ACG National Capital
Next week, ACG members and their guests will have the unique opportunity to learn from one of government contracting industry’s most recognized business leaders when Guidehouse CEO, Scott McIntyre, presents at the monthly chapter meeting.
A recipient of the Wash100 Award for three consecutive years, Mr. McIntyre will share what he has learned at the helm of Guidehouse, the 7,000 person-strong evolution of PwC Public Sector, which last year completed a $1.1 billion acquisition of Navigant Consulting that exponentially increased the company’s size and capabilities.
Mr. McIntyre will share his lessons learned from the Navigant acquisition with those in attendance, including identifying your company’s key growth factors, the role of a private equity partner, and what to look for in an acquisition. To get a deeper sense of what members and guests can learn from him within these topic areas, we sat down with Mr. McIntyre. Here is what he had to say:
Corporate Growth, Capital Style (CGCS): First, tell our readers a little about yourself. What unique experience and expertise do you think led to your winning of three consecutive Wash100 awards?
Scott McIntyre: I really love my job, and the best aspect of it is working with talented people at all levels from whom I can learn and simultaneously for whom I can provide career growth and opportunities.
Allowing for the very real possibility of a clerical error, the only other thing that could explain receiving the Wash100 recognition for the past three years is that when you are surrounded by really talented leaders and practitioners, success inevitably follows.
My job is straightforward in terms of setting strategy, ensuring we have guard rails in place to keep us focused, and enabling talented leaders to do their thing. That has resulted in a lot of growth, disruption and value delivery.
CGCS: Guidehouse recently acquired Navigant Consulting. What unique services and capabilities does it add to Guidehouse’s portfolio?
Scott McIntyre: The Navigant transaction is a game changer and it gives us exactly what we set out to acquire from a capabilities perspective.
Specifically, Navigant injects into our business deep commercial expertise in industries that are adjacent to our public sector footprint in terms of financial services, energy and utilities, life sciences and healthcare. Navigant also brings us a world class forensics and investigations capability and a rapidly-growing sustainability business working with some of the biggest consumer and industrial product companies in the world.
CGCS: One of the topics that you will be covering on January 24th is how a corporate growth professional should address their company’s key growth factors, so how is this deal instructive in that regard?
Scott McIntyre: What’s been working for Guidehouse so far is having discipline in aligning investments and acquisitions with our strategy.
There are so many opportunities to grow, expand and build your brand available to businesses today. Many of them can be outside of your core capabilities, or beyond your institutional fortitude to fully bring to market. It seems easier than ever to get distracted from your strategic direction today, but having the discipline to stick to your strategy and lead in your market results in better decisions.
CGCS: What other lessons from the acquisition will you be sharing with attendees? Why are these important lessons to delve more deeply into?
Scott McIntyre: The most important criterion we had when looking for a business that we could combine with – and collectively build a global brand with – was culture.
Shared values, similarly rewarding desired behaviors, focusing on quality, and having a passion for peoples’ success were the things that we had to have in a business partner; and that’s exactly what we found in Navigant.
CGCS: You are uniquely able to discuss how working with private equity can accelerate a business’s growth strategy and assist in acquisitions. How did being a portfolio company of a private equity firm help Guidehouse in this acquisition?
Scott McIntyre: The most obvious area where private equity benefited us in this transaction was having Veritas Capital act as our deals team. By leveraging their substantial expertise, investment success, and their transaction playbook, we were able to get this deal done quickly, and perform a level of diligence on the hard and soft stuff that simply would not have been achievable without their involvement.
To learn more and register for Mr. McIntyre’s discussion, click HERE.