April 14, 2025 • 19 mins
Dennis Kelly, Tyto’s Chief Executive Officer, brings over 30 years of executive experience in the defense and intelligence industry and a proven record of advancing growth, business development, and operational excellence.
A visionary and strategic leader, U.S. Navy veteran, and a prominent and respected active contributor to the government contracting industry and community, Dennis has held offices such as chief executive officer and president and served in chief operating officer roles in several businesses where he developed strategic plans that successfully led enterprises towards enhanced profitability and unprecedented growth.
Throughout his career, Dennis has served as an executive leader for several fast-growing companies in the government technology and national security sectors.
Prior to Tyto Athene, Dennis served as CEO of Eqlipse Technologies, where he led the development and execution of a growth strategy to expand the company into new Department of Defense and Intelligence Community mission areas. He also led Eqlipse through seven strategic acquisitions and associated integrations over eighteen months. Prior to Eqlipse, Dennis served as President and COO of CenTauri, a space, directed energy, cyber, and intelligence solutions firm. At CenTauri, he led a team responsible for doubling the size of the business in less than eighteen months and built a BD team capable of embracing new opportunities that expanded the pipeline to over $4B in qualified opportunities and realized an average sixty-percent win rate.
Dennis’s career as an executive leader also includes firms such as Buchanan & Edwards, Inc., IOMAXIS, LLC, A-T Solutions, PAE, Tech Team Government Solutions, and Anteon International, Inc.
Dennis has served as co-chair of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce GovCon committee and an adjunct professor in the George Mason University Executive MBA program. Previously, Dennis has been a member of the Board of the Professional Services Council, the USO of Metropolitan Washington–Baltimore, and the executive committee for the Annual D.C. Walk fundraiser for the American Heart Association.
Dennis holds a bachelor’s degree from Roger Williams University with a major in industrial engineering technology and a minor in computer technology. Dennis also earned an executive MBA from the University of Rhode Island.
A visionary and strategic leader, U.S. Navy veteran, and a prominent and respected active contributor to the government contracting industry and community, Dennis has held offices such as chief executive officer and president and served in chief operating officer roles in several businesses where he developed strategic plans that successfully led enterprises towards enhanced profitability and unprecedented growth.
Throughout his career, Dennis has served as an executive leader for several fast-growing companies in the government technology and national security sectors.
Prior to Tyto Athene, Dennis served as CEO of Eqlipse Technologies, where he led the development and execution of a growth strategy to expand the company into new Department of Defense and Intelligence Community mission areas. He also led Eqlipse through seven strategic acquisitions and associated integrations over eighteen months. Prior to Eqlipse, Dennis served as President and COO of CenTauri, a space, directed energy, cyber, and intelligence solutions firm. At CenTauri, he led a team responsible for doubling the size of the business in less than eighteen months and built a BD team capable of embracing new opportunities that expanded the pipeline to over $4B in qualified opportunities and realized an average sixty-percent win rate.
Dennis’s career as an executive leader also includes firms such as Buchanan & Edwards, Inc., IOMAXIS, LLC, A-T Solutions, PAE, Tech Team Government Solutions, and Anteon International, Inc.
Dennis has served as co-chair of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce GovCon committee and an adjunct professor in the George Mason University Executive MBA program. Previously, Dennis has been a member of the Board of the Professional Services Council, the USO of Metropolitan Washington–Baltimore, and the executive committee for the Annual D.C. Walk fundraiser for the American Heart Association.
Dennis holds a bachelor’s degree from Roger Williams University with a major in industrial engineering technology and a minor in computer technology. Dennis also earned an executive MBA from the University of Rhode Island.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You should know Howard by Iheartgava.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Let's meet Dennis Kelly.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
He is the CEO for Tito a Theme, a company
that provides a mission focused digital transformation solutions specializing in
integrating and modernizing enterprise level operations for US defense, national security, intelligence, space,
and public safety agencies.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Before we talk more about Dennis's.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Company, I first asked him to talk a little bit
about himself, where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, I grew up in New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
In the early days of my life here, moved around
Northern Jersey quite a bit, and you know, ultimately we
moved down to Florida when I was in high school.
