Pat Host 
Yvonne Vervaet, Nightwing chief growth officer, knows fostering rescue dogs is a lot like being an accomplished GovCon executive. Both jobs take time, stability and consistent guidance to bring success. One can’t just expect instant results.
Both involve seeing potential where others don’t. A good foster sees past fear and stress and recognizes the potential for a loving and well-adjusted companion. On the GovCon side, leaders like Vervaet spot opportunities in people, technologies or contracts that may seem risky or undervalued, but can grow into something transformative.
In both fostering and GovCon, success isn’t just about personal drive. It’s about patience, mentorship, structure and vision. Having joined Nightwing in April, Vervaet is responsible for the company’s strategic vision, business development and new capabilities for the intelligence community, federal civilian, defense and commercial markets.
Before joining Nightwing, Vervaet served as chief growth officer at Acclaim Technical Services and senior vice president for growth and capabilities and chief growth officer for MANTECH. She sat down with ExecutiveBiz for her first Spotlight interview to discuss how to prioritize contracts to pursue, advice for other GovCon professionals trying to move up the ranks and the most important factor in merger and acquisition target identification.
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ExecutiveBiz: How do you set your priorities around limited capture dollars? What goes into the decision-making process of what contracts you want to go after?
Yvonne Vervaet: We focus on alignment to our strategic plan, so as every deal is evaluated, the first question is: does it align with the capabilities we want to deliver or customer spaces in which we want to grow? We use an evaluation grid [customers versus capabilities] and plot out each potential opportunity to see if it progresses us towards the desired end state. We consider deal aspects such as mission impact, ability to scale and return on investment, to name a few.
EBiz: What advice would you give to those who are pursuing executive-level positions in GovCon and looking to accelerate their professional growth?
Vervaet: I think the simplest advice is that there is no substitute for hard work. I see lots of high potential candidates who are looking for the fast track or the easy button. There are some items you can invest in as solid building blocks for your future, such as Project Management Institute certifications, a master’s in business administration, Association of Proposal Management Professionals memberships for business development professionals, among others. But, at the end of the day, it’s really just showing up every day, working hard, solving problems and leading others by your actions.
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EBiz: Should the federal government create a standalone open-source intelligence agency? What would be some of the advantages or drawbacks involved with an OSINT agency?
Vervaet: OSINT is a tough question right now! I would love to see greater sharing of data and better agency collaboration to produce better and more actionable intelligence in a more timely manner. But I don’t think there is any appetite in the current fiscal environment to create a more expensive administration of another entity. I think the best we can do is encourage more data-sharing, which is exponentially better than it was 25 years ago, so let’s not forget all we have accomplished there! We should also leverage AI to maximize the value of the data we have.
EBiz: What’s the most important factor that goes into merger and acquisition target identification?
Vervaet: Scalability and alignment to strategic plan. We only evaluate companies who will help us move to our strategic objectives, such as new markets or new capabilities. We place a value on targets that can help us accelerate either a technology or market and how that technology can best support the national security objectives. Nightwing is laser-focused on our customers’ missions, so this is a major driver. Of course, we also need to make money at the end of the day, so we evaluate margins, market synergies and growth potential, as well.
EBiz: What advice do you have for GovCon companies trying to move up in today’s market and increase profitability?
Vervaet: I think the first thing is to understand the current Department of Government Efficiency environment. It has changed how a lot of our customers buy in the GovCon space. Look to how that can positively and negatively impact your business: Are there opportunities in a time of change? Don’t be afraid to take some big swings, bidding on work that you want that you may not have bid on previously. But don’t go crazy, you still need to run good capture and customer call plans to make sure you aren’t wasting money! We have seen a lot of customers change contractors over the last nine months who, historically, would not have done so.
