Compass’ Herman Leybovich Talks Creative Uses of Salesforce, Usable & Useful AI

Herman Leybovich, Compass Strategy Design president and CEO, brings a public service approach to the GovCon industry. A prior-service U.S. Marine, Leybovich seeks to provide optimism, respect and connection to the experience of government business.

As an expert on digital transformation and organizational strategy, Leybovich helps government customers leverage emerging technologies to perform their missions faster, smarter and more efficiently. Leybovich sat down with ExecutiveBiz for his first Spotlight interview, sharing his perspective on novel uses of Salesforce in GovCon, ensuring usable and useful AI, servant leadership and lessons from the TV show “The Chosen” that he applies to contracting.

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ExecutiveBiz: What are Compass Strategy Design’s core values and how do you think these values translate into continued success and growth in the GovCon market?

Herman Leybovich: This is probably my favorite question. At Compass, our core values spell out the word HERO—Heart, Excellence, Respect and Optimism—which is intentional, because we serve real heroes every day. More importantly, these aren’t just words on a wall—they guide our day-to-day decisions. If you joined one of our internal standups, you’d hear our team ask things like, “What does it look like to lead with heart in this situation” or “What does excellence look like here?”

Heart is about connecting with people. Behind every solution we deliver, there’s a person on the other side. We want those solutions to resonate, to bring joy and to genuinely improve their experience.

Excellence is about the details. There’s a story I love about the director [Dallas Jenkins] of “The Chosen.” He used authentic, centuries-old doors for the set, even though most viewers would never notice, because he believed in “sanding the underside of the drawer.” True excellence shows up even in the unseen things and we take that seriously at Compass.

Respect is essential because we have a team of incredibly diverse experts with different perspectives and backgrounds. The best ideas come from that diversity, and as a leader, I encourage my team to value and listen to one another.

As for optimism—well, there’s enough fear and negativity in the world. At Compass, we aim to inspire belief that even the impossible can be achieved. Our clients often face massive digital transformation challenges and feel overwhelmed. We’re the ones who say, “Yes, we can move that mountain—but we’ll do it one step at a time.”

Ultimately, success in GovCon comes down to people. In a market so often driven by profit, we believe that profit is the outcome of doing things the right way. At Compass, our mission is to prove that by focusing on people and values, we can drive meaningful outcomes, and do so with integrity.

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EBiz: What’s the most impactful trend you’re seeing in the GovCon market? How are you seeing GovCon organizations respond to that trend?

Leybovich: I think one of the most impactful trends in the GovCon space right now is the transition to generative AI. But I’d like to take a slightly different angle on it.

When we work with clients, simply turning on generative AI could actually cause more harm than good. Many organizations don’t yet have the data maturity, system integration or infrastructure needed to support AI in a way that delivers accurate and valuable outcomes. If the foundation isn’t there, AI can produce misleading or low-quality insights.

At Compass, we see ourselves as strategic partners helping clients get their systems, data and processes AI-ready. That way, when AI is deployed, it’s truly a benefit—delivering real value and actionable insights.

You can’t have a serious conversation about trends in GovCon without mentioning AI, but for us, it’s not about hype. It’s about ensuring AI is actually usable and useful, not just something added for marketing appeal.

EBiz: We’ve seen a historic migration within the IC towards more unclassified work, which is sparking changes in the way the it develops software. Can you elaborate more on the impact unclassified work has had on your organization’s software development?

Leybovich: Absolutely—I couldn’t agree more with that trend. Adversarial nations are increasingly operating in the open, often through transnational criminal organizations and illicit activities. They’re not hiding—they’re active both within the U.S. and in regions critical to our national interests and those of our allies. They’re also doing so without rules of engagement, which makes their operations dynamic, fast-paced and unpredictable.

That reality demands a different approach to software development. We need solutions that are agile, adaptable and responsive to rapidly-shifting missions. The mission can change overnight and the software must be able to pivot with it.

That’s where Compass comes in. We specialize in Salesforce application development and the Salesforce platform is uniquely suited to support fast-evolving mission needs. It allows us to build and deploy tools that are flexible and mission-aligned, enabling government agencies to respond quickly to emerging threats and challenges.

We’re also seeing a broader shift in the IC toward an open-source enterprise. While there will always be a critical need for classified networks and operations, and we deeply respect the professionals in those spaces, industry has a powerful role to play in the unclassified domain. Leveraging platforms like LinkedIn and other open-source tools, we can support the mission in meaningful and impactful ways. At Compass, we’re excited to contribute to that effort.

EBiz: When I was looking into your business, I noticed Compass is very centered around Salesforce. What inspired you to start a business focusing on Salesforce solutions?

Leybovich: I spent several years at Salesforce supporting government clients and what I noticed consistently was this disconnect between vision and execution. Salesforce would come in and present a compelling vision of how the platform could transform an agency. That vision was rooted in heart—it was about solving a real problem and making a meaningful impact.

But, too often, when implementation partners stepped in, the heart of that original vision got lost. The solutions delivered were technically functional, but they lacked alignment with the mission and purpose that had initially inspired the client. As a result, government stakeholders were often disappointed. The final product didn’t solve the problem it was meant to address.