So I went to high school in Florida and then
joined the Navy, and I got my formal education after
my time in the Navy. I was a sonar technician
in the Navy, So I got my bachelor's and my MBA.
(00:52):
After I served my time in the Navy, and I
went to Roger Williams University and the University of rode
I because that's where I was sort of at at
the time.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Understanding Willison, thanks for your service. I always get intrigued
when somebody is leading companies that they had military service.
And the reason why I asked that is that living
in the DMV, I've talked to enough people like you
that have served, and I'm always very appreciative of that,
But also the structure that you served in, and then
relating to the private sector.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
As a leader.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Could you if I could just indulge you in our
listeners about leadership from the military going into the private sector.
What did you bring across that helped you out?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, So I learned about leadership in the military. You know,
my time in the Navy taught me, you know, how
you have to rely on your team, and literally in
the Navy it's you know, there's life or death situations
where you you rely on your teammates to you know,
to sort of keep you safe. You know, when you
go to bed, there's somebody up there driving the ship
(01:51):
and if they're they fall asleep at the wheel, it
could have really bad consequences. Right, So you learn, you know,
reliance on each other, and you're in that you have
you have to be an active participant in that. You know,
if you're going to rely on your shipmate to make
sure that you're okay, they have to rely on you
for the same thing. So there's a lot of leadership
(02:12):
principles built into that in my view.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So what did you want to do after you left
the service?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
So when I left the service, I wanted to really
continue to serve the mission, right. So the best way
I found for me to do that was to, you know,
jump into the you know, the defense and intelligence industry,
where you know, I could I could support the mission
in a different way, maybe not right on the front
line and uniform, but by providing solutions and capabilities that
(02:40):
are warfighters needed to keep our nation safe.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I know, we could go on and on about your
incredible resume because you have led so many companies, you
dine so many things. But before we get into where
you're currently at, talk a little bit about because I
want to give context to what you're doing now about
all the things you have done in the past.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
So I started in this business as a system engineer,
designing systems for the Navy, mostly in the anti submarine
warfare realm, and really sort of got my start there really,
you know, working technical issues, software development, system engineering types
of issues. And then you know that eventually led to
(03:18):
roles in project management and program management, and I sort
of felt like I wanted to leverage my leadership skills
from the Navy and sort of gravitate it more towards
the management side of things, and ultimately served in a
number of executive roles. And I'm now on my fifth
role as a CEO serving in this industry.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So we're going to talk a lot about Title a
theme and you've been there for about a year now.
With that said, we talked about the diversity of being
in the Navy leading all these different companies and all
of your experience. I can see why they were interested
in bringing you on board as CEO. Why did you
want to join them?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well, I mean, really the main reason I wanted to
join Title Athene is I had worked with the private
equity firm that that backed this company on two previous occasions,
so I enjoyed working with them. Arlnkedin Capital Partners is
the is the private equity firm that I had worked
with previously at Eclipse and a company called Centauri, and
(04:18):
so I knew how they operated. I knew they were
really focused on investing in this segment of the market.
They're really smart investors and they're great partners. So that
is probably what initially led me to title. But then
as I learned more about what Tito Athene did, I
really thought, well, you know, there's a company that's really
focused on mission solutions and I want to be a
(04:39):
part of that.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And that's that's how I wound up here.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
All right, Well, Dennis will speak in a mission what
is the mission statement of the company.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
So we're really in the really network modernization business, and
you know, we're we're helping our customers move data and
we like to say data to dominance, right, We're helping
make sure that our customers can move the right data
to the right place so that key critical decisions can
be made. You know that are really life or death decisions, right,
(05:08):
So you know, we do that by modernizing the network
the various communications that go along with that. It could
be voiceover IP or telecommunications. And then I would say,
since I've been here over the last year, we've put
a real focused on cybersecurity and we've done some acquisitions
in the cybersecurity realm that I think are really bolstering
(05:29):
our cybersecurity capabilities, you know, for our customers, and that
is such a critical challenge for our customers right now.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
So Dennis, you're leading into this a little bit, but
if you were to give a thirty thousand foot view
of all the new listeners that are hearing about Title
with ten for the first time, what would you tell
them that you exactly do.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
So what we do is, you know, we are really
focused on infrastructure modernization projects for our customers, networks, secure communications,
and then the cybersecurity that goes with that to protect
and secure the information that's flowing through those networks.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So, in a nutshell, that's what we do.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Well, I imagine and you know, I've had an opportunity to
talk to people like you that are in this industry
and you know, with AI and technology and all the
super secrets of you have to do, it's got to
be very fluid. So I imagine the education process, keeping
up with processes and capabilities and all the things that
you do, but also what your client's want is quite
a challenge.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
How do you do it all?
