ‘WE are going to go do this.’ The great officers are the ones who share the danger and the burden of those they lead.” Now the Chairman of EMCOR Government Services (EGS), Mike takes the soundness of mind that he developed in leading people through life-and-death decisions and now applies it to leading his teams through business, winning work for EGS with the same mindset that garnered success during his military days.

EGS is essentially the government arm of the EMCOR Group, which is the largest mechanical and electrical specialty contractor in the world. EMCOR focuses largely on the construction industry, specializing in very hightech construction in data centers and other complex

projects. The company grew over time, acquiring over seventy companies. One of those, acquired in 2004, had a number of government contracts at the time that generated revenues of around $50 million. It was a new opportunity for EMCOR, considering the enterprise had remained almost entirely commercial up to that point.

The effort floundered somewhat in the beginning, but they soon won a contract in a joint venture to operate and maintain the facilities at the Navy Submarine Base at Bangor, Washington, the biggest submarine base in the Pacific.

This win created quite a stir, as the corporate leadership hadn’t fully conceptualized the risk and challenge that the contract entailed. “When you have a base with armed guards authorized to shoot to kill, its serious business,” Mike points out. “They realized they should have someone running the contracts that had a strong history in that line of work— someone who would be able to organize and build the business. That’s why they called me.”

Today, as he operates and expands EGS, Mike focuses on operations and maintenance for several bases, including Bangor and Guantanamo Bay. They also hold the base operations contract for all the Navy facilities in the Washington, D.C. area. In addition, EGS focuses on maintenance for large government facilities like the State Department complex. “These facilities are millions of square feet in area, but they aren’t bases per se,” Mike says. “We take care of their mechanical systems like air conditioning, snow plowing, and the like.”

Beyond building out that area of the business, Mike is also focused on expanding in the area of medical facilities, taking on the new Walter Reed Complex, the new Fort Belvoir Hospital, and several hospital complexes in the Army and Air Force. “We also do work for the classified agencies, which is an interesting ball game because of the clearances required,” says Mike. “Those places pay highly for janitors with those clearances, which is something people don’t usually think about.”

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revenues today, and EGS has become a significant player in that success. With around 5,000 employees operating contracts that are spread across the U.S. and with mounting international growth, Mike keeps his team on the same page in terms of values and vision by making sure he brings the right people onboard. “No person can manage a vastly-spread enterprise alone,” he points out.

“You have to have the right people working for you. You have to trust them, and trust means accepting failure.

Over time, you learn that you are going to put the wrong person in the wrong job at some point. You have to step up to the plate, take responsibility for it, and try harder the next time.”

This strength of character draws from a long line of principle-based, work-minded ancestors that date to the Scots-Irish, whose independence and bravery helped to win the Revolutionary War. Years later, his father and mother both grew up on farms in central Illinois during the Great Depression. Anxious to escape a destiny of working 18-hour days on his family’s farm, Mike’s father enlisted in the Navy as the Germans invaded Poland at the outset of World War II. “He experienced almost all of the landmark Pacific battles through 1943, and it was a tremendous learning experience for me to see how he dealt with that,” Mike remembers.

The elder Shelton spent 31 years in the Navy, and in peacetime, he served as a bandmaster. As a result, Mike spent his childhood moving from place to place to such an extent that his grandmother would say, “This child is drug from one side of the world to another; he has no roots.” Born in Maine, he moved back and forth across the country and spent time living all over the world, including Europe, Alaska, and Cuba. “How do you get to be who you are? A lot of it is the environment you grow up in and the cultures you’re exposed to,” he affirms today. “Many of the things that were important to me later in life in the military came from having that exposure as I was growing up, hearing the enlisted view of the world and the stories World War II veterans told.

Most important to me was who those veterans thought were good leaders, and who were not. The biggest takeaway was that you can’t leave your buddy behind and save your own skin. You stick with your troops. I fixed on that early—that if you’re going to be a leader, you never look out for yourself at the expense of your team.”

Tragically, Mike’s younger brother died at the age of five. Mike was seven at the time, and his parents decided to send him to the farms of his two sets of grandparents for the summer so he could experience work in a new, character-defining way. He was too young to help much, but he engaged in a practice that would become 144

a lifelong virtue for him—deep observation. “I took lessons on how hard they worked,” he recalls. “Both my grandfathers were men of very few words who ruled with iron hands, but with tremendous compassion as well. My loving grandmothers were the bulwarks of the families, true partners in every sense in the work and home.”

Mike’s mother had earned excellent grades in school but couldn’t attend college because the money had to be set aside for her brother’s education, simply because he was male. Because she herself had not gotten to experience it, she was adamant that her son would. Mike’s father also knew he wanted his son to pursue higher education, and in the age of the draft, wanted his son to attend the Naval Academy, as it would be “free”. After a vision test rendered that route impossible, however, Mike learned that he could instead apply to West Point.

“That was the first of many instances in which my life has been rerouted by bureaucrats who make rules that don’t necessarily have any merit,” he laughs.

Graduating in the top ten percent of his class, Mike did well on his college boards and also happened to be an Eagle Scout—a qualification with substantial weight in his service academy applications. He was admitted to West Point, but when he reported for duty on July 1, 1963, he knew nothing about the institution and had never seen its campus. “Needless to say, I had a pretty shocking experience,” he says. “The first two months was a deep hazing process, transforming High-SchoolHarrys into cadets. Many people dropped out in the first year, but those of us who were truly committed, stayed.”

West Point boasts an extensive hierarchy, and Mike went into observation mode, formulating a unique approach to leadership. Amidst that observation, the Vietnam War erupted. The Army ruled he could not go into the Corps of Engineers despite his high engineering standing because of quota restrictions, but he could go into the Navy because his father had served a career in it.

With that in mind, his father sent him a brochure about the Construction Battalions (Seabees) of the Navy Civil Engineer Corps, and Mike knew it was exactly what he wanted to do. “Combat notwithstanding, I loved my tours with the Seabees,” he remarks. “It was the only time I was given a mission and the resources to accomplish it, and it was up to me how I would do it. It was very black and white—whether you succeed or don’t is totally up to you.”

After his first tour, Mike attended the University of Illinois, the top civil engineering school in the country.

