FALL 2014
D I V E R S E
CEO premiere issue
The Magazine for Diverse Management Professionals
Returning Veterans: Pre-Trained Talent Pool for Employers
ALSO INSIDE What Will China Do for Your Business? New Silver Line Moving Tysons Corner Toward Its Future Finding Your Professional Zen Through Yoga
Abbey Commercial Flooring YOUR COMPLETE FLOOR COVERING RESOURCE WE COVER SPACES FROM 500 TO 1 MILLION SQUARE FEET
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SERVING GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS (GSA), COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS AND BUILDERS
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CONTENTS
22
10 Vol. 1, Issue 1
FEATURES 22 From the Battlefield
to the Boardroom: Hiring Returning Veterans
OUR COVER Photographed by Bob Cullen. Retired U.S. Army Major Dr. Frank Tucker is CEO of Vienna-based health information technology firm, MicroHealth LLC. He discusses the value of helping returning veterans join the civilian workforce in "Battlefield to the Boardroom."
Dan Harvey
A look at how employers can ease the transition into the civilian workforce for the 200,000 veterans retiring from military service each year—and why it's smart business to do so.
26 Workforce Diversity:
The Inclusion Advantage Dan Harvey
Diversity is more than a buzz-word, and these business leaders know it. Contractors like Lockheed Martin and Exelis equate a diverse workforce with being key to maintaining a competitive edge.
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EXECUTIVE PROFILES
10 N isha Sidhu: The Sweet Taste of Success at Co Co. Sala
14 I ntelvative & Hiren Patel: Making Money by Giving Back
20 IDL's Baly Ambegoaker: No Longer on Her Own
28 T ina Dante, CEO of The Metamorphosis Group, Inc: Trusted, Timely & Transformed
36 C vent’s Bharet Malhotra: A Dotcom Survivor Beats the Odds
42 V ivek Malhotra of VMD Systems: Controlling His Own Destiny
8
20
12
39
PLUS
DEPARTMENTS 8 Exec Tech
39 Legal View
We put five of the top note-taking apps to the test. Only one can come out on top.
China's new Trademark Law does more to protect intellectual property; but is it enough?
12 Executive Wellness Downward dog makes the corporate agenda, as companies embrace the restorative power of this ancient form of exercise.
16 Mind Your Money Plan fiduciaries must safely navigate the intricacies of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to minimize personal risk.
46 Getting There The Silver Line Metro brings Tysons Corner closer to its future.
6 From the Publisher 18 FedCocktail 32 Data File: Leveling the Field for Women-Owned Businesses
48 What’s Happening, Q4 Calendar
46
34 Hang Outs Entertainment and dining options abound at Iris Lounge in Tysons, where choice is king.
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 3
D I V E R S E
CEO TM
Publisher & Chief Executive Officer: Rick Khosla, rick.khosla@diverseceo.com
Editor-in-Chief: Emily Guerrero, emily.guerrero@diverseceo.com Design Director: Janelle Welch Photographs: Bob Cullen, Asim Siddiqui Event Director: Simo Benali Editorial Assistant: Carol Ozemhoya Contributors: John A. Frisch, Dan Harvey, Shefali Kapadia, Keith Loria, Misty Mealey, Ian Quillen, Jennifer Schaus, Mariessa Terrell Advertising Representative: Nicole Claiborne-Small 703-944-1276, ncsmall@diverseceo.com Sponsorship Sales: Faiza Imran, Fadwa Berouel, Abdelilah Bouasria Published by: REGA SOLUTIONS COMPANY 1818 Library Street, Suite 500 Reston, VA 20190 Tel 202.660.1441 Fax 866.235.1276 www.diverseCEO.com info@diverseCEO.com DiverseCEO provides diverse federal and commercial executives with the information, insights and strategies necessary to successfully navigate the complex world of federal and commercial business. All rights reserved. Materials may not be reprinted or reproduced without written permission.
Stay Connected! facebook.com/diverseceo @diverseceo linkedin.com/company/diversceo On the web at: diverseceo.com Share Your News Businesses...Send your news of hires, partnerships, promotions, acquisitions—any company milestones—to in@diverseceo.com for consideration of publication. Freelance writers...we are hiring. Please visit diverseceo.com for submission guidelines prior to pitching stories and to apply for open assignments in future issues.
Grow Your Business Business magazines are one of the few marketing mediums that are delivered to the desks of your target audience and viewed repeatedly by key decision makers, making print advertising an invaluable means to growing your business. Advertise with DiverseCEO and be part of the only publication providing executive-level coverage of the challenges and successes of the diverse leaders responsible for leveraging vehicles, certifications to fulfill the agency’s or company’s mission. As a DiverseCEO advertiser, you'll... Reach 60,000 readers
Deliver your message to the desks of diverse federal Build affiliation with a market-leading magazine Create solution awareness for your services Inspire thought leadership and audience
IT decision makers
engagement
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Our emphasis on diversity makes us LOCAL as well as GLOBAL. DiverseCEO Offers: n D iversity
policies of current administration n S mall Business Administration guidelines n D iversity conventions, dates & locations n Featured diverse companies n Small diverse businesses n 8(a), GSA compliance issues n Networking events n DiverseCEO magazine n Connection to chambers of commerce
“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.” —Jerome Kaplan, Esq.
onnection with other diverse C organizations n Access to socio-economic Fortune 500 resources n Yearly DiverseCEO Commerce Showcase n Educational seminars and courses n Yearly DiverseCEO Awards Gala n DiverseCEO Fortune 500 forum n Discounts to other organization memberships n
“Diversity: The art of thinking independently, together. A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom.” — Eugene Liu
“Diversity is especially crucial for innovation success. Bringing together individuals with diverse backgrounds, skills and perspectives accelerates trouble shooting and drives deep insights. I’m thrilled that DiverseCEO will serve as a resource for innovators today.” —Sarah Miller Caldicott
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 5
Publisher's Note A Celebration of Inclusivity and Innovation DiverseCEO has been a longtime coming. I have always been a connector, bringing people together to do business, share ideas and build their networks. Back in the late ‘90s my hometown of Kansas City was hit by massive layoffs and I wanted to do something to help people get back in the workforce. I launched Inspire, a nonprofit. Through it, I began teaching people “Sphere of Influence,” a technique for connecting with other professionals and creating mutually beneficial partnerships. Think LinkedIn, but offline and without the IPO. The last 25 years has seen a lot of my networking migrate online, and my involvement in the world of government contracting grow. As anybody familiar with contracting knows, this is an industry built on relationships. Connecting remains core to what I do. I even created a networking series for contractors, FedCocktail, bringing together hundreds of business leaders at a time to network in a relaxed atmosphere.. Still, I kept noticing a missing “connection,” a publication that highlights the talents, successes and challenges of diverse executives in the Washington, D.C. region. One that also could serve as a resource for these professionals, providing information that can support them in their continued growth around diversity and inclusion. And so I began nurturing the idea of DiverseCEO. I’d been around the magazine block, so the idea of launching a publication was not foreign to me. I launched my first magazine while in high school, selling out my advertising space in record time—to my father’s friends. More recently, I ran Washington Masala, geared towards D.C.’s vibrant South Asian community. So it was with great excitement and a sense of adventure that I pulled together some friends, colleagues and a crack publications team to bring my newest media vision to life. I invite you to delve into the results of these efforts, as you read the inaugural DiverseCEO. In it, you’ll find a celebration of innovation and inclusivity. Even our definition of diversity is inclusive. Ethnicity, physical abilities, sexual orientation, age, gender, belief systems...it’s the full palette of all of the unique traits and capabilities that make up the rainbow of humanity. I invite you to join us on this media journey, connecting executives across the Metro area and celebrating the diversity at the core of our region’s competitive advantage. You can also visit diverseceo.com and follow us on social media to view new stories, subscribe, share feedback and to learn about upcoming visibility opportunities. Welcome!
Bob Cullen Photography
Rick K. Khosla, Publisher & CEO rick.khosla@diverseceo.com 703-944-1276
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Software Development Project / Program Management Healthcare Mobile Technologies
Results, Excellence, Governance & Accountability. Over 20 + Years of experience
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EXEC
tech
TAKE NOTE Five Popular Apps for Organizing Your Thoughts By Rick Khosla
I
’ve spent about a year looking for a tablet that would work well for taking and organizing handwritten notes. My criteria included finding a device that would: • Not get confused by my palm resting on the screen while I'm writing. • Automatically show saved notes from Evernote, where I can edit further and have these edits show on the tablet (two-way synching). • Be able to search my notes for text that I hand wrote. The HTC Jetstream had these features, plus its
note taking and Evernote integration is the gold standard, but it was too expensive and too buggy for me. When the new Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 came out for $699, I decided to take a chance on it. Its 4.4.2 KitKat operating system, extended battery life and ability to remotely connect to computers separate the tablet from predecessors, but with a 12.2” screen, clearly, this is a case where size does matter. After my purchase, I downloaded some popular note taking apps in search of a winner. Here’s what I found:
LectureNotes (LN) To export to Evernote, you must do a “share” (on a multipage note) and then choose Evernote, creating a ZIP file. Or, if you open a note in LN and then go to the menu and choose “Export to Evernote,” it will export a multipage note to the default notebook in Evernote, with each page as a separate PNG file. It also lets you create folders and put notebooks under them—a feature Quill doesn't have as of press time. LN also has several features that are disabled by default. To enable them, go to “Menu” under “Settings” and uncheck “Hide Feature.” The feature icons will then be added to your toolbar. If you were to add all of the features, some would be squeezed off screen. One of the features that is pretty darn cool is layering. Once you turn on the layers icon, you can add, delete, merge and exchange layers. This is essential if you're going to do something such as edit the annotation on a photo. For instance, without this feature, to erase the annotation would also lead to erasing the part of the photo that is under the words. Surprisingly, the LN is missing the ability to enter typed text. Time will tell if that is a deal breaker or a sign of progress.
Quill I actually bought this app almost a year ago when I was trying out the original Transformer and the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The developer had
8 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
bought a Lenovo Thinkpad Touch and did an amazing job of whipping this app up from scratch to use on the device. It was not useful on my earlier tablets because they lacked a digitizing stylus. But now, a year later, the app has improved quite a bit and works really well with the new Note. My only nit so far is that, when you add a page to a note, then go back and view the notebook, it displays the pages in order of newest first. I would prefer to see them in the order that they were created. Quill also seems to have the best feature set for exporting notes. You can export them as vector graphics, so that they look clean with no pixilation no matter how large you may resize them. You also have control over the background or whether that is even included in the export. This is very handy if you're planning to print the note, avoiding a huge waste of ink when printing notes with colored backgrounds. Plus, Quill makes it very easy to send a multipage note to Evernote. You just go out to the notebook level and tap “Share to Evernote.” One click and you're done. The downside is that it goes to your default Evernote notebook, with no chance to configure the file for a different destination.