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Well, it's changing all the time, and really what we
do is, you know, we're in the business of attracting
very talented technology people to our company, but once they're here,
we continually have to invest in their education in there.
You know, they're being up on the latest and greatest technologies.
(06:52):
You mentioned aim L. That's increasingly becoming a big part
of how we do business. I mean, just in the
cybersecurity realm, have to really employ AI m L capabilities
because the you know, the the bad guys are doing
that right, so you've got to keep pace with the
threat and you know so, so it's about having the
best technical minds working on these problems. But it's also
(07:14):
equally important to have folks like myself who have spent
time in the military then understand the domain, because one
without the other isn't very helpful. You have to have,
you know, the latest technical solutions, but you have to
have people who understand how those solutions can be employed
and used in a you know, in a military or
a war fighting environment.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Dennis, I don't want to make any assumptions that anybody
out there does exactly what you your team in tied
to a thing do. But with that said, in the
competitive space, how do you differentiate yourself from said competition?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Great question.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
You know that's something that we work at every day.
So if we're just another network or IT contractor that
has no differentiation where you know, we're certainly not going
to grow or or or you know, really take our
business into new customer markets. It's something that you really
need to hone every day. So one of the things
(08:09):
that I think really makes us unique is our cybersecurity capabilities.
We acquired a company back in July called Mindpoint Group,
and they have a sock capability, so secure operations center capability,
and they sell that as a service, so they're able
to bring in a full upsock capability and provide that
(08:29):
as a service. They're one of the only providers, so
we're one of the only providers that have that capability
in the marketplace. So that is one example of something
that makes us unique. As we look at doing future acquisitions,
the number one criteria for us is how will it
differentiate title with being in the marketplace? Right So it's
not just adding a customer or revenue or people, it's
(08:52):
what technical discriminator is it going to bring to us?
And that's a key focus for us right now.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
What kind of challenges are in the industry currently for
you and your team.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
So certainly right now, you know it's a it's a
constrained budget environment, right, So this is a this is
an environment. Although there's still plenty of funding out there,
there is a desire in the part of you know,
the the nation right now to really reel in our
debt and our deficits, and so that puts budget pressure
(09:22):
on our customers. And so it's you know, earlier in
my career there was a lot of do more with
less sort of talk, and I think we're returning to
that now. You know, we're you know, we're needing to
be more efficient. These are textpayer dollars we're spending here,
so we need to be as efficient with them as
we possibly can. And interestingly, I think things like artificial
(09:44):
intelligence and machine learning can help.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Us do that.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
You know, if you can have you know, a series
of bots do some of the things that need to
be done that are repetitive in nature and whatnot, when
you don't need a room full of people to do well,
that's going to effectively become more efficient. So I think
I think just dealing with the budget constraints of the
environment right now is probably what's on everyone's mind. Bringing
the most efficient team, the most efficient solutions to our
(10:10):
customers is the order of the day.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Speaking of customers, Dennis, what's the footprint of the company.
Is it exclusive to the d m v is domestically
or are you also international?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
So we support all of our US federal customers wherever
they may need us to around the globe. We are
in all branches of the of the defense you know, business.
We are in the intelligence community. Space is another area
that we are very active in. So and then we're
(10:42):
on the national security side of the federal civil business.