He was then sent back to Vietnam as an advisor in the Special Operations Forces. From there,, he was sent to England as the public works officer of the Navy 4-star

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headquarters in London, where he managed the facility.

“It was a great observation opportunity for a young guy, interfacing with the admirals and captains and learning what they do,” he reflects. He was anxious to get back to a Seabee Battalion as an operations officer, however, and was relieved when he received orders to join one of them in Guam, where it was deployed.

Mike arrived on Saturday, and on Sunday, he received orders to halt all activity, relocate to an old Japanese airfield, and build a camp for 50,000 Vietnamese refugees. “Vietnam had just fallen, and they were evacuating people,” he remembers. “It was up to me, as my commanding officer reminded me. I was capable of doing it, so I did it.”

After that tour, Mike was assigned as an aide to a 3-Star Admiral in the Pentagon. “I might as well have gone to the moon,” he marvels. “I didn’t know anything about Washington, or what it’s like to be in the senior world. I learned volumes about leadership, how to do things, how not to do things, and most importantly, how decisions are made in Washington.”

Mike then went on to the Naval War College, later serving as the Resident Officer in Charge of Construction in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was promoted to the rank of Commander, and then assigned to Commanding Officer of an amphibious construction battalion that was part of the landing force for the Marines. “It was a very different and dangerous world,” he remarks. He then ran the Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) officer assignment branch, assigning CEC officers after a previous tour assigning all enlisted Seabees—two great learning experiences in Washington, in addition to the experience of running a battalion. “I learned even more about people through those experiences,” he affirms. “I learned that good troops do what is asked of them. They have the same problems as everyone else, but they do their duty anyway.”

Mike then went on to run procurement and acquisitions for the largest field engineering command in the Navy, doing billions of dollars’ worth of work in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He was then assigned to Japan to command the Public Works Center Yokosuka, supporting the fleet during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Following that, he ran four battalions as a regimental commander and later four regiments as a brigade commander while simultaneously leading the largest field engineering command. His final tour was as the engineer advisor to the CNO on his staff.

When he retired from that in 2001, having achieved the highest possible rank in the Civil Engineer Corps and

commanding every Seabee unit he could command, Mike had led as full and fruitful a military career as one possibly can. But his work wasn’t over yet.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do next, but a mentor sent my resume around,” he remembers. Opting for something completely new, he accepted a position with a privately-held, family-owned company, where he continued his lifelong commitment to learning and expanding. After five years, EMCOR called and made him “an offer he couldn’t refuse,” granting him a leadership position that paralleled his tremendous achievements, and the rest is history.

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Mike emphasizes character. “You can be a good guy and still be successful,” he points out. “You can do hard things with compassion. Also, be open-minded.

The biggest lessons you’re going to learn are when you get kicked in the teeth, and that happens when you assume that people who work for you have the same value system you do. If your parents gave you a strong moral compass, that’s great, but a lot of people were not given that. These people are not immoral; they’re amoral. They’ve learned that what’s good for them is good, and what’s bad for them is bad. They’re going to do whatever it is that they perceive is good for them. If we all don’t agree on the way life is, there has to be a benchmark, and your challenge as a leader is to establish that benchmark.”

Beyond that, Mike’s story is one of perspective—not only of the perspective lent through a close brush with death, but also that lent by recognizing and valuing the softer side of life as well. “In the end, you measure your life by your family.” Mike met his wife in Spain on a tour with the Seabees, while she was serving as a nurse at the Navy hospital, and Mike is the proud father of three. “My wife is really ‘the wind beneath my wings’,” he affirms. “She levels me—a companion and a reservoir of strength.”

Whether sharing the burden of those he leads, taking the time to observe the people around him, making key decisions that change the fates of lives, lands, and companies, or spending time with the family that makes it all worthwhile, Mike is nothing if not the sum of all his parts. “Life is a mosaic—there are many little tiles and pieces that, when you put them together, create a complete picture,” he says. “Each little piece is integral to the grand picture of who you are.” By valuing each piece and the role it plays in the context of one’s character, one’s company, and one’s world, we can strive toward reaching our best leadership potential by helping others to value those pieces in themselves along the way.

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Martin Steinhobel Challenging the Insurmountable Growing up in South Africa with the sound of bees from some of the 5,000 hives his family had, Martin Steinhobel learned a thing or two about being an entrepreneur at the feet of his “go get ‘em”, “never say die” father. Watching his father work hard all day and then head-off to move hives late into the night, Martin gained his own stalwart work ethic from seeing his dad in action.

“My dad would never ask anyone to perform a task that he wouldn’t do himself. The worst of all of the jobs, he would do himself,” Martin recalls.

Early in his childhood, Martin’s mother passed away and the loss had a significant impact on his life. Though it was the hardest thing for him to deal with, it also contributed to his strong leadership abilities and the way that he relates to others.

“I think, going back to my childhood now, weathering the loss of my mother helped me understand that, even though bad things can happen, you can actually work through them. The experience certainly shaped me, and contributed to my assuming leadership early on in my career. I also thought that my father’s habits were just normal: the way he ran the bee business, fixed his own trucks, custom designed the machines he needed, and then built them himself. So that’s how I approached the world; if there’s a problem, you overcome that problem and just get on with it.”

Martin utilizes that leadership and passion for others every day at his company, Valens Point, where he is the president and co-founder. Valens Point, founded in 2007, is a consulting firm focused on providing business management consulting and exit strategy planning for small business owners.

When Martin and partners Debra Mendes and David Smith decided they wanted to buy and run their own company, they initially went out looking for a small business that they could take over and improve. What they found was that small business owners had trouble understanding the value of their companies. There was a big gap between what people thought the value of their business was and what a third party would think

that value would be. Martin and his partners realized that they could fill that gap and Valens Point was born.

After graduating high school, Martin attended Rhodes University in South Africa where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Commerce. Martin performed computer science related jobs at the college and helped with research for some of the professors. Then during his summers he would work as a clerk in an accounting department, but his experiences there were surprising to him.

“Because of my father’s work ethic, I had no concept of a 9-5 job. The first job I took in college was a clerk in an accounting office for a paint company.

When 5:30 PM came everybody stopped and went home and I didn’t understand why. We had things to do; we were in the middle of things. I didn’t understand why everyone had stopped.”