SNote SNote seems to be the best for actually writing notes. The handwriting-to-text feature seems to be very accurate, if still a bit clunky. For example, if you write a bit, then stop, it inserts the text. If you then write some more, the app inserts the new text right after the previous text, with no space. You can tap the button at the top to insert a space, but the extra step feels cumbersome. Also, there's no way to resize the page to be smaller than the screen, and when you're using hand-writing-to-text, it always puts a toolbar across the top. The result is that you cannot see the top part of the note 'paper' as you write. On the plus side, its shape matching is pretty cool and intrigues me as a software developer—a lot of times my notes involve drawing examples of screens; the matching
could come in handy for that. However, the “clunk factor” comes back into play: Switching from drawing shapes to writing text and back takes too many steps to be done efficiently. The stylus button is another challenge. If I press and hold it, the stylus stops doing anything. I want to make it switch to eraser mode when I'm holding the button down. Or for it to be configurable, so I can switch between regular drawing and the shape drawing tool, for example. Also, in SNote, I can print (or export), but I can't seem to do so without including the background. Additionally, I have a suspicion that the colored background makes the Evernote handwriting text recognition not work as well. Evernote seems to find handwritten words in my notes exported from Lecture Notes or Quill much more reliably than it does with words written in SNote exports.
Papyrus The ability to write a multipage note is wellimplemented. Papyrus has solid gesture support, and it lets you see the full “page” as you work and use your fingertip to erase. The stylus button is configurable. By default it puts you in “Select” mode for grabbing text to move, cut or copy. “Share to Evernote” works nicely, though it only appears to export as a PDF. This is problematic since, at least by my testing, you cannot get the Evernote handwriting search to match anything in the PDFs. That feature only seems to work for PNG files in Evernote.
Soonr Scribble Scribble seems to be focused on marking up existing documents, rather than creating handwritten notes from scratch. And you have to create a (free) online account to use it.
“Ultimately, the right fit will come down to how you plan to use your device.” And the Winner Is… My experiments confirm that there is no perfect note taking app. None of the tested apps export notes in Evernote's native format, meaning they can’t be edited in Evernote. Still, all of them are usable for taking handwritten notes and getting them out to an app (e.g., Evernote) that will let me keep my thoughts organized and easily accessible. Ultimately, the right fit will come down to how you plan to use your device. I also tried Writepad Stylus, TabNotes and PenSupremacy, but wouldn’t recommend them based on how most professionals use note taking software. *Disclaimer: Even though the reviewer is a software developer and self-anointed "Tech Freak," s ome reported lack of functionality in the reviewed apps may be the result of user unfamiliarity with the product. www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 9
EXECUTIVE
Q&A
sweet
Bob Cullen Photography
THE TASTE OF SUCCESS AT CO CO. SALA By Jennifer Schaus
N
isha Sidhu is co-owner of Co Co. Sala, a successful chocolate, coffee and cocktail themed restaurant, located at 929 F Street, N.W., in Washington, D.C.'s thriving Penn Quarter. Sidhu opened the doors in 2008 and brings a unique perspective and menu, which boasts a wide range of selections. Patrons include the pre-theater crowd, tourists,
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locals and late-night diners. Portions are generous yet still allow room for a sweet treat at the end, or even as the entire meal. The restaurant features a dining area, bar and executive lounge, as well as a rooftop patio, art gallery and courtyard that are available for rental. Over time, Co Co. Sala has grown to include a retail chocolate boutique next door and offers events such as pastry classes. DiverseCEO sat
down with Sidhu to discover the secrets of her sweet success.
DC:
Co Co. Sala is a well-known and respected entity in the Washington, D.C. food scene. What got you here?
NS:
My education and degree [are] in biomedical engineering. When my children were in pre-school, I was a stay-at-home mom. I then went to culinary school in Maryland at L’Academie de Cuisine, and became a pastry chef specializing in chocolate. During 2006-8, there were not too many trendy restaurants in D.C. I saw a need for late-night fine dining. I also wanted to follow my passion.
DC:
A background in biomedical engineering is not a typical path into this industry. Is there anything else that most people do not know about you?
NS:
I was previously a dancer. I also taught dance classes in college—ballet and jazz.
I met our chef, Santosh Tiptur, in Phoenix, Arizona at a national pastry conference. He was working as the executive chef for The Ritz Carlton in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He also [had] worked as a corporate chef for a cruise line. Something very rare in the industry is that Chef Tiptur is both a pastry chef and savory chef. This was so unique and I knew I wanted him. I then magically convinced him to come on board!
also won a “Best Brunch in the City” award.
builds the relationship with the customers. We have many loyal customers and followers.
school. Family comes first to me. When I am not working, I am with them. [But,] when I come into the business, it is like going on vacation because I enjoy it so much.
DC: NS: In the beginning, it was difficult being a woman and being taken seriously. That has
What challenges have you faced, and what triumphs?
been overcome and we are successful. The biggest triumph was not about the size of the business, but more for me about sharing what I love with others. Sometimes I sit in the restaurant unbeknownst to patrons and watch for their facial expressions after they take a bite. That is great satisfaction!
DC: DC: Word of mouth, recommendations and an online presence are crucial in the restaurant NS: Everything is made here onsite from industry. How have you leveraged these tools in scratch. You can order a five course meal of such a data-driven and electronic world? just desserts. All of the art you see here in the restaurant is edible. We offer chocolate classes NS: We were one of the first restaurants DC: What do you do when you are and chocolate and champagne tastings. to use social media. Our social media manager We have a retail business and wholesale may find someone who is tweeting to a friend not working? chocolate business—both are growing success- about his or her birthday. When that person then fully. We have multiple local hotel clients in comes into the restaurant we welcome them NS: I have two children, a 17-year-old son the area and also in Times Square, New York. with birthday wishes. This makes it personal and and a 14-year-old daughter who are both in high
What makes your restaurant so unique?
We would never franchise. Everything is made from scratch and it’s hard to mass produce. We would consider another location in either Philadelphia or Miami.
DC:
You’ve so successfully blended ingredients and also personnel from diverse backgrounds. Tell us about this.
DC:
Your loyal customers reward you through repeat business and rave reviews on sites like OpenTable.com. Has there also been industry recognition?
What advice would you like to share with others starting a business?
year. Additionally, we have won marketing, lighting and also design awards for the space. We have
heart and the concept. Your brand should also reflect your integrity.
DC:
NS: We have won three RAMMY’s [from neurs. NS:FindAttend lectures for young entrepreNS: Our chef is Indian; the general manthe Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washsomething you are passionate about ager and manager are from Morocco. Everyington], including a pastry chef nomination this and find a way to make it work. Stay true to your one brings a little bit of their own culture to the Co Co. Sala family which makes us unique.
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 11
EXECUTIVE
wellness
YOGA ENTERS THE WORKFORCE
Employers Embracing Health, Productivity Benefits By Shefali Kapadia
O
f the Pentagon’s many secrets, one of the most surprising may be that yoga classes are offered at this military fortress on a regular basis. Jess Pierno, formerly a Department of Defense (DoD) employee, was one of the instructors during her time at the Pentagon, teaching a weekly lunchtime meditation and yoga class. “These people who are dealing with huge stressful issues take an hour for themselves, hit the reset button on their brains, and then go back out and deal with everything. They loved it,” said
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Pierno, who last year left DoD and opened Yoga Heights in the Petworth area of D.C. Many businesses in the D.C. area are taking advantage of yoga’s restorative powers, as they take a vested interest in how wellness classes can improve employee health, morale, productivity and relations.
Supporting Good Health The physical benefits of yoga are numerous. Among them, the American Osteopathic Association says, are improvements to circulatory health, metabolism, sleep and endurance.
“More and more companies are showing a dedication to their employees’ health and wellness, which is incredible.” —Catherine Zack, wellness director and senior manager, Flow Yoga Center
Yoga can also help to reverse some of the side effects of the modern workplace. “Staring at a computer all day, I think we naturally tend to hunch over, rounding [our] spine, instead of sitting up straight,” said Nanci Dodson, D.C./Maryland area manager of CorePower Yoga, a company with yoga studios nationwide. She said yoga practitioners become more aware of their posture, making a conscious effort to sit up straight throughout the workday. Seeing the potential benefits of yoga for office workers, many companies are hiring yoga studios to lead classes at the office, free of charge for employees. Angela Proudfoot, human resources director at the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board in Alexandria, Va., established a corporate yoga program there. The hour and 15 minute classes meet weekly at her office after working hours. Proudfoot herself first tried yoga four years ago, after determining that physical therapy was not improving a serious foot injury she sustained while skydiving. It will never heal entirely, but she said practicing yoga has drastically improved her balance, flexibility and mobility. She is even able to skydive and run long distances again. Aqeel Yaseen also found the benefits of yoga to be life-changing. When he first tried it, he was suffering from depression and weighed more than 300 pounds. Over the course of five years, yoga “helped me change my habits, and I lost close to 200 pounds,” he said.
Bringing Yoga to Employees Following this transformative experience, Yaseen got his yoga teacher certification and now teaches 18 classes each week. He teaches studio classes at Yoga District, and corporate classes at several area law firms and the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. “More and more companies are showing a dedication to their employees’ health and wellness, which is incredible,” said Catherine Zack, wellness director and senior manager at Flow Yoga Center in D.C.’s Logan Circle neighborhood.
Shefali Kapadia
Students at Flow Yoga Center in Logan Circle warm up with Downward Facing Dog. Lunchtime classes attract a number of executives on break.
Corporate yoga programs are also in place at the International Monetary Fund, the Kennedy Center, the Department of Justice and many more offices, Pierno said. The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services recently started a corporate yoga program through Yoga Heights. “The director came the first day and took class with everybody,” Pierno said. “He really led by example. He took off his shoes, rolled out his mat and participated with everybody.”
Building Bonds and Focus The example of that director is reflective of how yoga can lower barriers between executives and staff. “Sometimes a manager and someone reporting to them are practicing right next to each other, and it changes the dynamic of their relationship,” Yaseen said. Proudfoot agreed that the classes at her office feel like a “team-building exercise.” She added, “The people who come to that class on a regular basis really get to know each other on a completely different level.” She also said that her colleagues reported better concentration and productivity at work. Studies conducted at the universities of Illinois, California and Pennsylvania all found cognitive functioning improved after just one yoga class, helping to boost focus and memory. “A lot of times, we spend our time dwelling on something,” Zack said. “What yoga and meditation really helps us do is to stay focused inside the moment.” Proudfoot can relate. “I would go into stressful situations, and I would just breathe and remember some of the mantras that my
teachers would recite at the end of classes,” she said. “That for me was a complete 180.” A meditative state doesn’t come easily to everyone, though. Yaseen said every corporate class he has taught contains its fair share of skeptics. Yoga classes typically end with a 10-minute “savasana” (corpse pose) in which students lie on their backs with eyes closed in a state of deep relaxation. “It's very difficult for them to let go for 10 minutes,” Yaseen said, “because they think maybe they're wasting their time.”
Getting Yoga on the Schedule Time is of essence in the corporate world, and many executives complain that they don’t have enough to spare for daily yoga practice. However, given the benefits, it could be worthwhile to fit yoga in, even if it’s in small increments. Zack said lunchtime classes bring out the executives at Flow Yoga Center. She added that the studio is working actively to expand its corporate programs even further. As an alternative to office classes, some companies offer corporate yoga memberships. These partnerships provide employees with discounted rates on classes at a yoga studio. At CorePower, a number of executives use their corporate memberships to attend classes before and after work, Dodson said. When going to a studio class isn’t feasible, home practice is always an option. Yoga videos for every level of practice are easy to find online. “Just start by taking five minutes every morning,” Pierno advised. “You'll notice the changes, and you'll notice an increase in energy. And before you know it, you'll want to practice longer.” www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 13
&shaker
MOVER
INTELVATIVE: MAKING MONEY BY GIVING BACK By Misty Mealey
H
iren Patel doesn’t just worry about his own three children getting a good education—he worries about everyone else’s kids, too. Patel is the CEO of Intelvative, a company based in Fairfax, Va. that provides information technology (IT) services to federal clients. His real passion, though, is helping K-12 schools get new technology through creative financing projects. “We want to help schools tap into alternative revenue sources and get what they need without taking from the budget,” Patel said. “And we want to make money doing it.” For example, Intelvative might bring together a school and a wholesale distributor of school supplies.
