John Wasson, president and CEO of ICF (Nasdaq: ICFI) and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, will succeed the retiring Sudhakar Kesavan as chairman of the company’s board, effective Jan. 1.
Kesavan, former CEO of ICF and a two-time Wash100 awardee, will retire from the board by the end of December after a 37-year career at the global consulting services company, ICF said Thursday.
"The board is extraordinarily grateful to Sudhakar for his incredible leadership, significant accomplishments, and strategic contributions that will have a lasting impact," said Eileen Auen, lead independent director at ICF's board. "We are confident that the strong foundation of growth Sudhakar helped build, coupled with a highly capable executive leadership team led by John Wasson, will allow ICF to continue to drive growth and stakeholder value well into the future."
Kesavan served as CEO for two decades and guided ICF’s expansion efforts, making more than 20 acquisitions and growing the company’s annual revenue from $100M to $1.5B. He also led ICF’s initial public offering in 2006.
ICF said Kesavan will continue to advise organizations on strategy and governance issues. He is chairman of the board at ABM (NYSE: ABM) and serves on the board of trustees for Inova Health System.
Kesavan is a “Wash100 winner, intellectual leader and inspirational titan of GovCon that has led by example for 40 years,” said Jim Garrettson, founder and CEO of Executive Mosaic and ArchIntel.
Wasson previously served as chief operating officer prior to assuming the role of CEO and board member in October 2019. Throughout his 33-year tenure at the company, Wasson has led client work in energy, public health, disaster recovery, environment and transportation areas.
