IT Chief Launches Third Career
FORMER ARMY CIO GUENTHER JOINS SMALL FIRM WITH AN EYE ON GROWTH.
After serving as the first chief information officer of the Army and then as an executive with large corporations, Lieutenant General Otto J. Guenther (Ret.) has embarked on what he calls a “third career” dedicated to helping a small IT services firm become a major player in providing technology capabilities to the military.
Guenther recently joined the board of directors of Fairfax, Va.-based SNVC, where he will serve in an active, part-time capacity in helping the 60-employee company develop strategy and reach out to customers.
In addition to being Army CIO, Guenther during his 34 years in the military also served as commanding general for Fort Monmouth, N.J., and the Communications Electronics Command; program executive officer for the Army’s tactical communications equipment; project manager for the Tactical Automated Data Distribution System, and commander for the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council.
After leaving the Army, Guenther served as general manager of Computer Associates International’s Federal Systems Group. He then joined TRW, which was subsequently acquired by NGC. At the latter company, he was general manager of the Tactical Systems Division, where he oversaw battlefield digitization, command and control, and system engineering activities for the Army, including development of the widely praised Blue Force Tracking system being used in Southwest Asia.
During a recent interview, Guenther reflected both on his new position and the changes he has seen in military information technology over the years.
“What’s important to me at this point in my career is coming into a small business and helping it move ahead. These folks are very focused on the Army and other customers that we’re trying to develop, who are all in support of the warfighter,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to work with a financially sound small business that wants to grow in support of DoD and graduate and continue to drive on. More than anything else, it’s a high-integrity company operating to the same high standards I have worked with in both the Army and my other previous companies.”
EXPANDED FOCUS
Guenther noted that SNVC is seeking to expand beyond its current focus on the Army. While the company’s clients include the Missile Defense Agency, National Guard Bureau and Defense Information Systems Agency, the bulk of its current work is with Army organizations such as the Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems. The company’s core solution offerings are in the areas of program management, telecommunications and technical/engineering support.
“SNVC wants to move from a small business to one that is going to graduate the small business program. As the company moves to achieve that goal, they have shown that they’re not going to sacrifice their reputation as being on time, on cost and fully supportive of their customers,” he said. “One of the reasons I’ve joined them is that they have never messed up past performance. If it takes an investment by this company in terms of people or resources to support their customer, they’re going to do that. They don’t forget that there are young people, whom they are supporting, fighting a war.”
Having worked for both large and small companies in the private sector, Guenther also offered some telling observations on the similarities and differences between the two categories of defense contractors. “One thing that isn’t any different is in their dedication to supporting their customers. But a larger company has the ability to invest more financially to be able to chase bigger opportunities, while a smaller company has more limited resources,” he observed. On the other hand, “A small company is very focused every day on the customer, and on sustaining the relationship with the government partner. My involvement with SNVC will be to assist them with their strategic planning, including the expansion and sustainment of their relationships with government and industry.”
Looking back on his term as Army CIO during the early days of digitization, Guenther also offered praise for the continuing progress achieved by his successors in developing new capabilities. “We knew the power of computer capabilities, but now the people who are doing my old job have put that concept into operation. Now, soldiers trust digitization and computers. They’ve also been able to get better communication to support those digitization and commandand-control capabilities.
“The bandwidth supporting the Army C4 community has been expanded down to the tactical environment, which we didn’t have then. They have been able to get more bandwidth down to the warfighters, and made digitization of the battlefield more capable, so that everybody is comfortable that it works well. Today, our warfighters can see themselves, the enemy and our friendly forces. What you see out there is a monumental warfighting capability that the enemy doesn’t have,” he said.
Guenther’s comments on SNVC’s future plans were echoed by Thomas DeWitt, the company’s president and chief executive officer.
“We’re staying focused on our domain expertise and the customers who are important to us,” he said. “When SNVC was founded in 1998, we wanted to continue to support the warfighter, to focus on areas where we could make the most difference as a small company. We are extremely good at providing support in the areas of network engineering, telecommunications and program management, especially verification and validation, and working side by side with the government program managers, helping them understand what it is that they are getting.
“We started out at SNVC saying we didn’t want the really big jobs, just the important ones,” DeWitt said. “With the addition of our board of directors, we’ve added a layer of leadership that can help take us to the next level. Their understanding of not only the tactical Army, but also of the warfighter and protector of the homeland, will help us do just that.” ♦