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Patel explained the process: The school notifies parents to buy directly from the distributor, and in return receives a portion of the profits from these sales. It then uses the funds to buy new technology without having to dip into its budget. Intelvative gets a small portion of the profits, too, for setting up the funding project. But, Patel said, schools keep the lion's share of revenue--up to 90 percent. "We call it profitability through social responsibility," he explained. Intelvative is also working to supply technology solutions directly to schools. This summer, it launched a student management platform, Connectso.com, in a Pennsylvania school district. According to the website, Connectso offers more than 200 features for managing school functions, such as grading, food service and student records. The platform also incorporates the revenue sharing fundraising model through an online marketplace.
A Good Foundation
Bob Cullen Photography
Patel’s desire to give the next generation a leg up is a value he no doubt gleaned from his own family, which immigrated to the United States from India in the 1970s. His father worked long, hard hours to afford to bring his wife and two young sons to America, then went to night school to be trained as a electrical technician. Patel’s mother worked her way up from an assembly line job to working on fighter planes for a major defense contractor. “They used to say the only reason they came here and made all those sacrifices was so that my brother and I could have opportunities they didn’t have growing up in India,” Patel recalled. Their message resonated with Patel from a young age. Even as a kid, Patel was a born entrepreneur. “I’d buy bags of candy and sell the pieces to other kids for a quarter each,” he laughed. Patel added that he was always trying to outsell his peers during fundraisers and maximize profits at one of his many lemonade stands. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by business.”
later, he moved to Florida to strengthen the financial side of his uncle’s medical practice. He also worked to grow the practice by strategically marketing it through local media. But it would take a cross-country move to Los Angeles for Patel’s career to really take off. In 1999, he took a job working as a junior broker for Marcus and Millichap, a retail investment bank specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Patel was impressed by how the brokers approached each deal as if they were building their own business. “I’d watched these brokers convince clients to invest heavily in buildings and land development projects that they’d then turn around and sell for huge commissions,” he remembered. “It taught me how important it is to build a strong network and meticulously analyze the deal.”
a much larger government contractor that afforded him opportunities to manage larger contracts. From the company’s Maryland office, Patel spent the next two years managing contracts for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Army.
Moving Forward With more than two decades of business experience, Patel next decided it was time to strike out on his own and founded Intelvative in 2012. In addition to the education venture, he’s focused on program management, cyber security and system engineering for federal clients. The outlook is good—the company's revenue has increased 250 percent since its inception, he said. Long-term, Patel's got even bigger plans. “It’s a lofty goal, but I’d love to create a
“We want to help schools tap into alternative revenue sources and get what they need without taking from the budget.”
After getting engaged in 2000, Patel transferred to the company’s Washington, D.C. office to be closer to his family and his future in-laws on the East Coast. His timing was fortuitous; he’d arrived in Northern Virginia in the middle of the dot-com boom. “Everyone was doing IT, so I knew I wanted to do that, too,” he said. Patel quit his brokerage job, and spent the next year selling DSL (digital subscriber line) commercially. One day, while pitching his services, the prospective client surprised Patel by offering him a job. Amit Pamecha was starting his own IT business, and convinced Patel to come on board as his first sales and marketing director. Patel spent the next five years at Franconnect learning the ropes, which would serve him On the Fast Track well later when founding his own IT firm. Given his early entrepreneurial enthusiasm, By 2005, the tech bubble had burst and it's not surprising that Patel’s career path Patel moved over to a small boutique-style has been fast and furious. After college, he business that first exposed him to governlanded a job as an account executive with ment contracting. A providential meeting at Nationwide Bank in Atlanta. Two years a conference in 2009 then led to a job with
Google-style environment in the federal space,” he said. He envisions offering employees the kind of benefits that have made the media giant famous, such as onsite daycare, exercise equipment and family-first flexibility. While great benefits will attract talent, Patel believes it will be Intelvative's entrepreneurial culture that will keep employees working there. "If anyone has a great idea, I want to hear it," he said, pointing out that employees who feel supported are less likely to jump ship for a slightly higher salary. "I want our employees to make their mark within the company, instead of feeling they need to go outside of it to be innovative." As Intelvative grows, Patel hopes to loan his talent out to federal agencies, which rarely have the funds to create supportive environments that retain top employees. The plan would be for Intelvative employees to be contracted out to an agency while retaining all the benefits of their parent company. Clearly, a win-win for both, said Patel. www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 15
MIND
your money
TODAY’S RETIREMENT PLAN FIDUCIARY What Executives Need to Know to Minimize Personal Liability By John A. Frisch, CPA/PFS, CFP®, AIF®, PPCTM
I
n our experience, the typical employer sponsor for small and medium retirement plans subject to Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which includes 401(k) plans, is unaware of all that he or she must do to ensure regulatory compliance. And failure to comply with U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations under the ERISA could be considered a breach of fiduciary responsibility, which could create serious personal liability. What are the ramifications if an employer plan sponsor is ignorant of his or her ERISA requirements? The potential damage from noncompliance is significant, even if the damage is not willfully caused. Between 2009 and 2013, 70 percent of all plan audits conducted by the DOL
16 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
resulted in fines, penalties or plan repayments. In 2012, this cost the average fiduciary $450,000, with the DOL charging a total of $1.27 billion in plan restorations that year. And that’s only considering DOL audit activities. The word is out that there often is easy money to be had in plan participant, class-action lawsuits against plan fiduciaries and sponsors. Outcomes have varied but typically have resulted in companies settling for dollar amounts in the millions, along with written commitments to pursue lower fees in their negotiations with investment providers. Fortunately, retirement plan support systems and services to help 401(k) plan sponsors address fiduciary obligations have been increasing and improving. So, while it’s become more important than ever to ensure a plan is compliant with ERISA, it’s also become easier for smaller plans to delegate the responsibilities to experts. A secret to plan managment success begins with understanding this essential equation: ERISA Compliance = Process. This “success” is not measured by the performance of its investment selections or its plan participants, but rather by the plan’s fiduciary process, which should be justifiably constructed and well documented. ERISA requires plan sponsor fiduciaries to put participants’ interests ahead of their own, according to the following components. Fiduciaries must: •E nsure that plan participants pay only reasonable fees. •E stablish and demonstrate adherence to plan documents that are in accordance with ERISA regulation.
• Offer diversified investment options. • Act as an expert in selecting investment options or demonstrate prudent selection of an expert adviser to do the same. At a glance, each of these responsibilities might seem daunting for a small or medium company plan sponsor. ERISA understands this dilemma, which is why the regulation not only allows but strongly encourages plan sponsors to make hiring appropriate experts a key component of their processes. The key phrase here is “ERISA Section 3(38),” which provides that a registered investment adviser firm, insurance company or bank can take responsibility for the plan’s investment decisions on a fee basis (e.g., without the conflicts of a commission-based compensation model). With a written, legally binding agreement in place, these entities can fully take on the responsibility and liability for the most challenging of the plan sponsor’s obligations: to offer diversified investment options and act as an expert in selecting investment options. This leaves the plan sponsor with the more manageable duties of ensuring reasonable plan fees and documenting adherence to ERISA regulations. An important way to manage these remaining duties is by creating and maintaining a writ-
What are the ramifications if an employer plan sponsor is ignorant of his or her ERISA requirements? The potential damage from noncompliance is significant, even if the damage is not willfully caused. ten Investment Policy & Fee Statement to direct the investment managers on issues such as investment objectives and purpose, investment fiduciary roles, the decision to hire an ERISA Section 3(38) investment fiduciary (investment manager) and guidelines on acceptable fees. The investment manager should be able to help the plan sponsor in preparing the statement. Then the employer—with the help of the investment manager—should form a committee that ensures that the outside investment fiduciary is adhering to the plan’s written Investment Policy Statement. Additionally, the employer should confirm that the compensation paid by the plan directly or indirectly to its
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investment and service providers is reasonable. Retirement plans offer many advantages for employers and their employees. By adhering to prudent guidelines, plan sponsors stand the best chance for maintaining a long-term, viable plan that benefits the employer and employee alike. This article is excerpted from the white paper, “Today’s Retirement Plan Fiduciary: What Employers Need to Know to Achieve Plan Compliance and Minimize Personal Liability,” by John A. Frisch, CPA/PFS, CFP®, AIF®, PPCTM, founder and principal of Alliant Wealth Advisors. To obtain the complete white paper, visit alliantwealthadvisors.com/assets.
Spotlight Your CEO Do you know of entrepreneurs who stand out from the rest? We want to hear about them! DiverseCEO is seeking subjects for future Executive Profile; stories of successful business leaders in greater Washington, D.C. We want to spotlight diverse executives who have: • Inspired lifelong loyalty from colleagues, • Brought a new idea to market, • Revolutionized the way something “was always done,” • Overcame challenges and setbacks or • Achieved a high-level of industry recognition.
Call for estimates and to book a session with Asim Photography: 703-618-8288
To submit a candidate for consideration, visit diverseceo.com and look for the submission button under “Contact Us.” For questions, email info@diverseceo.com.
D I V E R S E
CEO
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 17
It's Back! FedCocktail Offers “Great Camaraderie” More than 125 professionals came out to Iris Lounge in Tysons Corner, Va. on Sept. 25 for FedCocktail, an open forum for government contractors to share ideas and build their networks in a casual setting. Sponsors included VMD Systems, REGA Solutions and DiverseCEO. "Not only was the venue great, but It gave me the opportunity to network with other business professionals and share experiences as well as explore how we may partner together," said Irish Britt of Irish Britt Consulting LLC. "We found that there was great camaraderie amongst the attendees and everyone was excited to connect and share information on their business offerings," Brenda Celdran of Worden Tech Solutions said. The next FedCocktail takes place at Iris Lounge, Nov. 20, 6-9 p.m. Visit FedCocktail. com to register and view sponsorship opportunities. $10 registration includes entrance, appetizers and drink specials.
18 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
Photos by Bob Cullen and Asim Photography
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 19
&shaker
MOVER
IDL’S BALY AMBEGAOKER No longer on her own By Keith Loria
E
ntrepreneur Baly Ambegaoker has had no one to answer to for two decades, and doesn't see that changing in the near future. Born in India, Baly Ambegaoker grew up in Chicago and watched as her parents worked long hours managing a Mr. Donut shop, and their work ethic seeped into her blood. “My heritage is very important to me; it has taught me family values and importance of hard work and dedication,” she said. “It has allowed me to draw from the best of both cultures, Indian and American.” One thing Ambegaoker always knew—she didn’t want to work for anyone but herself. She managed to be her own boss for most of her career, launching IDL Solutions Inc. with her then-boyfriend (now husband) Tony Ambegaoker in 1993, operating out of Wisconsin. “At first, we were an architectural firm, and offered computer consulting for the first two years,” said Ambegaoker, who received a bachelor's degree in architecture and industrial psychology from the University of WisconsinMilwaukee. “Once the Internet started evolving in 1996, we changed our focus to entirely computers and becoming an IT firm, as I started losing interest in architecture.” Eventually, IDL became 8(a) certified, a status which makes it easier for small, minorityowned firms to do business with the federal government. The company then successfully began pursuing government contracts. To better support its federal contracts, IDL opened an office in D.C. in 2002. The company soon became a leader in the federal contracting industry, winning many accolades including earning an SBA Business of the Year and a Metropolitan Milwaukee Associa-
20 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
tion of Commerce Future 50 Award. IDL also won seats as a prime contractor on many large government contracting vehicles, including CMS ESD, a $4 billion, 10-year IDIQ (indefinite delivery, indefinite quanity) contract.
