Executive Mosaic is pleased to unveil John Ustica, president and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies, as a winner of the 2023 Wash100 Award for his longstanding dedication to leading the SGT organization forward in technological development, partnership building and overall mission fulfillment.
The Wash100 Award, which annually honors the most notable leaders in the government contracting industry, is the most sought-after award in the community. In its historic 10th year, Ustica’s contributions to SGT and the wider GovCon field stood out during the rigorous selection process, which weighed each nominee’s past accomplishments and anticipated future successes.
As a 17-year veteran of Siemens’ power generation segment, Ustica had already established himself as a skilled leader before joining the industrial conglomerate’s government-focused business in 2018 as senior vice president and chief financial officer. His proven history within the company landed him the role of interim CEO in May 2022, which quickly propelled Ustica to his current role as president and chief executive in October.
“With over two decades of experience at Siemens, John Ustica was a natural choice to ascend into the CEO role. Siemens is an industry stalwart, and John has the experience and reputation to continue growing their footprint in GovCon,” commented Jim Garrettson, CEO of Executive Mosaic and founder of the prestigious Wash100 Award.
“The main reason I took the CEO job was number one, I really believe in the mission, and number two, I really love working with the team here — I couldn’t imagine leaving them,” Ustica said in a November 2022 interview with GovCon Wire.
Reflecting on the transition, he said his time in the new role has been a “hugely rewarding experience.”
Since Ustica took the helm, SGT has secured multiple major contract awards. In July 2022, the company won a $295 million U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center contract, under which it is currently working to increase operational efficiencies, safety and security across federal facilities.
More recently, SGT was chosen as one of the multiple vendors under the center’s $675 million contract for the installation, service and maintenance of electronic security systems at government facilities.
Building on last year’s momentum, Ustica noted two current areas of focus for SGT, the first of which is undertaking the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program process.
In a Jan. 12 LinkedIn post, Ustica detailed the growing importance of FedRAMP in critical government missions. According to Ustica, the program “offers a golden opportunity for federal agencies to save time and effort while securing and modernizing their network,” which he said is crucial as the federal workforce becomes increasingly reliant on data and the cloud.
In June 2022, SGT achieved a “Ready” designation under FedRAMP’s high impact baseline for the Siemens Defense Cloud, a software-as-a-service application suite built on the Teamcenter product lifecycle management platform and designed to support customers such as the Department of Defense.
“Getting that product lifecycle management Teamcenter tool is really the backbone, from a PLM perspective, for a lot of the large programs in the DOD. We want to make sure that we are providing the highest level of cybersecurity,” he told GovCon Wire.
Looking forward, Ustica aims to continue progressing the organization’s cybersecurity work with future FedRAMP efforts. He said that a second application has already begun the process, and he expects a third to follow.
His second guiding priority is supporting the Biden administration in boosting small business involvement within the GovCon industry.
SGT hit a milestone under this objective in July, when the organization launched a mentor-protege agreement with service-disabled veteran-owned NMR Consulting through the Small Business Administration.
The mutually-beneficial partnership has given SGT the opportunity to support NMR’s endeavors in infrastructure projects while opening up a broader range of opportunities for both companies.
“We can use the industry knowledge that NMR has while bringing in Siemens products and resources to serve customers in ways that we couldn’t individually,” Ustica elaborated.
He also expects the collaboration to enable closer involvement with the intelligence community.
“Working with small businesses and serving a customer with sensitive national security missions is really a win-win for both of us,” added Ustica.
SGT’s impressive performance last year reflects Ustica’s strong belief in cooperation between the public and private sectors, which he said: “opens access to a broad array of our brightest minds across industries with a multitude of perspectives.”
“The way we will move forward as a country is by taking the large challenges the government has and partnering with industry to help solve them,” Ustica added.
He is also stewarding the company’s work to help government customers connect physical and digital spaces with the use of digital twins and modeling tools.
“What that does for our customers is it allows much faster cycle times in making improvements,” told Executive Mosaic in a February 2023 video interview.
Executive Mosaic offers its most sincere thanks and congratulations to John Ustica and the SGT team for their first-ever Wash100 Award win.
To cast a vote for your favorite 2023 Wash100 Award winner, please visit Wash100.com.
