Growth strategy

Five Chief Growth Officers in the GovCon Sector

While the chief growth officer role is not new, it has grown in popularity as companies find themselves no longer able to rely on easy growth, according to hiring adviser Mondo. Chief growth officers are responsible for charting out how a company can grow based on what resources it has and what future trends it should account for.

Mondo noted that companies like Coca-Cola and Lyft have created chief growth officer roles in recognition of the position’s benefits in a digitally-driven marketplace.

The Potomac Officers Club—a division of Executive Mosaic—features five chief growth officers in the government contracting sector.

Brian Fitzpatrick, Chief Growth Officer at ATI

Brian Fitzpatrick is the chief growth officer at Advanced Technology International. He has been with the nonprofit organization since May 2021.

Fitzpatrick has over three decades of experience in consulting, IT, research and development and law enforcement information sharing. At ATI, he oversees merger and acquisition, business development, strategy and communications activities.

The executive worked at Logistics Management Institute before assuming his current leadership role. He was LMI’s chief growth officer from January 2018 to September 2020 and was the president and interim CEO from March 2020 to August 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Fitzpatrick handled multiple responsibilities at DXC Technology. He was a manager who supported the company’s dealings with the Canadian government and was a general manager for the U.S. public sector business after the company spun off from Computer Sciences Corp. and CSRA. Prior to the spinoff, he was the vice president of offering solutions at CSC.

Other leadership roles that Fitzpatrick handled are business development VP at American Systems and director of business development at Northrop Grumman. He started his career as the chief of staff to former New York Rep. Amo Houghton.

The ATI executive holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and journalism from St. Bonaventure University.

ATI performs research and development collaborations and offers portfolio management, contracting, financial management, event planning and training services to help the government obtain cutting-edge technologies. It is headquartered in Summerville, South Carolina, and has other offices in South Carolina, Virginia and Alabama.

David Hearding, Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer at Systems Planning and Analysis

David Hearding is the executive vice president and chief growth officer at Systems Planning and Analysis Inc., working out of Arlington, Virginia. He is a high-impact corporate executive who has successfully driven rapid growth and delivered advanced technological and professional services to federal agencies, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Hearding is further described as an innovative and strategic thinker who envisions and implements differentiated go-to-market strategies. His professional experience includes full profit and loss responsibility, C-Suite growth leader, strategic and tactical expertise in top and bottom-line growth, program execution, pipeline development, capture, and talent acquisition and retention.

Hearding joined SPA in December 2013, years prior to its acquisition by Arlington Capital Partners. In his current role, he is responsible for all aspects of corporate growth for a $180 million private equity-owned company. His job covers oversight of marketing, pipeline management, opportunity capture, proposal development and training, among others.

Previously, Hearding was president of his own company, Hearding LLC. The company brought proven P&L experience in federal markets, helping clients with difficult business challenges, the executive’s profile further revealed.

Hearding also served as a founding director at Ecohawk Tech Services until November 2021. He helped form the company via several select strategic mergers and acquisitions.

Hearding’s career began in the Navy, where he served for 29 years. Before retiring from military service, he held the rank of captain and was a nuclear-trained submarine officer.

Hearding earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from the United States Naval Academy. He later earned his degree in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Rebecca Torzone, Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Officer at Northrop Grumman

Rebecca Torzone is a senior vice president and chief growth officer at Northrop Grumman. She has been holding her current leadership role since November 2020.

In her current role, Torzone oversees engineering, sciences, analytics and logistics aspects in support of the company’s Missile Products business unit. The Missile Products unit is responsible for developing ballistics propulsion systems, warheads and control systems for air-, sea- and land-based systems.

Torzone was also the VP of engineering and sciences at Northrop’s Airborne Sensors and Networking business unit, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The industry veteran worked at Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems from 2012 to 2014. The leadership roles she held with the NG unit are director of bomber programs and director of pod production programs.

In 2015, the company went through a reorganization in which NG Electronic Systems merged with another business unit to form Northrop Grumman Mission Systems.

She started her career in 2000 as a systems engineer for Northrop. She held this position for nearly 11 years.

Torzone holds a master’s degree in aeronautical science and a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She also graduated from Colorado Technical University with a master’s degree in computer science.

Northrop Grumman offers technologies and services that support the military across all domains, from sea to space and cyber. It is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, and has multiple offices within and outside the U.S.

Dan Deans, Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer at Axient

Dan Deans is the executive vice president and chief growth officer of defense and space manufacturer Axient, working out of Ashburn, Virginia. He is a career executive, reliability engineer and business developer who has spent more than 30 years serving in the aerospace, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and chemical manufacturing industries, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Deans joined Alabama-headquartered Axient in October 2009. He has helped grow the company by harnessing his abilities in business development, program management, reliability engineering, availability optimization and small satellite development, his profile states.

Before joining his current employer, Deans was a divisional vice president at the mission services division of ManTech Systems Engineering. In that role, he led over 130 engineers and technicians in providing system safety, reliability and quality engineering services to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Specifically, he focused on contracts related to mission assurance services for the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Earlier in his career, Deans was the global reliability leader at Dow Chemical, where he was responsible for over six billion dollars in global assets spread across six manufacturing sites around the world.

Deans continues to serve as a member of the external advisory committee of the University of Texas at Austin‘s Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Department. He earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the same institution.

Ronald Baham, Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer at QinetiQ US

Ronald Baham serves as executive vice president and chief growth officer at QinetiQ US, a defense manufacturing company with expertise in areas such as robotics, advanced sensors, maritime systems and soldier protection.

Baham is in charge of QinetiQ’s business development strategy in the United States. The scope of his duties include capture, sales, pricing and proposal management, QinetiQ said.

According to the company, Baham has 15 years of experience working on information technology solutions and services in support of Department of Defense components. He also has over 18 years of experience in growing businesses in the defense industry. QinetiQ added that he has designed software for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; human intelligence operations; and collection management applications that have been in service for over 20 years.

Prior to joining QinetiQ in March, Baham spent over half a decade at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, according to his LinkedIn profile. He helped Northrop develop growth strategies for advanced analytics, mission ground operations, cyber and other areas.

Baham previously served for 10 years in various executive leadership roles at Leidos, including head of corporate business development, director of business development for the integrated systems group and strategic account executive.

Baham earned a master’s degree in management information systems from Webster University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Old Dominion University.

ABOUT POTOMAC OFFICERS CLUB

The Potomac Officers Club is owned and operated by Executive Mosaic. Since 2002, Executive Mosaic has been a leader in media and exclusive senior executive networking programs primarily targeted to the U.S. federal government contracting (GovCon) marketplace. In addition to connecting executives of consequence into a fabric of like minded communities, the company’s growing cross-media platform serves as a leading source of news about the people, policies, trends and events shaping the nation’s GovCon sector.