Even CEOs Work for Others
Arlington, Va.-based contractor CACI acquired IDL in 2012; Ambegaoker remained until March 2014. She then went on to co-found CENTERPOINT, Inc. serving as chairwoman and CEO alongside co-CEO Ed Silva. “When we were going through the acquisition, I realized I had not worked for anyone in my professional career, and I thought I would never have to work for someone,” she said. “But then I realized, even as CEO of your own organization, while you don’t have an everyday boss per say, you work for your people, your clients and your organization.” CENTERPOINT provides federal government-tailored enterprise mobile solutions, cybersecurity lifecycle management and IT governance. The two partners look forward to working together. “I have known and worked with Baly for over 10 years. During this time, I have come to know her many attributes that I value in a
business partner: great leader (with a leadership style different from and complementary to mine), intelligent, confident, ethical, persistent, liked and respected by our peers, fun and one of the most trustworthy individuals I have ever known,” Silva said. “In essence, we have similar values, but different skills that complement each other’s.” Another way that Ambegaoker has always worked for others is as a champion for women in business. An active member of the National Association of Women Business Owners and Wisconsin Women’s Board of Directors, Ambegaoker has seen first-hand the stereotypes woman and minorities face in the business world. “When my business was just starting out, there was no such thing as a glass ceiling. I wasn’t seen as a threat, but as you start to expand and [are] getting into the boardrooms and climbing the ladder, it does exist—not just for women, but for minorities as well,” she said. “It’s important to stay positive and keep an eye on your objective and goals. I never opened up a conversation to a customer saying, ‘hire us because we’re small and woman-owned.’ I never wanted to compete like that. We are good at what we do and let our work speak for us.”
Back to What She Enjoys In her new role, Ambegaoker said she will be doing lots of marketing, business development and networking and looks forward to helping CENTERPOINT grow. It also leaves her more time to further her education. She’s currently pursuing her MBA at New York University (NYU). “With two CEOS, it’s interesting, because jointly we share a lot of the same efforts. For me, I am going to be going back and doing what I enjoy,” she said. “I like making new friends and talking to businesses about how we can help them. I like learning a lot and leaning about different agencies and areas.” Ambegaoker said that her business philosophy has been the same since she first opened up shop more than 20 years ago— “be passionate about what you do.” “Once you are passionate, you end up being good at it and it doesn’t matter what it is,” she said, noting that cybersecurity is a long way from her original architectural dreams. “I never worked for the money—that just sort of came. It was always important for me to make a difference and enjoy doing so, and doing well for the country.”
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www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 21
Retired U.S. Army Major Dr. Frank Tucker and Colonel Claude Hines head up the leadership team at Vienna-based health information technology firm, MicroHealth LLC. They discuss the value of helping returning veterans join the civilian workforce in “Battlefield to the Boardroom.”
RETURNING VETERANS:
Pre-Trained Talent Pool for Employers By Dan Harvey
Bob Cullen Photography 22 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
Leadership. Grace under pressure. Loyalty. Regardless of industry, these are sought-after skills in the business world. They are also traits for which members of the military are known. The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology reported that there are nearly 200,000 men
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 23
and women transitioning out of the military each year, and that this group is a great source of talent for businesses. “Veterans have performed under the most pressure-intense situations. Combat experience, especially when you’re looking at someone placed in a leadership position, requires selling people on job performance,” said Rob Clapper, executive director of Your Grateful Nation, a nonprofit dedicated to getting soldiers “from the battlefield to the boardroom.” Another asset for companies, noted Harry Wingo, president and CEO of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, is the military-ingrained sense of loyalty. This all adds up to what retired U.S. Army Colonel Claude Hines, now chief operating officer of MicroHealth, LLC calls “a substantial differentiator in the value proposition” that veterans bring to the civilian workforce. The logic goes that if you can master skills when you’re subjected to a rainfall of mortar fire, the civilian workforce environment is a piece of cake. However, the reality is, adapting from the intensity of combat to the routines of home can require time. Additionally, soldiers may find that their combat-tested skills are not always immediately recognized by hiring managers: In March 2014, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the 2013 unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans was 9 percent, or about 3 percent higher than the national average for the same time period. “People seem to forget that people in the military do more than just serve. What they’ve been engaged in has been their ‘job,’” said Olessia Smotrova-Taylor, president and CEO of DC-based OST Global Solutions Inc. and author of “How to Get Government Contracts: Have a Slice of the $1 Trillion Pie.” “And many veterans have filled the job, and completed the job requirements, for more than a decade. They’ve received on-the-job training, and they’ve acquired qualities that are valuable in the [civilian] workspace.”
Shortening the Learning Curve Your Grateful Nation is one of the organizations trying to shorten the learning curve, educating employers on the value of hiring veterans and teaching soldiers how to “translate” their skills for civilian resumes. “[Your Grateful Nation] identified a group of special forces returning from nearly a
24 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
Rob Clapper, Your Grateful Nation Executive Director helps veterans transition from the “battlefield to the boardroom.”
decade of direct combat, and found very little career transition support, if any,” Clapper, himself a U.S. Army veteran, related. “We felt compelled to fill the gap by creating a solution to provide support for individuals and their families—through executive level mentoring, transition of services and family stabilization support…This required a coordination of services and a leveraging of partnerships. Those who we serve—the 21stcentury veterans—underwent 10 or more deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
wounded warriors. According to BLS, 29 percent of post-9/11 veterans have disabilities that stem from their service. Hines and MicroHealth CEO Dr. Frank Tucker, a retired U.S. Army Major, said they know how a disabled vet can feel lost and alone in the unfamiliar territory of civilian employment so they have gone to great lengths to help re-integrate these returning heroes into the workforce. The Vienna, Va.-based health information technology (IT) firm created an online guide
The logic goes that if you can master skills when you’re subjected to a rainfall of mortar fire, the civilian workforce environment is a piece of cake. He explained how returning veterans can show employers that their service experience can benefit their businesses. “Make them understand how your point of view will help them survive under the most terrifying and challenging situations. Develop a plan. Execute a plan. Understand everyone’s point of view. That’s one reason why veterans perform so well in sales positions,” said Clapper. Other initiatives such as 100,000 Jobs and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Hiring Our Heroes are also providing resources and connections for employers and job-seeking veterans. 100,000 Jobs greatly exceeded its goal of helping to employ 100,000 veterans by 2020. Its 160 member companies have already hired more than 160,000 veterans and counting.
Re-Integrating Service Disabled In some cases, accessing the veteran talent pool also means being able to accommodate
to help disabled vets through the “ecosystem” of Veteran Service Organizations, as well as the VA application and appeals process. It also offers calculators, available online and as a mobile app, that aid disabled veterans in determining the amount of compensation that they are due. Additionally, MicroHealth works to place disabled veterans in positions with federal and commercial entities that focus on health information technology, often a good fit for the skills learned in the modern military, where technology plays an important role. Hines said that hiring veterans is both the smart thing to do and the right thing to do. “I’m a service-disabled veteran, which helps me better understand that the nation owes it to provide support for those who have served as they enter into what for some can be a difficult transition into the civilian workforce.”
Hiring Veterans: Getting Started The Department of Labor's "Veterans Hiring Toolkit" is an online guide for businesses interested in starting or growing a program to hire military veterans. It includes detailed information and additional resources on how companies can: • Design a veterans hiring program • Create a welcoming and educated workplace for veterans • Actively recruit and retain veterans • Hire qualified veterans • Accommodate wounded warriors Visit dol.gov/vets/ahaw to learn more.
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 25
Diversity
as Business Strategy: The Inclusion Advantage
By Dan Harvey
T
he workforce diversity we are accustomed to is only a product of recent history. Less than 50 years ago, employers could legally discriminate based on gender, race, age, marital status, religion—you name it. It wasn’t until the civil rights era that started in the mid-20th century that the American consciousness was prodded into addressing inequities in the workplace and beyond. Often, it took the weight of the federal government, driven by concerned citizens, to move these ideals forward and make them a reality.
“Today, that’s reflected in how businesses [which are] seeking [the support of], and then supported by, federal contracts, have adjusted to hiring requirements,” observed Martha Ryder, capture manager at Exelis, a leading global aerospace, defense and information systems and services company based in McLean, Va. She added that employers are now considering “context of character” in hiring decisions, helping to reduce discriminatory barriers to employment. Federal hiring requirements aside, in the 21st century, savvy business owners recognize the value of diversifying their employee base.
26 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
“Diverse backgrounds translate into diverse talents,” Ryder said. Harry Wingo, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C. Chamber of Commerce, underscored Ryder’s statement: “Any business that embraces workforce diversity has a more solid marketplace footing.” That, and it can keep companies on the right side of compliance issues that arise in the government contract context. “We expect our suppliers to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, military veteran status, ancestry, sexual
orientation, gender identity or expression,” said Suzanne Raheb, Lockheed Martin senior manager, supplier diversity. Raheb further defined diversity as viewed by the corporation. She explained, “[Diversity] can include various differentiators, whether it being a socio-economic classification, an innovative or niche technology, or required security clearance.” As Raheb’s title suggests, Lockheed Martin has made inclusion part of its corporate culture. “Diversity and inclusion provide a competitive advantage,” Raheb said. “That includes our supplier community and diversity
and inclusion. We have established goals and programs designed to ensure continued success. It’s good business sense.” That competitive advantage, in turn, drives business results, something the Bethesda, Md.-based company knows about: In 2013 the security and aerospace giant reported global sales of $45.4 billion and a global workforce of 130,000. It’s no accident that federal contractors are at the head of the diversity curve. The government has developed a number of incentives for hiring and subcontracting from the wide definition of diversity that Raheb described. These include set asides (reserved contracts) for small businesses that are owned by women, Native Americans, service-disabled veterans and other historically socially or economically disadvantaged groups. “The federal government has focused on diversity, because it has been entrusted with resources—both funds and resources—and it
wants to be the most responsible steward of those resources,” explained Wingo. Another way to address the challenges of underrepresented groups is to strengthen the workforce pipeline, said Raheb. This includes advocating for education, especially the funding of STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Math) programs. “Lockheed Martin supports initiatives that encourage young people, whether it’s inside or outside of our corporation,” said Raheb. She added that this focus also fosters a collaboration of industry, educators and lawmakers invested in building a globally competitive workforce. “You don’t get the kind of performance our customers demand without innovation and creativity, and it takes a diverse workforce to spark that innovation,” summarized Raheb. “To continue providing innovative solutions, organizations have to attract, engage and leverage a wide range of talent. [Diversity] must be an integral part of a business strategy.”