After college Martin served in the South African military where he completed two years of service becoming an officer in the process.

During this time Martin was involved in top-secret operations, working as the head of his electronic warfare station.

Once his two-year term was over, Martin went to work at one of the mining companies in South Africa.

There he helped identify and solve a particularly trying technical issue for the company related to regulatory reporting required by the Inspector of Mining Leases.

The application the company had in place for tracking and reporting that information was over-complicated and inefficient.

Martin spent several months working on the issue, but soon realized that the underlying approach to solving the problem was flawed. So he rewrote the entire system. What had taken the company over eighteen months to build and countless man-hours, he replaced within three months, reducing the size of the application to about a tenth of its former size and substantially improving the applications functionality.

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“My philosophy is that, at the end of the day, our starting point should be, ‘yes we can and will find a way to do things’. The fact that it looks like you can’t is absolutely irrelevant in terms of solving the problem.

It’s just a matter of figuring things out.”

Martin met his wife while they were both in college and they married during his second year in the military. Describing marrying his wife as the single best decision of his life, Martin wanted to support her dreams when she won a scholarship to attend The University of Cambridge, so they packed up and headed for England. Work permit requirements turned out to torpedo hopes of Martin working in England, so he looked elsewhere.

When he received an offer to work for three months in the U.S., Martin and his wife decided that it would be a good opportunity for him.

“The thought was that I would work in Texas for three months, then go back to Cambridge and finish out the year with my wife and then take a brief tour of Europe and go back to South Africa.”

That thought didn’t quite pan out though. After some initial difficulties, Martin ended up being rather instrumental in redesigning the City of San Antonio’s 911 emergency response dispatch system.

Three months turned into six months and six months turned into a year before they finally decided to return to South Africa. At that point Martin was offered a management position in Denver that was too good to turn down.

So Martin and his wife moved to Denver, where he started his climb up the corporate ladder, eventually achieving overall responsibility for all Professional Services in the U.S. and Canada for Software AG. It was here that Martin met and worked with his

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soon-to-be partners. Connected by camaraderie and good understanding of one another, there was an entrepreneurial air about them which naturally propelled them towards business ownership.

“I grew up in an entrepreneurial environment and so did my partners. We all have a passion to help others and in particular to help business owners get more value out of their businesses.”

Martin has his own personal reasons for wanting to help his clients with their exit strategies.

“When my father came to transition out of his business, he didn’t have resources that could’ve helped him in any meaningful way through the transition. It didn’t go as well as it could have and I just think that, if you’ve worked a lifetime and built a business, it should go well at the end, when you come to transition out.”

Martin’s advice for recent college graduates is to be courageous and bold and do things that are hard for you – this will lead to great success.

“The obvious paths are not the only paths,” he continues, “You can, if you apply your mind to hard problems, or things that seem insurmountable, come up with solutions that can make a difference. Spend the time. Don’t jump to the first solution. There could be better solutions. The obvious ones are not necessarily the right ones.”

A born leader with a passion for people, Martin Steinhobel is dedicated to finding the right solution for the problem, especially when others have tried and failed. A creative, out-of-the-box thinker whose talents for new ideas and determination are only shadowed by his successes, Martin is an expert at challenging the insurmountable. With a passion to help people see their everyday world in a better way, Martin has met that challenge and proved the victor.

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Rose Wang Beholding the Mountain In the spring of 1989, Rose Wang stood in solidarity with her student colleagues in Tiananmen Square, part of a massive protest to campaign for economic liberalization, political reform, and freedom of the press in Beijing, China. A daughter of college professors who had academic tours outside of China, Rose had been exposed to these Western, liberal values, and had made them her own. “When my sister and I were in middle school,” she remembers, “our parents sat us down and told us that the future was not there in China. They told us what the world was really like, and that one day we, too, would be able to see it for ourselves.”

In a sense, that experience was akin to one of Rose’s favorite Chinese proverbs.

“When you’re in the mountain, you can’t see shape of the mountain,” she explains.

“But when you leave the mountain, you can see it from a distance and behold its true form. It’s about getting perspective, and that’s what my parents were trying to impart to my sister and I that day.”

Her parents tried to dissuade her from putting herself in danger as part of the Tiananmen Square protest, but as a friend of several in the student leadership of the protests, and instilled with the values her parents had taught her, Rose felt it was her duty to be a part of the movement. Thankfully, when the People’s Liberation Army moved through the city on June 4th, using live fire to quell the protest and killing hundreds if not thousands of civilians, she was able to escape to her family’s home unharmed. Some of her friends, however, were not as fortunate.

Staying calm and beholding her problems from afar instead of getting lost in them, Rose spent the next few days following traces of spotty information to learn that one friend had been injured by a stray bullet, and another had been killed. A third dear friend of hers who was among the leadership of the movement disappeared entirely for weeks before turning up suddenly at her doorstep, announcing that he intended to turn himself in. Rose eventually helped him settle in the D.C. metropolitan area, and the two of them remain

close friends today. Now the founder and CEO of Binary Group, a technology solutions and management consulting firm offering solutions and services to the Federal Government in the financial management, cyber security, intelligence community, and health markets, Rose has remembered the value of objectivity and perspective from those early days and continues to apply those skills to help her business flourish.

Indeed, the mountain proverb has always served her well, especially as she transitioned from China to the U.S. “As students and intellectuals,” Rose says, “the values we fought for had always been our values. After finishing my bachelor’s in China, I brought those values with me when I came to the United States the following year, in 1990.” Eleven years later, after finishing graduate school in Texas, an adventure with a cuttingedge Silicon Valley start-up, and a couple entrepreneurial misfires, Rose woke up on the bright and clear morning of September 11, 2001. A few hours later, she found herself reliving the heart-wrenching experience of pursuing any lead she could find to discover if her loved ones were safe.

“It took me three hours to locate my cousin,” Rose says, “who was working for a Wall Street firm at the time. I also had a relative who worked at the Patent Trademark office in Crystal City, who saw the plane slam into the Pentagon. Yes, that day had a big impact on me.” It wasn’t only shock and fear that she felt, however. Rising above the terror, she felt the resonance of those values she had put her own life in danger to protect years ago—the values that had never left her.