So I think Department ADJUSTICE, FBI, DA, those kinds of
customers you know, are are more national security oriented.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's pretty much how I define our customer base. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
One of the things, as I found out after we
got through COVID, that there's a lot of companies that
had to pivot out there, but people like you and
your team, a lot of people were already remote. With
that said, when it comes to leadership and culture, making
sure that people get the job done but also have
that work life balance and and very intense atmosphere, what
your team does, how do you manage all those people.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
In doing that?
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Yes, I'd put them in two buckets, Dennis. One would be,
you know, if it's a customer requirement and they require
our people to be you know, in a skiff or
you know, on a base or whatnot.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Well, that's where they need to be to do their job.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Right, there are some jobs where that's just the requirement, right,
I think for for everybody else, that's sort of more
in the back office or you know, supporting us here
at Corporate, in our in our rest and town center location,
we've tried really hard not to mandate that anyone has
to be in the office. And what we've done is
taken an approach where we you know, we definitely want
(11:56):
people to be in the office because we think that
provides for more collaboration and more team building and whatnot,
but we're not requiring it. And you know, what we're
trying to get people to want to do is to
come to the office. So we're creating an environment here
where people want to be here. And we've seen that
within the year that I've been here, we've seen dramatic
(12:18):
throughput in terms of how many people are coming into
the office every day and collaborating and it's just sort
of naturally happening because of the environment that we've created here.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
So that's sort of the way I look.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
At I think if you start telling people, if somebody
can do their job from their desk at home, you
should let them do it if that's what they want
to do. I mean, that's where you have to find
the talent sometimes. But if you make this just a
really attractive place to be, I think people are naturally
going to want to be here, and that's what we've seen.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
I know that people like you and your team always
think about the future. We talk a little bit about
how fluid technology AI is and everything's moving very quickly.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
But as you look.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Down the road, obviously the industry and your clients are
going to need you as up the anne. I mean,
the world's on fire and it has been for a
long time, and I know you know that intimately. With
that said, what does the future look like for your
industry and specifically your company?
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Well, I think, you know, I think the US federal
government is the largest buyer of technology in the world,
and I think they will always be that, right. I mean,
we are, you know, we have the best military, the
best intelligence community that is, you know, obviously fueled by
very brave and courageous people that serve in uniform, but
(13:29):
it's also served by just cutting edge technology, the best
of the best, and I think our customers are always
going to demand that. And I think for companies like
ours who bring them the you know, the best technical
solutions that are out there, I think that we're always
going to have a partnership and I think the future
is very bright for companies that provide those kinds of solutions.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Dennis, if I could put.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
A pin and work just for a second and talk
about philanthropic and charity work and whether it has to
do with the company or maybe you personally with your family,
what do you like to be involved in So.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Where I really it probably won't be a big surprise
to you that I spent a lot of time focused
on charities to support our military. So one charity that
we're really passionate about here is the Fisher House Foundation.
And you know that obviously gives a military and veteran
(14:21):
families a place to go when their loved one is
you know, maybe in a hospital or you know, ill
or whatnot. So in titles sixteen year history of being
involved with the Fisher House, we've we've raised almost six
hundred thousand dollars for them, So we've we just we
do an annual charity golf tournament. We had I think
a record year this year. We raised almost seventy five
(14:43):
thousand dollars for them, And you know, that is a
you know that that is the kind of charity that
I've liked to be involved with.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
But you know, there's others.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
You know, there's the Bouldercress Foundation that I personally am
involved with, which gives a you know, PTSD support to
our MI military members. You know, outside of that, I've
been involved with the American Heart Association. You know, my
dad suffered with heart disease, so that's something that you know,
outside of the military and more of a personal thing
(15:12):
that I've been very passionate about. But you know, overall,
supporting fill and profit efforts to support our people in
uniform is what I really liked is support.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Well, I appreciate you sharing all that, and I've talked
to people at Fisher House and also Bouldercrest out of
Texas to great people so that you're involved in that's wonderful. Well, listen,
I did want to ask you one more thing about leadership,
and I realized that your journey is very specific to you,
but we have a lot of future leaders that listen
to the series, and of course a lot of CEOs
and founders that also enjoy hearing from people like you.
