5 GovCon Execs Share Insights & Industry Advice

The government contracting market is an ever-changing landscape that requires those who work within it to be agile, adaptable, entrepreneurial and quick on their feet. Executive Mosaic spoke with five GovCon executives to find out what it takes to not only be successful, but to thrive and climb the ranks in the highly competitive market.

“One of the things that separates the wheat from the chaff is persistence,” shared John Zangardi, CEO of Redhorse Corporation and 2022 Wash100 Award winner, in an exclusive video interview. “There’s a lot of other factors like integrity, your ability to talk with people and communicate — but it’s really persistence, really never giving up.”

Other executives highlighted the importance of leadership and the ability to fully understand the mission. Rob Carey, president of Cloudera Government Solutions and a previous Wash100 Award recipient, offered, “Lead, do not manage.”

“The government is looking for help being successful at its job. They’re not interested in your quarterly attainment metrics, they’re not interested in your sales numbers, they’re interested in things that solve their problems for a fair price,” shared Carey. “So leading is much more important than managing.”

Hear from other top-level executives like Wash100 Award winner Greg Wenzel, executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, Michael Conlin, chief technology officer at Definitive Logic, and Stuart Wagner, chief digital transformation officer for the Department of the Air Force, on how to succeed in GovCon in Executive Mosaic’s latest video.