“I remember that night very well,” she reports today.

“There was so much talk of failed intelligence, and a failure to share information effectively. I knew I had technical expertise, and that there was something important I could do with it. I knew I had to help— there was no excuse not to do something. It reminded me of being on the streets in Beijing back in 1989.”

That “aha” moment of realization was like water and sunshine arriving to nourish the seed of

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entrepreneurship that had been first planted in Rose years earlier, when she was working in Silicon Valley, California. Recently out of graduate school after earning her degree in computer science, Rose was recruited to write software for a start-up called Lighthouse Design.

“I feel very fortunate for having had the opportunity to work there,” she affirms. “It was a classic Silicon Valley start-up success story. Everyone was under 30, and we worked very long, but very fun hours. We logged about eighty hours a week, but we had a masseuse come in once a week, and no one but the sales guy wore a suit.

Our CTO didn’t even wear shoes!”

Around this time, Rose was sponsored for US citizenship and earned her green card. When the product she was lead engineer on went beta in early 1996, it was a great success in its technological niche, and she began to receive calls from recruiters. Lighthouse wasn’t for sale at the time, but after receiving a series of bids, it was eventually acquired by Sun Microsystems in the middle of that year for $50 million.

At first excited to be a part of such a large company, complete with stock options and vacation time, Rose soon felt the shock of moving from the start-up environment to that of a large corporation. A moment of realization came to her while sitting in an HR meeting in which she was treated as just another cog in a bigger machine. “I remember thinking very distinctly that, to this company, I was not even a number,” she recalls. “I was just part of a salary band. I walked out, and I realized that I was done with it. I wanted to be in control of my own destiny—that concept is at the root of why I’m an entrepreneur today.”

With that, Rose launched Binary Group and began working for herself, exploring the possibilities that various pieces of software presented. “You can’t help but get caught up in the excitement of using technology to solve problems,” she gushes, remembering that time.

She put the fledgling company on hold for a short while, however, when she was recruited by a friend to work on a tech start-up in Northern Virginia, where she helped to construct a Java design tool to sell to corporations building web-based enterprise applications.

Because she was brought on the team as a senior developer and early investor, she had the opportunity to travel extensively with management, lending her a high degree of exposure to the business side of the company.

Experiencing both the good and bad decisions of the company leadership, Rose began to take an interest in business management herself. She began asking more questions of her colleagues, fleshing out her knowledge and honing her skill set. Ultimately, she realized that 150

her own business instincts and common sense, while undeveloped and unpracticed, boasted an innate strength and vivacity, and it was time to invest herself fully in their pursuit. “After that realization, I walked away from that company in early 2000 to start my own dot-com,” she affirms.

At a women’s leadership conference the year before, Rose had met two ladies in their fifties who were savvy in business but unfamiliar with the kind of technology Rose was building her career around. Together they embarked on a venture to build a technology company near the peak of the dot-com bubble, incorporating in Delaware and developing a prototype of their product.

Then, one day in April of 2000, Rose and her partners began a presentation to venture capitalists on K Street in Washington, DC. “There I was,” Rose says, “pitching this great idea we had. I was running our audience through a little demo when I realized that the head gentleman we were meeting with was extremely nervous. He kept checking his blackberry. Then someone came in and gave him a note, and suddenly he stood up and told us that he had to stop the meeting. The NASDAQ had just crashed spectacularly.”

Ultimately, the business failed, but instead of quelling the entrepreneurial drive in her, the fire was actually fueled by the experience. “I thought to myself, well that was awful,” Rose remembers. “But it was a lot of fun, too! It didn’t work in the end, but it was fun trying to make it work. That’s when I really got the bug.”

By the end of that summer, Rose was determined not to go back to mere coding. Instead, she was fully committed to the goal of building a business. Just a year later, in September of 2001, Rose’s sense of duty in the wake of the September 11th tragedy dovetailed with her surging passion for entrepreneurship. Knowing what she needed to do, she resurrected Binary Group and entered the government space as an IT consulting and advisory group. After a few years of developing and honing Binary to the emerging trends in federal government IT needs, the small company emerged in 2006 as an Inc. 500 rated company, ranked 114th overall and fourth of nineteen in defense contractors.

Since that time, Binary has gone through several transitions to stay on the cutting edge of IT trends, which has presented a number of challenges to Rose’s business sense and leadership ability—challenges she has been eager to meet. At the outset of 2012, for example, Rose began transitioning the company away from its status as purely an advisory firm to begin providing both advisory and technology solutions. “This recent change in our business model was met by employees with

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

applause,” she reports. “In the past, transitions Binary has gone through have been challenging, but now with our aperture opening up, my employees and I feel that there are more opportunities for potential growth.

We are a nimble company, and we’ll change with the market.”

Though she speaks like a seasoned entrepreneur today, her innovative skill set and knowledge base are the products of thoughtful cultivation and years of experience. “When I first realized that I’d caught the entrepreneurial bug,” Rose says, “I just read everything I could get my hands on. I have also been very blessed to have several important people lending a hand and mentoring me along the way. These lessons helped me build on my early passion to control my own destiny, helping to turn that passion into a great success story in which I’ve been able to meet the challenges I’ve had to face. It’s been a truly incredible journey.”

Several lessons came from one individual in particular, Clara Conti, who taught Rose how to shift her introverted tendencies outward on command to turn her into a networker as effective and magnetic as she is sincere and genuine. She also learned crucial components of her business savvy from a business owner named Jean Woo. “At the time I was introduced to her, Binary was subcontracting,” Rose recalls. “She asked me if I wanted to subcontract all my life, or if I

wanted to become a prime contractor. I told her I didn’t see the problem with subcontracting, but she pointed out that it prevents one from having control over one’s own destiny. Boy, that was definitely a trigger for me!

Considering the fact I was drawn to entrepreneurship in the first place because it allows one to shape one’s own future, I knew I couldn’t settle for less than that.”

