Paul Leslie
Monday, February 25, 2008
Position: President and chief operating officer, Apptis, a Chantilly-based technology services provider to the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, the Federal Aviation Administration and other federal agencies.
Career highlights: President, chief executive and co-founder of Apogen Technologies; managing director, McGuire Woods Capital; chief operating officer, BTG; general manager, TRW; senior vice president, BDM International; director, defense systems, EDS; and systems software engineer, EDS.
Age: 55.
Education: BS, mathematics, Boston State College.
Personal: Lives in Fairfax with wife Julia and their children: daughter Alex, 18; son Collin, 16; and daughter Sydney, 11.
How did you get to where you are?
I actually began my career in the software development, systems integration and technology industry. With my first career opportunity, I spent 13 years at EDS in various positions both technical and managerial. It was at a time when EDS was extremely entrepreneurial, and the opportunities that I had there to enhance and grow in my career were phenomenal. I took every advantage with each opportunity to learn and grow. For a number of years I enjoyed running EDS's systems engineering development program for its eastern region. It was through this developmental program that EDS develops its "can do" culture. You could only complete that program if you had the right work ethic and motivation to get through the boot-camp style of training.
In 1990, I joined BDM International, an engineering and information technology company. At BDM, I led the systems integration and technology business unit and grew that business from one contract to a $125 million business unit in less than five years. While EDS allowed me to hone my technical and management skills, BDM gave me the opportunity to enhance my business knowledge and leadership skills. In working directly with the senior management and executives of BDM, I always felt I was learning from some of the best in the industry. While there, I was the executive manager of two key system development programs of what I would call national significance. One was the development and implementation of the Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR program, and the other was the development and implementation of the American Red Cross's national blood product manufacturing information system.
BDM was acquired by TRW in 1997. I worked through the whole acquisition and integration into TRW, but the company was so culturally different with lots of bureaucratic processes and sign-offs that by comparison the business pace slowed to a crawl. I left TRW and joined BTG as chief operations officer. Working with the senior management team, we created an organization that became highly focused on vertical markets within the government sector. This led to significant improvement in organic growth and great success, thanks to teamwork and collaboration.
In 2003, I had the great fortune to be part of a private-equity-backed management team that founded Apogen Technologies. We were acquired after a little over two years of hard work acquiring companies, integration of those firms and key organic growth. The Apogen experience emphasized teamwork and collaboration -- setting realistic expectations, managing costs and measuring our success.
Now with Apptis, I believe that the key to long-term success will be getting the right resources, investments and tools into the hands of the people who can really make a difference. Our success is not going to come from one individual's effort or any one member of the executive team. Our success will come from the team effort of each and all of our employees, from the chief executive to the general manager to the program manager, and most important, to the great contribution of all our employees.
-- Judith Mbuya