(15:45):
Well that said, maybe just a little advice. You've done
a lot, you've served, You've been a part of many
different companies, and you're doing some very important work right now.
If you can impart some advice on people that will
lead a company someday, what would you tell them?
Speaker 4 (16:00):
You know, it really probably goes back to something I
learned as a child, something I even learned in church.
And you know, it's do unto others as you would
have done unto you. Right, So I think that that
simple sort of phrase is a bedrock of what I
think about when I'm dealing with anyone in a particular situation,
is you know, how would I want to be treated?
Because you know, when you're a leader, there are times
(16:21):
when you have to make really tough decisions, and you know,
I always want to be that leader that's approachable that
you can come to me and you can really, you know,
lay a problem at my feet and ask for help,
and I'm going to be there to help you. And
I think I've been known for that in my career.
I have people all the time that reach out to
me from previous companies that I've worked with and whatnot,
(16:44):
and sometimes they just want you to lend an ear
to a problem they're having. And I always have time
for people like that because I just think if I
were in a similar situation, it comes back to that
basic principle. I would want to feel comfortable coming to
someone like myself and saying, hey, I need I need
help or I need your advice on something.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
So well, Dennis, I'm glad, I'm glad you brought that
up because one of the things you're talking about that
I've said for a long time, whether it's at my
place of business or I think just with humanity, it's
simple acknowledgment.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Sounds like that's what you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
That's what it is, it really is, and just you know,
treating people the way you'd want to be treated and
be a decent human being. So that's you know that
I couldn't live with myself if I didn't, you know,
if I didn't carry myself that way.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
That's just the way I am.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Well, I thank you and I are both on the
same page that we could probably use a little bit
more acts of kindness when it comes to where we
are today in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
So I appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
I do want to get some final thoughts from you,
and I've really enjoyed the conversation you do. You and
your team are doing incredible work there and we're so
appreciative that we're able to sleep at night from all
the things that we don't know that you're doing that
you are protecting our country with your clients out there.
But just some final thoughts from you, sir about what
we talked about the floor is yours?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, great, appreciate it. Well.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
You know what I would say is that a company
like ours lives in breeds on good people. So we're
always looking for good people to help us support our
customers really interesting and important missions. So if you're a
former military person that you know has that domain expertise
I talked about, or if you're a technology person, a
cybersecurity person, come come look up, look us up. I mean,
(18:25):
we've got a lot of opportunities here. We'd love to
make you part of Team Title. You can go to
go title dot com and you know, look on our
careers page and you'll see a lot of opportunities out there,
and we'd love to have you make you part of
the team, so.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Unders Ja, that's the thought that I would leave you with. Dennis.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Well, Dennis, thank you so much. I can't tell you
how much I appreciate your valuable time because I know
how busy you are. I want to thank you for
your service to our country and also once again what
you and your team do in protecting all Americans out there.
I know we don't know exactly what you do for
the most part. What we know that you're protecting us
with all the companies out there and the federal government.
So we're very appreciative of that, and thank you so much.
(19:07):
I'm glad we could feature you on CEOs. You should
know my pleasure. Thanks Dens. Our community partner, M and
T Bank supports CEOs.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
You should know.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Is part of their ongoing commitment to building strong communities,
and that starts by backing the businesses within them. As
a bank for communities, M and T believes in dedicating time, talent,
and resources to help local businesses thrive because when businesses succeed,
our communities succeed.
M and T Bank presents CEOs.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You should know Howard by Iheartgava.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Let's meet Dennis Kelly.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
He is the CEO for Tito a Theme, a company
that provides a mission focused digital transformation solutions specializing in
integrating and modernizing enterprise level operations for US defense, national security, intelligence, space,
and public safety agencies.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Before we talk more about Dennis's.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Company, I first asked him to talk a little bit
about himself, where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, I grew up in New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
In the early days of my life here, moved around
Northern Jersey quite a bit, and you know, ultimately we
moved down to Florida when I was in high school.
So I went to high school in Florida and then
joined the Navy, and I got my formal education after
my time in the Navy. I was a sonar technician
in the Navy, So I got my bachelor's and my MBA.