These are just a few of the many people Rose has drawn guidance and inspiration from throughout her career, and today she continues that pursuit of growth and knowledge as a member of Vistage International, an executive coaching and peer advisory group for CEOs. “My decision to stay with Vistage stems from that same Chinese proverb that has helped guide my life all these years,” she explains. “Sometimes, as a leader, when you have an issue or a problem, it’s difficult to identify its true shape and nature. By stepping away from your business for a while and collaborating with a group of CEOs of similar-sized businesses, you have the opportunity to behold the mountain from an objective, realistic point of view—one that allows you to conceptualize of it in its entirety, and to better come up with a solution.” By being mindful to always seek a clear, objective, realistic perspective, Rose has built success in both good times and bad, and young entrepreneurs entering the business world today can hope to do the same if they, too, seek to behold their mountains.

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Andrew Watt Amplifying Impact Andrew Watt was 21 years old when he first learned what a dollar was truly worth.

He had been asked to serve on the Board of a family foundation because, at the foundation’s inception, it had set a requirement that a family member under the age of 30 must be sitting on the board at all times.

When the position opened up, the chair sought out Andrew.

“They were operating on 300,000 pounds a year, which was just enough to provide significant leverage if properly used,” Andrew reminisces today. The foundation was dedicated to improving social conditions through education, and Andrew and his colleagues worked with the UK government to achieve changes in organizational policy.

“It taught me that money isn’t just a commodity,” he reflects. “I realized that a dollar isn’t a dollar, it’s what you can do with a dollar. It represents what you can bring in on the back of that dollar to apply to a particular purpose.

That’s as true in philanthropy as it is in running a business or anything else—it’s about the leverage you get from capital. Through that experience, I began to understand very clearly the power of the change associated with philanthropy.”

Now the President and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), a nonprofit association committed to advancing the effectiveness of fundraisers for nonprofit organizations around the world, Andrew doesn’t just amplify resources for his clients in an economic climate where resources are getting harder to come by—he amplifies impact.

AFP was founded in 1960 as the National Society of Fundraising Executives but warranted a name change as it cultivated an international identity and became a vital fundraising resource to the nonprofit community on a global scale. It currently has almost 240 chapters spread across the North American continent, with additional chapters in Singapore, Hong Kong, Cairo, and Jakarta, and a network of around 30 sister fundraising associations around the world. Every

chapter is driven by its volunteers, and taken together, they form a network of highly dedicated individuals who have a deep sense of what they’re trying to achieve through their association with AFP and within their own professional community on the ground.

“Today, AFP is focused on four key objectives,” says Andrew. “We support the growth of networks of fundraisers. We provide them with the tools and information they need to do their job effectively, including education and research. We provide them with an ethical framework with which to operate. And finally, we speak on their behalf in the public space through advocacy and lobbying. We deliver these things now through a network of partnerships and collaborations, thinking much more like a nonprofit ourselves and much less like a trade association.”

Just like any professional, fundraisers need continuing education to keep up with new developments in the field, and large employers like the American Red Cross and UNICEF subcontract that education to AFP. “We help them ensure that their staff is professional, familiar with current trends, educated, and able to apply that education to their role,” says Andrew. Other large clients include developing countries that look to the organization for the education and intelligence critical in developing strong, effective fundraisers and supporting philanthropy and social impact. “Our business is capacity-building, supporting the structures that ensure our clients can deliver effectively on the cause they’re dedicated to,” he says. “We invest in professionalism, education, learning, and frameworks that allow fundraisers to achieve their objectives faster, more effectively, and more efficiently.”

Smaller clients and individuals turn to AFP for additional needs. They’re often very isolated, so in addition to education and training, AFP provides contract templates and legal advice, as well as an invaluable network of peers. “There are many other professional societies and associations in the

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fundraising world, but they’re all specialized,” Andrew explains. “AFP is unique in that we’re a generalist. Our membership spans the gamut, and as such we’re the only organization in the United States with national coverage.”

The value of this unique position was emphasized when Andrew analyzed AFP’s membership statistics just after the financial crisis hit in 2008. This analysis revealed that AFP’s highest area of membership retention was clients who had professional memberships with other organizations as well. “At a time when their budgets were being drawn in, they chose to retain us as a second professional membership in addition to a more specialized professional membership,” he details. “The reason the access AFP affords to other members in other specializations. People know they need to be familiar with developments in the market outside of their own specialized area because they can bring those innovations to their own workplaces and apply them to their own field.

“It was the first time in many years that you saw professionals in fundraising in the U.S. thinking laterally, having to be creative, nimble, and flexible and having to look outside of their own particular box in order to enhance the opportunities for success for their organization,” Andrew continues.

“As a foreigner, I would say that the rest of the world looks to the United States for professionalism. It’s looked to the U.S. to learn about annual campaigns, capital campaigns, alumni campaigns, and planned giving. But they haven’t been looking to the U.S. for originality, innovation, and cutting edge thinking around the fundraising process. In the last four to five years, however, those assumptions have been thrown to the wind because, in an environment like today’s, where government is cutting back on funding nonprofit activity, something has to take up the slack.

That something is fundraising. There’s been a renewed focus on creativity and innovation, and it’s a very exciting time to be involved in this particular field.”

Andrew may have officially started his career in fundraising in 2003, but he was primed for a career in philanthropy, leadership, and social impact from an early age. He hails from a long line of Nonconformists— people throughout the UK who, barred from public life because their religion did not permit them to pledge allegiance to a monarch who saw himself as the supreme ruler of the church, instead pursued success through trade, industry, business, entrepreneurship, and a rock-solid work ethic. Andrew grew up as a naval child in Northeast Scotland. Though the 154

Watt lineage had been in the book trade and owned a literary agency for many generations, his father instead enlisted in the Navy, while his mother raised the family. “We had modest means, but it was a good, solid upbringing,” he reflects.

Growing up in a rural community close to one of the best salmon rivers in the UK, Andrew and his friends had to make their own entertainment. “We would sail our boat, or we would go on expeditions through the countryside,” he remembers. “We had to be selfsufficient. I grew up knowing it was my responsibility to make sure I was doing things that interest me, and I that I couldn’t automatically depend on other people to further my development.” Along with this sense of self-sufficiency, however, Andrew was also taught to care for others. “My mother would put us outside the Post Office on pension day to collect money for children’s homes,” he laughs. “She also launched a food bank for street kids, insisting that her own children go out and ask people to contribute food. She would tell us what was needed and then send us out to get it without coaching us on how. That was something we were tasked with figuring out on our own.”