“To continue providing innovative solutions, organizations have to attract, engage and leverage a wide range of talent." www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 27
EXECUTIVE
Q&A
TRUSTED, TIMELY & TRANSFORMED By Jennifer Schaus
T
ina Dante is a savvy business owner who leveraged timing to transform her business into a successful government contracting entity. Through a trusted relationship at Cox Communications, Dante hit the ground running at a time when the job market was in bad shape. Her aptly named company, Metamorphosis, premiered as a consulting shop and eventually evolved to offer a comprehensive suite of services. Dante shared the story of her business evolution with us.
DC: TD: It was very practical. The business was founded on process improvement and therefore Any unique stories behind the company name?
that was the genesis of it. I was thinking, “What is in involved with transformation and change?” And so the company name Metamorphosis emerged from that thought process. Originally we started as Metamorphosis Consulting and then changed in about 2003 to Metamorphosis. I wanted to get away from the consulting term [which] was associated with one individual rather than a name that indicated a growing business. We shortened the name for that reason.
DC:
The name change certainly worked in your favor. Are you still providing consulting services, or, if not, what is the current offering?
TD: We have a disparate group of services. We do engineering work for the Navy— 28 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
mostly in the undersea systems, but we also have worked with aircraft systems. We also do typical management consulting in the process reengineering field as well in workforce development. We also do some IT support – primarily on the information security side of things. We are working with the V.A. on some security vulnerability wok. The mission is really individualized for each separate succinct category of services. For example, on the engineering side, it’s not necessarily a month or two type of sourcing for an opportunity. It is much more of an engineered solution that takes a couple of years to figure out. We are starting work on something now that is about another year and a half out. It’s not something done overnight in quick order fashion. The other consulting, management consulting and IT support—it’s not a body shop—but it’s finding the technical support for programs. In essence, we are fulfilling two different types of missions.
DC:
With those services, it sounds like you are specifically targeting the government. Who are your current customers?
Our more recent approach TD: is diversification and taking a strategic DC: approach into what we think TD: would be the next wave of activities.
We have done some commercial work, as we started off with Cox Communications. Now, our work is primarily government and we do not actively pursue commercial. Our team operates out of Rhode Island, California, Texas, Arizona and Virginia.
As a small business and government contractor, certifications are part of doing business. What strategic boxes have you checked off?
We have the SBA 8(m) and LDBE (Local, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) [certifications]. These are not certifications, but we have professional engineers [on staff]. Also, we have Continued on p. 30
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 29
Continued from p. 29 trademarked our business process reengineering. We won a CEO award in 2009 from the Minority Business Development Association.
DC:
There are always challenges in business and in working with the government. Do any of your challenges relate to diversity?
TD:
Our challenges are being a small business and not being able to pursue the opportunities we want to by not having the depth of resources. Our more recent approach is diversification and taking a strategic approach into what we think would be the next wave of activities. If you recall, after the Iraq war the big focus was on defense. The focus now is more on the civilian side with veterans’ issues. We are taking a strategic perspective to see where the money will be allocated. In the Defense Authorization Act, there was a piece of legislation asking for sole source awards for the 8 (m )– economically disadvantaged women-owned business – but
that got stripped in the Senate. Now there is a new bill being driven at the committee level to reintroduce that piece again. I get a little disenchanted sometimes because I also see the women owned business logo on some firms Capabilities Statements, but I never meet the women – it’s kind of interesting. I am torn on that. Will this allow these firms to capture dollars or will the true women-owned business win? I don’t know how to remedy that solution, because there are always ways around the system. It would be nice to see that program in place, as there are true women owned businesses who could benefit.
DC: Even without that piece of legislation in place, you have accomplished a lot, particularly with some nice wins at Department of Defense. What is your biggest professional triumph?
TD:
Doing the engineering work is just amazing because normally that is parsed out to large business due to the manufactur-
ing piece. We don’t do any manufacturing, but we do the design work. The more we get involved in this business, the more I am amazed we are in it. It takes a lot of time and effort toward not only working the business but doing the design work itself. I really feel blessed that we even have any activity in that area. It was one of those things that I did not realize how fortunate we were.
DC:
Fortunate, yes but it takes hard work to come up with these contract awards. What is your strategy to get in front of customers?
TD:
It takes so much energy! There are multiple strategies that we employ. One of them of course is responding to Sources Sought, market surveys, RFIs (request for information) and getting introductions that way. Being a small business works well, too. [Due to contract set asides.] Another way of course is networking, using friends, business associates and relationships that we have with other companies or within our
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employee ranks. We use all networking avenues including advocacy groups. For example, we work with The Navy League [of the United States]. They lobby on behalf of large and small businesses. So, it is really a multi-pronged approach.
networkingworks!
Building Relationships • Building Business
DC:
TD:
Growth, growth and growth. We are focused on growing. For awhile we were moving slow and now taking a different approach has helped. We want to continue to put more resources back into the company.
DC: You obviously have a successful business that is growing. What advice would you give to others who wish to start a business?
TD:
It depends on what kind of business you want to start. With the federal government you have to be utterly tenacious, fully dedicated to doing it. It’s going to take every ounce of effort, every hour of your awake life to pursue it. If you are a start-up in the government contracting world, it’s going to be 14-16 hour days. If you are new to government contracting, find a partner to share the burden with who knows the business. If you are in a start-up category outside the government world, it is a bit easier. They want good performers, people they know, and it’s a whole different market. In the commercial world there are a lot of little projects, depending upon what you are doing. In the government there are longer term projects which make it more sustainable in growing your business.
CONNECT
Your processes and relationship building have paid off. What is your future vision for the company?
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DC:
What are you like when you actually get outside of the office and how do you spend your time?
TD:
I am who I am–a lot is public information. I am a spiritual person and that is on our website along with scripture. I am involved in the High Tech Prayer Breakfast. It is clear that I am follower of Christ. I also love golf and I love animals. Also, I played in many local golf tournaments. I also enjoy getting together with friends. It is a great relief from work.
www.fedcocktail.com www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 31
DATA
file
LEVELING THE FIELD: Program Raises Contract Awards to Women-Owned Small Business By Ian Quillen
T
he Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract program launched in 2011 with the aim of increasing the share of federal contracts awarded to these businesses to 5 percent. Between 2005 and 2010, the rate had risen from 3.2 to 4 percent. The program allows federal contracting officers to set aside contracts for competition exclusively between WOSBs so long as the contract meets three conditions:
Participation More than18,000 firms have taken steps to selfrepresent their status as WOSBs
1) Falls in an industry where WOSBs are underrepresented. 2) It’s reasonable to expect two or more WOSBs will bid for the contract. 3) It’s reasonable to expect WOSBs may be awarded the contract for a fair price. In industries where WOSB underrepresentation is mild, only Economically Disadvantaged WomenOwned Small Business (EDWOSB) may be eligible for some contracts. The program is part of a larger push to award 23 percent of all federal contracting dollars to small businesses, as defined by federal guidelines. Any small business that is 51 percent unconditionally and directly owned by one or more female United States citizens may certify itself as a WOSB or EDWOSB. Businesses may self-certify through procedures outlined on sba.gov, which also lists third-party certification organizations.
32 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
Dollars awarded to WOSBs, percent of total federal contracts 2008: 2009: 2010: 2011: 2012: 2013:
$14.4 billion 3.21 % $16.3 billion 3.68 % $17.5 billion 4.04 % $16.8 billion 3.98 % $16.2 billion 4.00 % $15.4 billion 4.32 %
2013 WOSB Contract Awards Agencies with most contract dollars awarded in 2013 Department of Defense:
$8.18 billion (3.57 %)
Department of Health and Human Services: Department of Homeland Security: $881 Department of Veterans Affairs: $613
$1.27 billion (6.56 %)
million (7.04 %)
million (3.35 %)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration $469
million (3.68 %)
Agencies with highest percentage of contracts awarded in 2013: Commission of Fine Arts: 89.2
% ($145,000)
Defense Nuclear Safety Securities Board: 63.8
% ($1.56 million)
National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities: National Endowment for the Arts 29.0
36.9 % ($937,000)
% ($375,000)
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation 27.9
% ($97,300)
Recent Program Changes Last year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) removed price maximum limits to contracts awarded under the WOSB to help boost program awards closer to five percent of all federal contracting dollars.
WOSB Award Limits Per Contract
(Manufacturing/Other Industries)
2011:
$5 million/$3 million
2012:
$6.5 million/$4 million
2013:
Unlimited
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 33
HANG
outs
DOING BUSINESS AT IRIS LOUNGE, Where Choice Is King By Keith Loria
S
ince it opened in 2011, the Iris Lounge in Tysons Corner has been known throughout the D.C. region as the place to go for fun—after all, its founder Robert Dispenza has crafted a multi-faceted entertainment center that combines great food, an array of drinks, live music, dancing, a cigar room, a billiards lounge and a popular sushi bar. “It’s a place you can go and simply change your entertainment for the evening by heading to a different part of the club,” said Dispenza. “It
34 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
offers a unique experience for everyone.” Most weekends you can find the movers and shakers of Northern Virginia and D.C. at Iris, said Dispenza. Members of the Redskins, Nationals and Wizards often stop by, as well as celebrities like Rocky Patel, a former Los Angeles entertainment lawyer turned cigar mogul. What people might not realize is that Iris Lounge is also a prime spot for doing business. On any given day, you can find business people sharing a bite over an important meeting, grabbing a drink to discuss the latest venture or
lounging in the cigar room discussing the latest company developments.
Beyond Business Lunches “The old fashioned business lunch isn’t for everyone—especially millennials and those in the younger generation,” Dispenza explained. “We see plenty of young people not only come here to socialize over happy hour, but they’re also networking, making friends, business acquaintances and future contacts that will help them with their careers.”
Johnny Hanna, owner of Viva Tysons Magazine, based in McLean, said he has brokered several deals at the club and finds it a perfect place to meet up with clients. “It’s a great atmosphere and there’s nothing stuffy about it, so it’s a great place to talk business and work on new deals,” Hanna said. The 15,000-square-foot venue offers private and semi-private rooms, so companies wanting quiet time for just a few people, or space for up to 500, can be accommodated. The larger rooms also lend themselves to large corporate meetings or private company events. “We can do some spectacular things for networking groups,” Dispenza shared. “We have a lot of meeting groups, social groups and corporations come in, and they might order a couple of appetizers and we will throw them some extra every time and treat them right.” Located at 1524 Spring Hill Road in McLean, the feature that really makes the Iris Lounge popular with the business set is its decked-out cigar lounge—the only one in Tysons Corner. Forget the golf course; the real deals in Northern Virginia are being conducted here, said Dispenza. “On any given day, we have a number of CEOs and business executive types taking
advantage of our cigar lounge, and it’s not uncommon to see a politician or government DOD (Department of Defense) guy sitting up here enjoying some scotch and cigars,” Dispenza said of the sound-proof room. “It’s really been a key to our business.” The younger businessmen tend to hang out more by the billiards tables, observed Dispenza, giving them something active to do while networking and socializing with their fellow workers. He said this is especially true during planned networking events.
One Location, Many Options Chris Mantello, Iris Lounge’s bar manager, understands that wining and dining clients is important at many the business meeting. He said the staff has designed the food and drink offerings with that in mind. “We have 150 brands of different liquors, including 20 different scotches and 15 bourbons ranging from high-end all the way down,” he said. “We have 30 different bottles of wine and in September [launched] a reserve list, based on requests from our clientele.” For food, the menu covers everything from burgers and chicken wings to steaks, crab cakes and gourmet options, including the sushi bar.