That gap presented an incredible opportunity: to build a company that not only delivers great capability, but also leads with empathy and puts people at the center of the solution. For us, it became a powerful combination of business opportunity, real-world need and mission alignment. When those three elements come together, that’s the perfect foundation for launching a company.

EBiz: You have received your Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Certification. Why is this significant?

Leybovich: My entire career has been rooted in public service—I started as a U.S. Marine, and since transitioning to industry, I’ve continued to support the public sector, particularly the DOD and other U.S. government agencies. That’s where my heart is.

For me, the significance of this certification goes beyond just making it easier for the government to access Compass—although as a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, that is certainly a benefit. What matters most is that our clients know we genuinely understand and care about the mission. Even if we don’t always know the full details, where you’re operating or why, you can trust that we’re here to support you with empathy, commitment and purpose.

At Compass, we never forget that there’s an operator on the other end of every solution we deliver. We’re mission-driven, and that sense of service is at the core of everything we do.

EBiz: What do you think are the most pressing national security threats we’re facing today? How is your organization addressing these threats?

Leybovich: I mentioned transnational criminal organizations earlier, and that topic is always top of mind for me. Our adversaries are actively injecting harmful elements into civil society—fueling division, exploiting vulnerabilities and engaging in illicit activities like human and drug trafficking.

From where we sit in industry, it’s a privilege to support the missions that combat these threats—missions that involve rescuing children, dismantling trafficking networks and strengthening national security. At Compass, our opportunity, and our challenge, is to demonstrate how Salesforce can be a force-multiplying platform for these vital efforts.

When people hear Salesforce, they often think of traditional customer relationship management use cases—sales pipelines and customer tracking. But that view is outdated. Today, Salesforce is used in cabinet-level departments across the federal government and it’s fully applicable to the modern workflows of analysts, regardless of agency.

At Compass, we design Salesforce-based solutions that enhance analyst productivity and mission impact. Activity levels are increasing, but the number of analysts available to respond isn’t. While AI can assist, it’s not a silver bullet—there will always be a human in the loop. That’s why our focus is on helping analysts work smarter by routing the right data product to the right person at the right time.

Salesforce also helps keep people engaged in the mission. Using intelligent automation and personalization, tools that have powered private-sector contact centers for decades, we can help analysts find more purpose and even joy in their work by aligning tasks to their strengths and interests.

Ultimately, we believe Salesforce is a powerful platform—but it’s Compass that bridges the gap between the platform and the mission. We’re here to connect the dots and help agencies see how Salesforce can directly support and enhance their mission outcomes.

EBiz: What are some of the unique ways that Salesforce is used by the federal government to support their missions?

Leybovich: Let’s take a satellite example to illustrate the point. Imagine two satellites in orbit and one of them makes a small, unexpected movement—a slight turn that no one anticipated. That’s what we’d call an anomaly. These kinds of events happen all the time and they need to be tracked, evaluated and resolved.

Salesforce is a fantastic platform for this kind of anomaly tracking. At its core, an anomaly is just a case—something that needs to be assigned to the right specialist for evaluation, documentation, analysis and resolution. If necessary, it can then be routed to another expert or team. This kind of structured case management is where Salesforce excels.

Another powerful use case for Salesforce—one that connects back to its CRM roots—is network mapping. In sales, you track relationships: who reports to whom, who holds decision-making power and how individuals or departments are connected. That same logic is directly applicable to understanding transnational criminal organizations or threat networks. It’s all about mapping relationships and identifying how entities are connected.

The key point here is: we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Agencies often default to long and complex custom software development efforts, but Salesforce already offers a flexible, proven platform. It can be quickly adapted to match an agency’s specific terminology, workflows and processes. We can customize the interface and logic to support mission needs—whether it’s anomaly tracking, threat analysis or operational case management—without having to start from scratch.

That’s the value Compass brings: helping agencies realize that powerful, mission-aligned solutions already exist. Salesforce is ready and we know how to tailor it to the mission.

EBiz: What did you do in the Marine Corps and what skills and lessons from your Marine Corps days, if any, do you apply in your GovCon work?

Leybovich: I started my career as a satellite operator and maintainer in the Marine Corps—an organization that’s arguably one of the most mission-driven in the world. The principles, camaraderie and leadership I experienced there continue to shape the way we lead and operate at Compass.

Of course, there’s the mission aspect, which I’ve spoken about before—our deep commitment to supporting those who serve. But beyond that, the leadership lessons I learned in the Marine Corps are foundational to our culture. There’s a book called “Leaders Eat Last,” which reflects a key principle I experienced firsthand: in the chow hall, the highest-ranking U.S. Marines are the last to eat. That mindset—servant leadership—left a lasting impression on me.

It’s a daily reminder of how I want to lead Compass and how our leadership team operates. It’s not about extracting value from people—it’s about helping our team members achieve their career goals and helping our clients realize their vision for their organizations. Leadership at Compass is rooted in putting others first and creating a culture of service, support and shared success. Those values from the Marine Corps continue to guide how we build our company and our culture today.