Andrew’s father was a typical Scot, reserved but with rock-solid principles. “You knew that, if he said something, he meant it,” he reflects. While his father tended to see things in black-and-white, his mother was more flexible, providing the oil that would keep the wheels of the family turning. “That generation didn’t wear their hearts on their sleeves the way we do today,” Andrew remarks. “You took what life dealt you and you made it work, and I’ve never heard my parents complain about anything. You learn the value of hard work, engagement, and honesty.”

Like most children in the area, Andrew went to boarding school from the age of eight, but was not truly transformed through education until he attended high school at Winchester College in England. “There, I learned how to think laterally,” he affirms. “I learned to be receptive to other peoples’ opinions and to believe in the value of my own. I learned true intellectual curiosity. We didn’t just look at events in history; we looked at the philosophy, politics, music, and art associated with those events. It pulled everything together and taught us to think horizontally and vertically. It taught us that the purpose of being in school wasn’t just assimilating facts, but actually understanding them, and recognizing the role of interpretation in those facts.”

Beyond expanding the capacities of his mind, Winchester was essential in defining Andrew’s

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

character as well cultivating in him a confidence in himself and his own capacity has never left him. “From that point in my life onward, I always felt comfortable engaging with people, and I’ve always been interested in what makes other people tick and what they bring to the table,” he says. “I’ve been able to facilitate people and bring them together, and the impact we create today through AFP links directly to facilitation. It’s about helping other people achieve impact.”

Though he had learned to take initiative and to take responsibility for his actions at Winchester, it wasn’t until he served the three year term on the board of the family foundation that he truly began to conceptualize his career path. Unclear on what exactly he wanted to do after that tenure ended he took a job in Brussels lobbying on behalf of the publishing industry. During that time, he was asked to work on a fundraising lobby as a volunteer, which he started off doing one day per week. “That marked my first time working for fundraisers, and as I assumed more and more work on that side, I found it infinitely more satisfying than what I was doing on the publishing side,” Andrew affirms. “In 1993, the director of the organization moved on, so they hired me to fill his public policy shoes. I never intended to end up where I am today, but it’s extraordinary how once you start working in the nonprofit world, it grips you to the point you can’t imagine working in any other field.”

During that time, Andrew also started working as a volunteer for Prince’s Trust, an organization dedicated to helping young people between the ages of 14 and 24 who had slipped through the cracks of society. “Our role as volunteers was to get one-on-one to mentor the children, understanding the environment they were operating in to help them get a foot up on the ladder,” he recalls. “It was a very difficult cause to sell to the general public because these were kids making trouble, so why would anyone want to support them?”

Prince’s Trust was actually very successful at corporate fundraising, however, pitching the case that if nobody was helping this demographic, the world would look infinitely worse. “Regardless of how attracted you were to the cause, you could see the social impact of the organization to achieve change in the system and care structure,” Andrew points out.

“That taught me a very valuable lesson—the value of making a case, and the impact fundraising really had. There was no way we were going to get that work funded through any avenue other than gifts. It was the first time I really began to wake up to the concept of fundraising.”

Thus ensued a career in fundraising that was not only transformative, but transcontinental. In addition to serving as the volunteer Overseas Member of the AFP Ethics Committee, he traveled back and forth to Washington, DC, working on projects with Independent Sector and the Urban Institute. He also worked on a project examining corporate social responsibility that was jointly run by the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, the UK Treasury, and the United States Treasury Department.

With his ability to bring an international perspective to U.S.-based programs, Andrew was offered several fixed-term contracts in the states and began seriously considering relocating to Washington to work in public policy.

When the previous CEO of AFP caught wind of this consideration, the organization created for Andrew the new role of Vice President of International Development, which was charged with the conceptualization of a global platform and the achievement of the cultural change within AFP that would allow them to operate more effectively on that platform with the backing and support of their membership. After serving in that capacity for 18 months, a management restructuring made him Chief Programs Officer, responsible for the core activities of the organization. Things then slowed down during the Great Recession, but in 2010, Andrew threw his hat into the ring for President and CEO—the first time he interviewed for a job in his entire career. It was his hat that was picked.

“In 2004, when I was first asked to think about coming to AFP, I wouldn’t say this was the route I was envisaging we would take,” Andrew explains. “But I will say that it was the capacity for AFP to go in this direction that attracted me. It had a global mission and the potential to do extraordinary, original work.

I knew that, if things went in the direction I hoped, it would be an organization I could stay with for a long time. It was worth the risk of uprooting my family and bringing them to the U.S. on a visa. The last 18 months have been the most professionally exciting and rewarding of my career. It’s one thing to be in a position of coming up with and framing proposals; it’s quite another to be in a position to say yes to a proposal and see it moving forward in a timeframe you’re enabling yourself.”

In advising young entrepreneurs entering the business world today, Andrew emphasizes that it doesn’t matter what one’s first several jobs are, so long as the focus remains on building translatable Andrew Watt

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strengths. “What you’re trying to get is an ability to build your skills and operate in a team environment,” he points out. “Employers want to see the ability to follow something through, to work with a group of people, and to take on the responsibility of leadership.

Many of the things you do that you don’t think are relevant to employers are actually very relevant. If you sailed around the world with a crew of diverse individuals like my niece Henrietta did, put it on your resume. Those kinds of things portray leadership and

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the ability to work with a diverse group of people under extremely stressful circumstances, which are extremely marketable skills.”

Beyond this, Andrew’s work reflects the importance impact—not only as it relates to oneself, but also to other. “I think great leadership is in part helping other people realize their best potential,” he affirms. Like the whole is larger than the sum of its parts, the impact of any one person is amplified exponentially when they take the time to help others along the way.

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

Brian Wynne Thinking In Another Language Each morning, Brian Wynne, President of the Electric Drive Transportation Association, winds silently down the streets of his neighborhood as he drives to work. Though he leaves before most people wake up, he never worries about disturbing his neighbors. His car, an Extended-Range Electric Vehicle, drives completely silently, utilizing electric drive technology until the battery is depleted, at which point the combustion generator kicks in to recharge while still in motion.

“They are so much more efficient, but we have to get people off the notion that they’re glorified golf carts,” Brian explains.