The range of delicacies guarantees that there’s something for everyone. This successful combination of dining, entertainment and networking options is no accident. It’s the result of decades of experience and observation. Dispenza grew up in the business, starting his career as a dishwasher in a small venue in Buffalo, N.Y. and eventually opening 20 restaurants of his own throughout the East Coast. He served as general manager for eCitie Café, which would become Iris Lounge when he purchased it from noted restaurateur Paul Loukas. “My goal was to create a venue where you could do a lot—parties, banquets, business meetings, fine dining, you name it,” he said. “Being from New York and dealing with night clubs all my life, I wanted to have this New York meets Las Vegas lounge feel. We offer great music and dance floors, eye-catching bars with amazing drink specials, great tasting food and an overall atmosphere that has yet to be seen around the Tysons area.” The Iris Lounge is open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.; Wednesday 4:30 p.m. to midnight and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. It is closed Sunday and Monday. Reservations can be made by calling 703-760-9000. For more information, visit irisloungeva.com.
Baby Showers -‐ Quinceanera -‐ Events Planning Huge Selec:on of Balloons & Party Favors 14549 Jefferson Davis Hwy, Featherstone Square, Woodbridge, VA 22191 703-‐494-‐6932 – www.nyeasparty.com
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 35
&shaker
MOVER
CVENT’S BHARET MALHOTRA: A Dotcom Survivor Beats the Odds By Misty Mealey
B
haret Malhotra refused to abandon his startup company when it hit the skids. Fifteen years later, he’s proving that company loyalty can still pay off. Confucius said, “Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” And no one has taken that advice to heart like Bharet Malhotra. Malhotra has worked for the past 15 years as a senior executive at Cvent, a Virginia-based company specializing in meetings management technology. After helping launch the company in 1999, he saw Cvent’s ranks swell to more than 100 employees and then, in a reversal of fortune, nearly going under within just three short years. Rather than giving up, Malhotra and the other company founders banded together and fought their way back from near bankruptcy, in the process forging a company—and friendship—that’s likely to weather any economic climate. “I love what I do, I work with my best friends, and I’m truly jazzed to go to work every day,” Malhotra said. “I consider myself the luckiest guy around.”
Riding the Tech Wave Malhotra’s parents are Indian, but he grew up in Nigeria, West Africa, coming to the United States in the 1980s to attend boarding school in
36 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
Tennessee. After high school, he stayed in the U.S. to attend Duke University, graduating in 1997 with a triple major in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering and economics. “I had to figure out a way to differentiate myself from so many other smart and competitive people,” Malhotra said. Three majors “always got the double look” from prospective employers, he explained, including Salomon Smith Barney in New York, which hired him as an investment banker soon after graduation. The job was consuming; Malhotra worked 18- to 20-hour days, including weekends. But banking taught him the paramount importance of serving the customer and treating his work as a career instead of a job, which would serve him later when Cvent hit hard times. “Banking gave me an amazing foundation,” he said. “Even the hours and the ‘not-so-nice’ bosses make you tough.” Two years later, he moved over to Worldcom for a brief stint as a manager. “I could see the writing on the wall pretty quickly,” Malhotra said of the notorious telecommunications company, which went on to declare bankruptcy in 2002. This experience also helped him realize that he didn’t enjoy working for a huge conglomerate. So when a friend from Duke approached Malhotra about getting in on a new startup
“There were just too many smart people there for something good not to happen.” company called Cvent, he jumped at the chance. “There were just too many smart people there for something good not to happen,” he said. At just 24, Malhotra was the youngest founding member. Like many tech startups in the 1990s, Cvent started off with a bang—the company received $17 million in venture capital its first year from big-name investors such as AOL, Bell Atlantic and Nextel. “Back then, if your company needed money, you just put your hand out,” Malhotra
said. The staff of six quickly ballooned to 125 and the company was soon looking for office space that could accommodate twice that number. Then the storm hit. By the end of 2001, the tech bubble had burst. The country had suffered devastating terrorist attacks, and news stations and U.S. Senators started receiving Anthraxlaced mail. Suddenly, no one was traveling for business anymore and Cvent’s revenue stream dried up almost overnight. At one point, the company had just $400,000 in the bank and more than a million dollars in monthly expenses. The original founders, including Malhotra, decided to stick it out despite Cvent’s uncertain future. “We felt an obligation to each other,” he recounted. They cut expenses drastically, reducing staff by 80 percent and taking pay cuts themselves. Instead of raising capital, the founders got back to the entrepreneurial basics, according
to Malhotra. “We worked on building a great product, giving customers our best and hiring the best talent we could find,” he said. In 2003, the company began making a profit again, and has defied the odds by continuing to grow over the past decade. Today, Cvent has nearly 1,500 employees worldwide and serves clients in more than 100 countries. The company went public last year, raising $136 million in venture capital. Not bad for a business Malhotra refers to as “the walking dead” during its toughest years of flirting with bankruptcy.
A Winning Culture Even more impressive than Cvent surviving the dotcom bubble-burst is the loyalty the venture has inspired between its leaders. “Nine of the 10 of us who started the company are still here 15 years later,” Malhotra said. With the typical U.S. employee today averaging just four years at a job
before moving on, Cvent’s ability to retain its talent for more than a decade is extraordinary, he said. Malhotra credits the company’s vibrant, egalitarian culture with keeping him and others around for the long run. Every year, the company has “Cvent University,” a sevenweek, back to basics training that everyone goes through—including senior executives. “We talk about our company’s story and why we value working here,” Malhotra said. “Our new hires especially get to hear why we personally believe in this work and I think that keeps them committed, too.” Cvent leaders also work right in the trenches with the rest of the staff. Malhotra doesn’t have a luxurious corner office, but sits right on the sales floor with his team. “When you sit six feet away [from] someone who just graduated from Continued p.38
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 37
Support Service
For Government Contractors
Continued from p.37 college, you’re right there to constructively guide them,” he said. The frugality that got Cvent through its leanest days is still in practice, too. When traveling, senior managers always fly coach and even share hotel rooms with junior staff members. “I don’t think you have many companies where first-year employees work side-by-side with senior execs like we do,” Malhotra mused.
The Classroom of the World
GSA SCHEDULES GOVT RELATIONS & SALES GOVT CONTRACTOR EVENTS GOVT CONTRACTOR TRAINING PROPOSAL WRITING BID PROTEST FOIA REQUEST SVA 8A CERT SDVO CERT DCAA AUDITS & CFO SERVICES CONTRACT ADMIN & MORE
Jennifer Schaus 202-365-0598 1717 Pennsylvania Ave NW #1025; Wash DC 20006
JenniferSchaus.com 38 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
Keeping travel expenses low means more Cvent employees can travel, which is always good for morale, said Malhotra. He added that there’s also a bigger purpose to taking employees to other countries, and that’s to give them the cultural education that has served him so well both professionally and personally. “Traveling gives you a broader sense of the world and it also makes you a more independent person and thinker,” said Malhotra, who was just eight when he first traveled alone—going from Nigeria to Europe for a tennis tournament. Experiencing other parts of the world also makes you a better businessperson because you’re more sensitive to cultural differences, he said. He once had a client from Asia who wanted to invest in Cvent, but who resisted the final step of signing the contract. Malhotra later met up with the man at a tradeshow in Europe. After making small talk for a few minutes, the man pulled out the contract, signed it and handed it to Malhotra. “In his culture, it’s important to get a sense of the real, flesh-and-blood person behind the deal before you sign,” Malhotra explained. “There are lots of things about doing business with other cultures that you just can’t teach, that you’re only going to learn by experiencing these people and places for yourself.” Malhotra travels back to visit family in India for a few months each year, and is especially proud of the success he sees so many Indians having in the United States. “People always talk about the Indian doctors and engineers that have immigrated here, but I suspect there are just as many cases of small business owners that weren’t educated or who struggled to speak English, whose children and grandchildren are now CEOs at successful companies,” said Malhotra. Indian culture has taught Malhotra that success takes hard work and time, and sometimes it needs a generation or two to arrive. And that’s something that can inspire not just other immigrants, he said, but any person who starts out life with fewer advantages.
LEGAL
view
CHINA WANTS YOUR BUSINESS…
And They’ve Changed Their Trademark Laws To Prove It by Mariessa Terrell, Esq.
A
sian markets such as China represent the new frontier of consumers. By 2030, 65 percent of the world’s middle class will be in Asia. This means that a focus on global revenue is vital to any growing business. In the past, China’s notoriously lax intellectual property laws have caused many innovators to avoid transacting business in China. However, within the last year, China has made significant improvements with its new trademark and patent registration processes. Following are four major changes to the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China and how these affect U.S. business owners.
Changes to China's Trademark Law On Aug. 30, 2013, China amended its 30-yearold trademark law for the third time. The four major changes include faster trademark processing, new provisions to combat trademark squatting, preventing misuse of “wellknown trademarks” and punitive damages for bad faith trademarks. According to Zhang Mao, minister of the Chinese State AdministraContinued p.40
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 39
By 2030, 65 percent of the world’s middle class will be in Asia. Continued from p.39 tion for Industry and Commerce, these four major changes have been implemented to better align China’s trademark laws with the standards observed in the European Union, United States and Japan.
Faster Trademark Process The first major change to the Trademark Law is the implementation of a fixed statutory time limit for China Trademark Office (CTMO) and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board procedures. Prior to these changes, the CTMO routinely took between two and three years to issue cancellation decisions. Under the new law, these cancellation decisions must be issued within nine months. Additionally, if a trademark application is unopposed, it will now proceed to registration in approximately 12 months (nine months for the examination period and three months for the opposition period). To further increase the speed of the trademark process, CTMO instituted an online trademark application filing and searching system. Finally, there is a new multi-class application option that will help streamline the application process.
40 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
Combating “Trademark Squatting” New good-faith provisions have been added to help combat “trademark squatting,” instances where unscrupulous parties attempt to abuse China’s first-to-file system by applying for trademarks that are owned by companies outside of China. With the amended Trademark Law, applicants are prohibited from filing applications outside the scope of their professional services or under circumstances where they should have known the applications infringed on the rights of others. Trademark owners in violation of the law could be subject to administrative fines and even criminal liability.
Preventing Misuse of the Term “Well-known Trademark” According to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, a well-known trademark is considered a “preferred class of trademarks that are given enhanced protection under the Trademark Law,” even if they are not registered in China. The revised trademark law attempts to prevent the misuse of the term “well-known trademark” by banning the term’s use on products, product packaging or
containers, and in advertisements, exhibitions and other commercial activities. There are also new clarifications on where trademark owners can assert rights normally associated with a well-known trademark.
Increasing Punitive Damages for Bad-faith Actions Before the recent modifications to the trademark law, the amount of damages that a trademark owner could collect from an infringer was limited to either the actual damages suffered or illegal profits that the infringer made from the infringement. Recent amendments now provide for additional punitive damages in instances of bad faith. Specifically, punitive damages can now total up to three times the rate of normal compensation. The law also increases statutory damage limits from $81,000 to $490,000. The new law also includes provisions on secondary liability that may be helpful when pursuing manufacturers that frequently change locations to avoid trademark infringement proceedings. Under the modified law, landlords or other parties who assist in infringement can be targeted. Further, the People's
Republic of China Courts can now order an infringer to produce records related to infringement. Failure to produce records or producing falsified information can result in an adverse inference against the infringer. Additionally, the law raises the ceiling for statutory damages from $81,000 to $490,000.
