Red Hat Public Sector VP, GM Clara Conti Named to 2022 Wash100 for Leading Public Sector Growth; Driving Open Source Technology

Clara Conti, vice president and general manager of Public Sector business for Red Hat, has been recognized by Executive Mosaic as a first-time recipient of the most prestigious annual award in all of government contracting (GovCon), the Wash100 Award.

Visit Wash100.com to cast a vote for Clara Conti as one of your TEN votes to advocate for your favorite leaders in the federal and government sectors.

Executive Mosaic is pleased to recognize Conti as a 2022 Wash100 Award winner for her leadership to drive IT modernization efforts for Red Hat’s customers, including her vision for the future of innovative open-source technology and the company’s public sector business.

Red Hat announced back in Oct. 2021 that Clara Conti would be joining the company as its vice president and general manager of Public Sector business. Previously, she was the general manager of Presidio Government Solutions.

In addition, Clara also held positions at IBM and Aurora Technology Solutions. During her time with IBM, she was responsible for achieving targeted strategic results to capture new business and growth from the base for the company’s GBS Public Sector.

Through her leadership and great oversight from a business development strategy, Conti led IBM’s Public Sector business to larger deals and contract awards worth roughly $8 billion.

During a recent Executive Spotlight interview with GovCon Wire last month, Clara Conti spoke about her background in the public sector market and how it led to her appointment with Red Hat as well as why she wanted to join Red Hat and the upcoming opportunities coming for government agencies in the next five years.

Here’s a snippet of Clara Conti’s future goals for Red Hat’s 2022 performance:

GovCon Wire: What do you hope to accomplish in the coming year in your role with Red Hat?

Clara Conti: “We are experiencing a very unique time within the public sector with the enormous amount of funding coming to IT companies with the $100 billion infrastructure bill, IT Modernization initiatives, and the executive order on cybersecurity,” Conti explained. “The time is now for the industry to take advantage of this wave and start combatting the challenges that the pandemic has escalated across organizations with technology.”

In addition, Clara Conti also discussed open source technology as being the engine of innovation to help propel governments to get there. The challenge she discussed was about bridging the gap between government requirements and open source communities to ensure the capabilities are ready for government use.

“If you build your AI and ML models using open source in the cloud, you can deploy these models at the edge with little to no rework,” the 2022 Wash100 winner emphasized. “Open source AI and ML at the edge can make not only the impossible possible but they make the impossible possible faster.”

Most recently, Conti also participated in an Executive Spotlight interview with Potomac Officers Club (POC) on March 10th. As Clara Conti spoke with POC regarding her journey through the federal sector and the guiding principles that drive her personal and professional growth.

Here’s a snippet of Conti’s advice, after over two decades of experience in experience in strategic planning, customer acquisition, technology leadership and more, detailing how to build a long career in the federal landscape and driving yourself up the ladder over the years:

POC: How would you advise someone entering our industry to build their resume and advance their careers to be in the best position in the years to come?

Clara Conti: “I do not subscribe to ‘catching lightning in a bottle’ or ‘getting lucky.’ The effort you put in will reflect the true measure of your success,” Conti advocated. “My advice is to keep coming onto the field—and stick with it!

Rough patches will come, and they will challenge you. Ride them out. Follow through.

Keep building those relationships. And be patient. Because perseverance will be noticed, and humility, curiosity and authenticity are innate and cannot be masqueraded. Keep in mind your customers deserve the best you have to offer, and you will be successful.”

Visit Wash100.com to vote for Clara Conti and who you believe deserves the recognition as the most significant leader to the GovCon community and federal landscape.

Executive Mosaic is proud to recognize Red Hat and Clara Conti for being named a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient. As a first time winner of the most coveted award in GovCon, Conti has demonstrated a level of success and recognition that can only be recognized by the Wash100 Award and the GovCon community.