“There’s a real socialization process in getting people to see something in a different way. There’s a shift in mindset that must occur for people to appreciate silence over the roar of an engine, for example. It’s like getting them to learn another language. But once people get used to the new experience, they’ll never go back to traditional combustion-engine vehicles.”

The Electric Drive Transportation Association was founded as a collaborative effort between the automobile and utility industries in 1989 to promote electric cars in response to the oil crises of the 1970’s. “Things were starting to turn back to the grid,” Brian explains. “It stands to reason that electric motors are better than combustion engines from an efficiency and power-to-wheel point of view, and they always will be. Electric cars have always existed, and actually made up the majority of the vehicles in the market at the turn of the last century. They were sidelined, however, due to their inability to carry energy with them. Petroleum and gas won because they make for very energy-dense fuel that’s easy to transport, so we’ve built our transportation system around that. But now we have a transportation system that is a slave to the monopoly of fuel, and that’s a threat. It’s time for a new identity.”

For years, the government has been searching for the solution that can displace oil in order to provide

sustainable fuel that America can supply itself.

Electricity fits this bill in that it can be created from multiple domestic resources, including coal, wind, solar, geothermal, and natural gas. Thus, while the oil industry continues to control the marketplace, considerable advances are being made in battery technology, and while that technology has not yet achieved the energy density of traditional fuel, electric motors far surpass their oil-guzzling counterparts in terms of efficiency. With that in mind, the Electric Drive Transportation Association originally set its sights on creating electric cars, but have since refocused on advancing electric drive technology. The science is used not only in electric cars, but also in plug-in hybrids and rangeextended vehicles like the one Brian drives.

The Association, which provides solutions that land at the intersection of energy, environment, and transportation, has helped to put in place most of the current federal policies that promote electric drive technology in the market today. It has a diverse membership base that includes manufacturers of automobiles and batteries, energy suppliers, Lithium miners, and small company owners looking to advance their business models.

Brian heard about the work being done at the Association and was fascinated with the technology, leading him to apply for the position of President in 2004. “I’ve always promoted technology in the marketplace,” he says. “True technological innovation has the power to change the backbone and infrastructure of the way our society consumes energy, and that’s what really drives me. That’s why the electric drive technology hooked me. It’s a solution crying out for a marketplace with the challenges we’re facing today in the areas of emissions and the environment, not to mention the billions of dollars flowing out of this country every day to pay for foreign oil. It’s a solution that addresses our energy security in a way that promotes our national security, and it’s a solution

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that creates jobs.”

Before joining the Association, Brian spent the majority of his academic career and his early professional career absorbing foreign policy and geopolitics, which ultimately led him to where he is today. He grew up in the Binghamton area of Vestal, New York, and his father began his career in the steel industry before becoming an engineer for IBM. “He left the steel industry just before it started sliding into a really tight place, and I asked him how he knew to get out when he did,” Brian remembers. “At the time, the computer industry was at the bottom of the hockey stick, but all his friends from engineering school had gone to IBM and were doing very well, so he joined them, sensing computers would be the next big thing.”

As a young boy, Brian was a free spirit, roaming the town on his bike and always looking to see what was going on beyond the next hill. During his father’s tenure as a quality engineer at IBM, he traveled overseas often and sparked in his son a fascination in the world around him that extended far beyond the parameters of his hometown. He would read about international relations in newspapers and magazines, dreaming of one day becoming the Secretary of State.

In addition to this burgeoning interest in the way the world worked on a global scale, Brian played violin in the local Binghamton Youth Symphony and landed his first official job at age sixteen flipping hamburgers at McDonalds. After high school, he went on to attend the University of Scranton, where he earned a degree in history and economics under the assumption that his next step would be law school. Much to his parents’ dismay, however, he decided to study in Austria for his junior year, having been told by a professor that the only way to really get into International relations was to experience international cultures. “My father thought I was crazy,” Brian laughs today. “He told me that studying in Europe was for the high and mighty and rich, and asked what I thought I would learn over there that I wouldn’t learn here. I told him that I didn’t know, but I’d let him know when I got back. I was smart enough to at least acknowledge that I had no idea.”

His year in Austria proved to be extremely challenging, both financially and academically. The American dollar plummeted in value while he was there, leaving him so low on funds that he was forced to sell plasma at times. From a cultural standpoint, however, he found a new identity. “Up until that point, my surroundings had been essentially determined for me and provided to me, and like most people, I built 158

my identity around that. But being in Austria, I found that wasn’t actually who I was after all,” he comments.

“I learned not only to speak in another language, but also to think in another language. In different cultures, people don’t think the same way, so you can’t simply translate your thoughts. You have to learn to see the world in a new way and to think accordingly.”

Brian returned to the States to finish his last year of college, during which he began setting his sights on graduate school at the School of International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He missed the deadline to apply, however, and having lost his desire to attend law school, he spent the year after graduation working at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. During that year, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study the prospects of German Reunification under a prestigious historian in Cologne, Germany. “Everyone told me my research was going to be a waste of time, and that reunification would never happen in our lifetimes,” he recalls. “I was over there in 1981, and the wall came down in 1989.”

Upon completing his Fulbright research, Brian attained his master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and went on to start his career on Capitol Hill with the hopes of learning the political dynamic behind trade policy. He originally worked as an unpaid intern for Senator John Heinz’s staff, and then took a full-time position with Senator Charles Percy, then Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, doing international trade policy work. After Percy lost his seat, Brian went on to work as a trade policy lobbyist for the American Electronics Association.

“That began my socialization into the world of trade associations, building policies and representing them on behalf of the industry,” Brian explains. “Most of the job was to understand the industry and where it was going, and how to get these blood sport competitors to actually work together. In much the same way I learned to think in a different language in Austria, it’s about getting people on adverse sides to think in each other’s language. And that’s what I do today.”

After working for American Electronics, Brian was offered his first executive position at Automatic Identification Manufactures International, and from there went on to work for the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, a public/private collaboration. It was during that time that he encountered the Prius Hybrid and first became interested in advanced technology vehicles.

When the search for a new President of the Electronic Drive Transportation Association was

Profiles in Success: Inspiration from Executive Leaders in the Washington D.C. Area — Volume 5

announced, Brian decided to jump in. The honed expertise he had acquired in the industry paired with his broad knowledge of international markets to make him a prime candidate, and in 2004, he landed the position.