Other Concerns Related to the Trademark Law Amendments Under the new law, if the China Trademark Office rejects an opposition, the opponent may no longer appeal the decision to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. Now, if the opposition is rejected, the opposed mark proceeds to registration. The opposer is then given a chance to file for invalidation of the registration.
Trademark Squatters Still a Risk Despite these changes to the trademark law in China, many remain skeptical about filing trademark applications under the new system. Recently the U.S. electric car maker, Tesla, has become embroiled in an escalating trademark dispute in China.
In 2006, a Chinese businessman, Zhan Baosheng, registered the trademark Tesla in China (in English and Chinese) along with an internet domain name, telsa.com.cn, that includes a logo virtually identical to the one used by the electric carmaker. When Telsa began to take orders for cars in China in 2013, the businessman reportedly sought more than $30 million from Tesla for rights to the website name. Tesla stated that the trademark dispute was the last hurdle before it begins selling its cars in China. In January 2014, the company announced that the matter was resolved, only to have Zhan sue Tesla for trademark infringement in July. However, according to an article appearing in Reuters on Aug. 5, 2014, Tesla and Zhan resolved this dispute as well. Tesla representatives stated, "Mr. Zhan has agreed to have the Chinese authorities complete the process of canceling the Tesla trademarks that he had registered or applied for, at no cost to Tesla." While China has made laudable changes to better align its trademark laws with the stan-
dards observed in the European Union and the United States, there remains a prevailing belief that the new trademark application system is not enough to prevent trademark squatters. In fact, because international owners seeking to transact business in China are encouraged to register their marks with the CTMO before using the marks elsewhere, owners using the new trademark application system may unwittingly provide trademark squatters with more tools to potentially infringe their marks. Mariessa Terrell is an intellectual property attorney, brander and founder of SBC Law Group with over 10 years experience providing intellectual property law services to defense contractors, nonprofits and startups. Terrell endeavors to make the trademark registration process simple and affordable by helping clients select marks that will be afforded the most protection, conducting comprehensive searches of potential trademarks and filing trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Prior to starting her own firm, Terrell worked as Trademark Examining Attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The information provided in this article is for general purposes only. It is recommended that you seek the advice of a licensed attorney in your state before making decisions or executing anything related to your legal issue or base any decision off of the content provided.
Why Prince William? “Management and Training Consultants, Inc. is a Woman-Owned Small Business specializing in training, human capital, and program management consulting and we’ve been ‘Maximizing Human Potential’ for more than a decade. MTCI is proud to call Prince William County home because it is conducive to smart business. Its business-friendly tax rates, real estate costs and talented personnel that are not burdened with a heavy commute provide MTCI the ability to maximize our resources to the fullest. Prince William County is truly a great place to live, work and play.”
Dalena Kanouse, President and CEO Management and Training Consultants, Inc.
Every day, members of the Prince William Chamber of Commerce are working William Chamber’s mission is to support this growth, and create opportunities for businesses to gain visibility and an edge in this competitive business community. Prince William Chamber of Commerce at www.pwchamber.org.
(703) 368-6600 www.pwchamber.org
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 41
EXECUTIVE
Q&A
VIVEK MALHOTRA OF VMD SYSTEMS
Controlling His Own Destiny By Jennifer Schaus
W
hen he launched VMD Systems in 2002, Vivek Malhotra was realizing a long-held dream of controlling his own destiny. Today, the government contracting firm he and his wife, Deepti, built functions as strategic consultants and IT providers with four core offerings: software application support, cyber security, infrastructure management support and management consulting. Based in the D.C. metro area, VMD boasts 350 full-time employees with offices in Florida, Mississippi, New York and Virginia. We sat down with Malhotra to learn more about the story behind his firm's steady rise.
DC: VM: I am the founder of the company. Prior to 2002 I was supporting several government
Bob Cullen Photography
What is the story or inspiration behind the business?
42   DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
clients while I was working at a large company. My dream was to always build a company that I could lead myself and control my own destiny. That was really one of the major reasons for wanting to start VMD. My goal was to run my company but always be client-focused and provide solutions that are results-oriented. At the same time, I wanted to create an environment where we could foster a working environment for our employees that promoted achievement, innovation, balance and job satisfaction. This was something I never got myself while working for some of the larger
organizations in the area, so I wanted to do that for my clients and employees.
DC: What does VMD stand for? VM: The name VMD derives from my name Vivek Malhotra. My wife’s first name is Deepti. We put the three initials together and that’s how we came up with VMD. Deepti became VMD’s CEO in 2005.
DC:
Your service offering focuses on four core areas. Where do you reap the most rewards and who are your target agencies?
“My dream was to always build a company that I could lead myself and control my own destiny.”
VM:
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has pretty much been our bread and butter for many years. We also do work at National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), NASA, Department of Labor (DoL), Department of Defense (DoD). We continuously have been growing steady over the past five years and have not had a de-
cline. We have constantly grown year after year. I think it is a result of providing good service to our clients. We have the advantage of being a woman-owned 8 (a) company, which has given us a unique position to go after contracts
that are set aside for women and minorities. Last year we did approximately $34 million.
DC:
Nothing comes easy in business. What obstacles have you had to overcome? Continued p.44
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 43
Continued from p.43
VM:
There has always been a challenge in building an environment that’s good for employees while at the same time providing unique services to your clients. There is always a balance of what comes first. That has really been our focus, while at the same time challenging. Also, there is the challenge of further developing our core services—while it is fun, it is still a challenge. Competition is obviously massive. So part of our challenge is that there are a lot of large companies out there that we are competing against. The challenge has always been very hard to overcome.
DC:
DiverseCEO Wants You Our quarterly magazine is a resource built around the principles of diversity and inclusion, focused on the full spectrum of talent in the Washington, D.C. metro area. In its pages, you’ll find profiles of executives on the rise, federal contracting news and articles on topics that impact your bottom line. It’s also a forum for sharing your business stories and expertise.
Businesses...Send your news of hires,
partnerships, promotions, acquisitions—any company milestones—to info@diverseceo.com for consideration of publication.
Writers...We are hiring writers familiar with AP Style and business news. Please visit diverseceo.com for submission guidelines. D I V E R S E
CEO 44 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
And what about the current competition presented by LPTA? The competitive environment with LPTA, lowest price technically acceptable, is a current challenge. We face losing bids that we thought we would win, due to LPTA. We will overcome these situations, but this is our biggest challenge now. It is an interesting time in government contracting... having government define what LPTA really is. There has been failure after failure of contractors in the cycle of LPTA. The government is trying to define how they will manage with such tight budgets. There are challenges, but it is interesting.
DC: What was your biggest professional VM: For me, it was when we crossed the 100 employee mark. It was the best feeling I ever
triumph?
had. I did not think that was ever possible. That was six years ago, in 2008, when that occurred. It was the result of a big contract we won. It was our first Joint [Chiefs of] Staff contract with Department of Defense. It was a contract in Norfolk and Suffolk and that’s when we opened the offices there. [We have also] been on the Inc. 5000 list for four years [and] been on the Virginia’s Fantastic 50 list.
DC:
What is the most effective way to attract and retain customers, especially in the federal contracting space?
VM:
The biggest thing is always understanding your customer needs and going in with a solution, not just general capabilities. Every customer needs a unique service. Understanding what they are looking for and how your product or service will fit into their environment is important. Customizing solutions has always been our philosophy. I never take a meeting for the sake of taking a meeting. There is [always] a unique requirement, and our customers are all busy, so we try to make sure the time is well spent.
VM:
Continue to grow, organically and potentially through acquisitions. We have not yet made any acquisitions. We want to build the infrastructure first and then when we are ready we will [pursue acquisitions]. We are [also] putting together a new practice area around security operations. This will be a business around airport privatization and positioning ourselves in a new space. We are currently providing security operations in three airports now.
DC: With you and your wife spending long DC: While you are busy growing the busihours running the company, I would imagine it ness I am sure you are planning for the next can be difficult to find family time. How do you phase. What is your future vision for the business?
manage this?
VM:
I am a father of two boys. One thing I try do is check out of work at 7 p.m. Learning
the game of baseball is really where I spend my time. Growing up as a kid, I never played baseball. Both of my sons are playing ball now, so it’s a hobby for me to learn it and it is also special for me outside of work. My sons are passionate about it; they love the game and I am very involved in it.
DC: VM: First, you must define what type of business you want to be in and what you want to
What is your advice to others starting a business?
become. Stay focused. Stand behind your guiding principles and what you want to be. Believe in yourself first before you decide what your business might end up being. What I enjoy is that every day poses new challenges. … Every day is different.
Why Prince William? “We enjoy being located in the City of Manassas because it is a great location for doing business, county- and region-wide. We have quick access to the major transport hubs in our area and local dining and entertainment makes it easy to host visitors. We especially enjoy having a local government that meets our needs, but that is also accessible enough that we do not get lost in the mix.” Ian Lovejoy, Director of Operations Home Instead Senior Care
Every day, members of the Prince William Chamber of Commerce are working together to buid their professional networks and grow their businesses. The Prince William Chamber’s mission is to support this growth, and create opportunities for businesses to gain visibility and an edge in this competitive business community. To learn more about the benefits of doing business in Prince William, visit the Prince William Chamber of Commerce at www.pwchamber.org.
(703) 368-6600 www.pwchamber.org
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 45
GETTING
there
SILVER LINE Moves Tysons Corner Towards Its Future
Photos courtesy WMATA
By Emily Guerrero
I
n Tysons Corner, the recently opened Silver Line Metro represents more than a new way to get to work. It is the centerpiece of a vision for the “New Tysons,” connecting this employment center, which has the nation’s largest retail density outside of Manhattan, to an international airport, the nation’s capital and to other regional employment centers. “The Silver Line is expected to transform Tysons, previously an automobile-centric, congestion prone area into a more walkable, bikeable, livable community anchored by highdensity, mixed-use developments around the
46 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
new stations,” said Morgan Dye, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) public information officer. By 2050, Fairfax County envisions the area will become a “24-7 urban center” with up to 100,000 residents and 200,000 jobs. Some of those changes are already in the air—literally. The skyline is rising as developers build upwards. Dr. Gerald Gordon, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority President and CEO, said that the county rezoned the quarter-mile of land surrounding the Tyson’s Corner Metro for unlimited density. “The first thing we’ve seen is very high density
office space. Prior, the tallest building [in Tysons] was 18 stories. We now have one that is 24,” said Gordon. “The building just now coming out of the ground at Capital One, it will be 31 stories. There will be landscape changes, density changes.” These Metro-driven developments are already leading to increased employment opportunities. “[We] are seeing companies that would not have come here or stayed in Tysons Corner without Metro,” said Gordon. He cited event and registration software giant Cvent, and leading satellite service provider Intelsat, as examples. For Cvent, Tysons offered a combination
Silver Line trains run between Wiehle-Reston East and Largo Town Center stations every six minutes during rush hour and every 12-20 minutes midday, late night and weekends. Five stations opened in July as part of Phase 1: McLean Tysons Corner Greensboro Spring Hill Wiehle-Reston East For more information, including fares and updates on Phase 2, visit silverlinemetro.com.
of factors that led the company to stay local when it sought larger office space. Still, proximity to the train station sweetened the pot. “Tysons Corner has an excellent variety of employment opportunity, shopping, dining and recreation... and the new Silver Line adds convenient access to Washington and soon Dulles Airport,” explained Cvent Director of Human Resources Sophia MacDonald. “We wanted to make it easy for employees to use convenient and green public transit, and relocating to an office that will have a direct connection to the Metro was the clear way to accomplish that... Our proximity to the Silver Line is absolutely a competitive advantage in recruiting.” Gordon noted that the business benefits of Silver Line access go beyond a convenient commute. “One of the biggest impacts will be when you’re already at work, and you’ve parked your car and you have to go to a meeting in D.C., catch a flight in Dulles... you jump on the metro instead of taking your car out of the garage,” said Gordon. New residential buildings are also on the horizon. Gordon said that as Tysons grows, so will
the need to have housing that appeals to “young kids just coming out with technology skills, older workers that can mentor them and manage business operations. There needs to be a mix of options.” One such project is Vita, a 30-story, 400+ unit upscale apartment complex that will offer studio, and one- and two-bedroom apartments with a slew of amenities such as a rooftop terrace with an outdoor kitchen and pool. The developer, Kettler, is seeking Silver LEED certification for the building, which should begin preleasing by year end. “[Workforce housing features] relatively smaller units, for one to two people, thereby rates are lower,” said Gordon. “This enables younger people, retirees... to be right on top of the metro and near employment.” Even ahead of the new residents that projects like Vita will bring, Silver Line ridership is surpassing WMATA’s goals. WMATA reports that 15,000 riders use the line each work week; this is 60 percent higher than WMATA’s initial projections for early usage. About 6,000 are new riders, the remainder are former Orange Line riders. “Phase 2 will extend the Metrorail from Reston and Herndon to Dulles International Airport and into eastern Loudoun County,” said Dye. Construction has begun on this second phase, which is expected to open in 2018, adding six more stops and transfer-free service between Washington, D.C. and Dulles. www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 47
WHAT'S
happening
District of Columbia LitheSpeed Agile D.C. Executive Summit @The Center for Innovative Technology October 20 | 8:15 a.m. - 5 p.m. Learn what other executives have done to keep their ecosystem functioning optimally while ensuring the fluid transition toward a common Agile vision. $ More Info: events@lithespeed.com. Association for Financial Professionals 2014 AFP Annual Conference @Walter E. Washington Convention Center Nov. 2-5 | 8 - 10:45 a.m. Validate best practices, hear new ideas and be inspired to innovate at the most important event for treasury and finance. $ More Info: an14.afponline.org. Submit Events! Email info@diverseceo.com to have your events considered for the Winter 2015 issue of DiverseCEO. Please include all event details in body of email.
Greater Washington Board of Trade Best Practices for Corporate Social Responsibility @The Hamilton Live Nov. 12 | 8:30 - 10:30 a.m. Identify practical tools for engaging your staff, retaining talent and building a brand. $ More Info: bot.org. Institute of Caribbean Studies Invest Caribbean: Caribbean American Business Leaders Dialogue @Omni Shoreham Hotel Nov. 13-14 | 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Meet with key actors to discuss trade and investment opportunities in the agribusiness sector, slated for growth in coming years. $ More info: investcaribbean.us Fed Health IT Summit @Ronald Reagan Building Nov. 19-20 | Noon - 7 p.m.; 7:30 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. This interactive symposium will examine the IT landscape across a broad healthcare ecosystem that is rapidly evolving, featuring keynote by Dr. Joseph Ronzio. $ More info: defenseone.com
The Millennial Solution ME Summit: Conference for a New Generation of Entrepreneurs @UberOffices Dupont Nov. 22 | 8:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. Designed for aspiring and active entrepreneurs eager to turn breakthrough ideas into kick-butt business plans. Plus, featuring a chance to get funded through a pitch competition! $ More info: mesummit.com D.C. Women's Business Center Orientation for Free Business Counseling @NCRC Building Dec. 2 | 6 - 8 p.m. Learn about center resources for starting a new business or expanding your existing company. A prerequisite to WBC's free counseling sessions. $ More info: florence@dcwbc.org. Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce D.C. Latino Expo & Summit @Walter E. Washington Convention Center Dec. 13-14 | 11 a.m. - 6 p.m./Noon - 7 p.m. 300+ businesses and corporations networking, performing, showcasing their products, goods
Share Your Business Buzz Next issue, look for “BusinessBuzz,” highlights of business news in the metropolitan area. Send us buzz from your business—new teaming partnerships, industry recognition, contract awards—and it may be featured. Look for the submission form under “Contact Us” at diverseceo.com and let us tell your business story! D I V E R S E
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and services. Free. More Info: 202-409-6453.
Maryland Maryland Office of Minority Business Enterprise Application Assistance Workshop @MDOT Headquarters, Hanover Monthly, First Tuesday | 10 a.m. For firms interested in applying for certification as a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and/ or Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE). Free. More info: mdot.maryland.gov Rockville County Chamber of Commerce October Mix and Mingle @Cardinal Bank, Rockville Oct. 23 | 5 - 7 p.m. Come to the October Mix and Mingle for great networking, appetizers and an opportunity to make new business contacts. Free for members, $20 non-members. More Info: rockville@rockvillechamber.org
Maryland Women's Business Center Rock Your Content @MWBC, Rockville Oct. 30 | 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Learn how to create content that tells your story and engages customers. Includes info on determining what your brand stands for and developing a content marketing plan. $ More Info: marylandwbc.org Select Business Team Bethesda Business Roundtable @Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, Rockville Nov. 7 | 7:30 - 9 a.m. Meet with other business leaders in an environment that provides support and guidance for business growth. Free (must pay for own meal). More info: selectbizteam.com Maryland Department of General Services Veteran Business Conference @Ana G. Mendez University System, Wheaton Nov. 19 | 8:30 a.m. - noon Learn about procurement opportunities open to veteran-owned small businesses and network
TOUCHING LIVES AND SHAPING FUTURE LEADERS The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce is Proud to Partner with South Lakes High School on the 22nd Ethics Day, November 25
with government leaders and veteran resource professionals. More info: cristen.ervin@maryland.gov Economic Development Member Meeting @Chamber Offices, Rockville Dec. 11 | 8 - 9 a.m. Discuss strategies to optimize your business budget. Free to MCCC Members. More Info: montgomerycountychamber.com/ events/
Virginia Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce Cyber Security Forum @Hilton McLean, Tysons Corner Oct. 16 | 7:30 - 10 a.m. Come be empowered with information on how to minimize legal risk and financial impact, prevent loss of valuable data and proactively protect your business and clients. Free. More Info: fairfaxchamber.org/government-contracting-council.html.
Want to make a difference in our community’s youth? In a partnership between the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and Reston’s own South Lakes High School, the entire Senior class is taken off-site to the Reston Sheraton to spend a day learning about ethical decision making and how it will affect their adult lives. Using a series of four different complex, but real-life scenarios, students will be asked to review, discuss and reach ethical decisions for each scenario. As the adult guide you will be leading a small group of students through the different scenarios to facilitate and encourage vibrant discussion.
There is no better way to spend the day and we promise you will leave with energy and enthusiasm for what this next generation will be bringing to the business world. To Volunteer, please visit www.RestonChamber.org or call 703.707.9045
www.diverseCEO.com | FALL 20114 | DIVERSE CEO 49
WHAT'S
happening Diversity Holiday Calendar
Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce The State of Real Estate: The Changing Face of Office @Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Ashburn Oct. 21 | 3 - 7 p.m. As Loudoun prepares for the arrival of Metro’s Silver Line, the face of commercial real estate is changing. Take this “Virtual Realty Tour” on attracting commercial investment. Led by Anirban Basu, CEO of the Sage Policy Group. $ More Info: loudounchamber.org. Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce Leading By Knowing Others @Chamber Offices, Fairfax Oct. 21 | 3 - 4:30 p.m. This workshop will teach you how to capitalize on each employee’s talents, skills, knowledge and personality. $ More info: : fairfaxchamber.org Alliance Fall Luncheon Quantico/Belvoir Business Alliance @Stratford University, Woodbridge Oct. 29 | 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. A look at what lies ahead for area military installations, Department of Defense spending and the regional economy. $ More info: qbrbusinessalliance.com Prince William Chamber of Commerce PR Boot Camp to Impress the Press Chamber Offices, Manassas Nov. 6 | 8:15 - 10:30 a.m. Learn how to structure an effective press release and understand your audience in a newsroom setting for greater press coverage. $ More Info: pwchamber.org
Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce Recruiting and Hiring the Best Talent for Your Business @Chamber Offices, Reston Nov. 12 | 8:30 -10 a.m. This workshop will focus on the basics on how to recruit, interview and hire the best candidates for your organization. Free More Info: 703-707-9045 Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce Leading With Integrity @Chamber Offices, Tysons Nov. 18 | 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. During this seminar, powerful female executives will focus on how leadership style impacts an organization’s culture. Free. More info: 703-749-0400 FedCocktail @Iris Lounge, Tysons Nov. 20 | 6 - 9 p.m. Government contractors--spot teaming opportunities,exchange core capabilities, and trade secrets to success with other industry professionals. $ More info: fedcocktail.com Alexandria Small Business Development Center Marketing to Millennials @ASBDC, Alexandria Dec. 2 | 9 - 10 a.m. Maurisa Potts from Spotted MP (Marketing + Public Relations) will provide some insight and stats on how to get to know this coveted demographic; she’ll also illustrate their level of influence and purchasing power. Free. More info: alexandriasbdc.org
In the international melting pot of Metropolitan D.C., your workforce likely celebrates a rich variety of holidays and commemorations. Here are a few to note for the fourth quarter of 2014:
October All Month: National Disability Employment Awareness Month LGBT History Month 3-4 Yom Kippur – Jewish 4-14
Dussehra (Dasera) – Hindu
8-15
Sukkot – Jewish
11
National Coming Out Day
13
National Indigenous People’s Day
20
Birth of the Bab – Baha'i
23
Beginning of Diwali (Festival of Lights) – Sikh, Hindu, and Jain
November All Month: National Native American Heritage Month 3 Ashura – Muslim 11 Veterans Day (Also Armistice or Remembrance Day) 12
Birth of Baha’u’llah – Baha’i
20
Transgender Day of Remembrance
23 Feast of Christ the King – Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran
December 1
World AIDS Day
8
Bodhi Day – Buddhist
10
International Human Rights Day
12 Feast Day at Our Lady of Guadalupe – Christian, primarily Latino 16-24 Las Posadas, Christian, primarily Mexican
To have your Q1 (Jan.-Mar. 2015) business-related events considered for publication in the next issue of DiverseCEO, submit them to info@diverseceo.com. Please include host organization along with event name, location, times and a brief description.
50 DIVERSE CEO | FALL 2014 | www.diverseCEO.com
16-24
Hanukkah (Chanukah) – Jewish
25
Christmas – Christian
26 – Jan. 1 Kwanzaa
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November is American Diabetes Month! Register for Reston’s own ADA Tour de Cure during November!
Northern Virginia Tour de Cure June 7, 2015 Reston Town Center
Ride 14, 20, 36, 68, or 108 miles on the beautiful trails of the W&OD and through farms and valleys of Virginia’s historic horse country! www.diabetes.org/novatourdecure
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