Under Brian’s leadership, the organization has successfully transitioned from a coalition to a trade association, while also restructuring their board and changing the way the organization is governed. As the chief guide through those changes, Brian also sought to focus the value proposition on federal policy lobbying. “I approached it from the standpoint that most good trade associations take,” he comments. “You get people together and determine what the consensus is, and you lobby for that. You don’t lobby for what the big dollars want; you lobby for what everybody wants.

And since we’re a community of around a hundred diverse interests working together, I think we’re at an advantage. Consensus, for us, is the product of a wide range of stakeholders voicing their concerns, not just the product of a select few. The things we lobby for are more representative of the industry’s best interests as a whole.”

This style of leadership—one that is consensusdriven, ethical, and committed to innovation—is not a stagnant artifact of the past. Rather, it has evolved dynamically throughout Brian’s career. “My enthusiasm for these cars and this technology has to be balanced with a sense of humility,” he affirms.

“What we are doing here as an organization and a community is going to take such a long time that we don’t always know how to get from point A to point B. It’s an evolving effort—one in which we must remain flexible and responsive to what we see around us.”

In order to lead such an effort, Brian focuses on the mission, which keeps his team cohesive, streamlined,

and certain. With this in mind, he advises young entrepreneurs entering the business world today to think big, and to never do it alone. “Success and business is a team sport,” he says. “That’s why I love associations. You get people who don’t typically work together, synchronize their voices so that the message is louder, and make something significant happen.”

Today, Brian sees no end for his time with the Association. “The mission I’m working on with my members is not short term. It’s going to take a while, but I’m ready for that,” he acknowledges. “This mission is for America, as well as the entire world. I have contacts all over the world promoting this technology.

It’s a global phenomenon, and I want America to lead it.”

As of now, Brian sees the future resting in the expansion of battery capacity, and in finding new ways to charge an electric car while it’s in motion. European cities, for instance, are currently investigating new ways to put electric fuel into the road, which could open opportunities for electric cars that include such innovative concepts as getting a charge at a red light.

“Civil engineers are really starting to think about this,” Brian explains. “They know how to build a road, so now they need to figure out how to put electricity in that road.”

As with any innovative leap forward, such advancements will inevitably come from learning, and thinking in, another language—one that sounds foreign at first to our oil-fluent ears, but becomes familiar with enough practice. As Brian continues to teach the world the language of electric drive technology, and as society develops new capacities that allow it to think accordingly, so too can any individual learn a new way of thought that opens the door to new identities and new possibilities.

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Pvt. Jonathan Lee Gifford was the first U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. He was killed just two days into the war on March 23, 2003. Spc. David Emanual Hickman was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on November 14, 2011. The Washington Post on December 17, 2011, said Hickman “may have been the last” U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. After reading an article about Gifford and Hickman my sister, Gloria, was inspired to write the following poem.

From Gifford to Hickman

By Gloria J. Bernhardt From Gifford to Hickman…and all those in between, You fought bravely amid chaos and dangers unforeseen.

Twenty-one guns have sounded, the riderless horse walks on.

Fond memories are remaining. A nation’s child is gone.

Sons and daughters; fathers, mothers -- broken hearts intertwined.

Hugs and kisses; their successes – major milestones left behind.

Your selfless gift -- a life laid down; for fellow soldier, family, land.

Duty called -- call was answered -- no greater love hath man.

“I’m getting taller. I lost a tooth. I got 100 on my test!

Miss your pancakes and your tickles, goodnight kisses were the best.

Who will answer all my questions now? I’ve important stuff to learn!

You said you had a big surprise on the day that you’d return.”

“I talk to you at bedtime -- after lights go out at night.

I told Jesus that I miss you…sure wish you could hug me tight.

When Grandpa says I look like you, Grandma starts to cry.

I’m mad that you’re not coming home…I need to say goodbye!”

From Gifford, to Hickman, through every soldier who has served, Liberty’s fruits are savored and freedom is preserved.

We live freely due to soldiers, willing to support and defend Our Constitution, our country -- against enemies ‘til the end.

Sons and daughters; fathers, mothers -- broken hearts intertwined.

Hugs and kisses; their successes – major milestones left behind.

Your selfless gift -- a life laid down; for fellow soldier, family, land.

Duty called -- call was answered -- no greater love hath man.

“I had a dream the night before…you smiled and walked on by.

When I awoke, I thought it odd…it seemed like a ‘good-bye’.

I couldn’t put my finger on the dark cloud that remained, When the phone began to ring…I knew my life had changed.”

From Gifford to Hickman

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“I questioned God, ‘Why MY child? Why do I have to lose?’

I imagined His response would be ‘If not your child, then whose?’

Your bright life flashed too briefly… seems He only takes the best.

I’m thankful for the time I had. For that I’m truly blessed.”

From Gifford to Hickman and every warrior who has passed, The price you’ve paid bought freedom, but will we make it last?

Your last breath drawn for citizens in this country and abroad Are we worthy of such gifts is known only but to God. Sons and daughters; fathers, mothers -- broken hearts intertwined.

Hugs and kisses; their successes – major milestones left behind.

Your selfless gift -- a life laid down; for fellow soldier, family, land.

Duty called -- call was answered -- no greater love hath man.

“My world stopped spinning…I couldn’t breathe! Lord, how can I go on?

My days are all one midnight…but they say it’s darkest ‘fore the dawn.

I can hear you say, ‘I’m proud of you! I know that this is hard.’

What do I do without you here? What dreams do I discard?”

“I miss your laugh. I miss your smell. I even miss our fights.

No more messes. No embraces. It’s more ‘real’ late at night.

I saw you in a crowd today; but you vanished in the throng.

Wishful thinking changes nothing! I know my “rock” is gone.”

FOR Gifford, FOR Hickman…FOR all the fallen in between, You’ve trudged through shadowed valley and joined heroes’ ranks unseen.

Upon freedom’s altar, we sacrificed our daughters and our sons.

Empty boots stand at attention. The flag is folded. Your mission’s done.

© 2013 Gloria J. Bernhardt. All Rights Reserved.

Reprinted by permission.

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