(00:52):
After I served my time in the Navy, and I
went to Roger Williams University and the University of rode
I because that's where I was sort of at at
the time.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Understanding Willison, thanks for your service. I always get intrigued
when somebody is leading companies that they had military service.
And the reason why I asked that is that living
in the DMV, I've talked to enough people like you
that have served, and I'm always very appreciative of that,
But also the structure that you served in, and then
relating to the private sector.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
As a leader.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Could you if I could just indulge you in our
listeners about leadership from the military going into the private sector.
What did you bring across that helped you out?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, So I learned about leadership in the military. You know,
my time in the Navy taught me, you know, how
you have to rely on your team, and literally in
the Navy it's you know, there's life or death situations
where you you rely on your teammates to you know,
to sort of keep you safe. You know, when you
go to bed, there's somebody up there driving the ship
(01:51):
and if they're they fall asleep at the wheel, it
could have really bad consequences. Right, So you learn, you know,
reliance on each other, and you're in that you have
you have to be an active participant in that. You know,
if you're going to rely on your shipmate to make
sure that you're okay, they have to rely on you
for the same thing. So there's a lot of leadership
(02:12):
principles built into that in my view.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So what did you want to do after you left
the service?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
So when I left the service, I wanted to really
continue to serve the mission, right. So the best way
I found for me to do that was to, you know,
jump into the you know, the defense and intelligence industry,
where you know, I could I could support the mission
in a different way, maybe not right on the front
line and uniform, but by providing solutions and capabilities that
(02:40):
are warfighters needed to keep our nation safe.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I know, we could go on and on about your
incredible resume because you have led so many companies, you
dine so many things. But before we get into where
you're currently at, talk a little bit about because I
want to give context to what you're doing now about
all the things you have done in the past.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
So I started in this business as a system engineer,
designing systems for the Navy, mostly in the anti submarine
warfare realm, and really sort of got my start there really,
you know, working technical issues, software development, system engineering types
of issues. And then you know that eventually led to
(03:18):
roles in project management and program management, and I sort
of felt like I wanted to leverage my leadership skills
from the Navy and sort of gravitate it more towards
the management side of things, and ultimately served in a
number of executive roles. And I'm now on my fifth
role as a CEO serving in this industry.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So we're going to talk a lot about Title a
theme and you've been there for about a year now.
With that said, we talked about the diversity of being
in the Navy leading all these different companies and all
of your experience. I can see why they were interested
in bringing you on board as CEO. Why did you
want to join them?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well, I mean, really the main reason I wanted to
join Title Athene is I had worked with the private
equity firm that that backed this company on two previous occasions,
so I enjoyed working with them. Arlnkedin Capital Partners is
the is the private equity firm that I had worked
with previously at Eclipse and a company called Centauri, and
(04:18):
so I knew how they operated. I knew they were
really focused on investing in this segment of the market.
They're really smart investors and they're great partners. So that
is probably what initially led me to title. But then
as I learned more about what Tito Athene did, I
really thought, well, you know, there's a company that's really
focused on mission solutions and I want to be a
(04:39):
part of that.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And that's that's how I wound up here.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
All right, Well, Dennis will speak in a mission what
is the mission statement of the company.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
So we're really in the really network modernization business, and
you know, we're we're helping our customers move data and
we like to say data to dominance, right, We're helping
make sure that our customers can move the right data
to the right place so that key critical decisions can
be made. You know that are really life or death decisions, right,
(05:08):
So you know, we do that by modernizing the network
the various communications that go along with that. It could
be voiceover IP or telecommunications. And then I would say,
since I've been here over the last year, we've put
a real focused on cybersecurity and we've done some acquisitions
in the cybersecurity realm that I think are really bolstering
(05:29):
our cybersecurity capabilities, you know, for our customers, and that
is such a critical challenge for our customers right now.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
So Dennis, you're leading into this a little bit, but
if you were to give a thirty thousand foot view
of all the new listeners that are hearing about Title
with ten for the first time, what would you tell
them that you exactly do.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
So what we do is, you know, we are really
focused on infrastructure modernization projects for our customers, networks, secure communications,
and then the cybersecurity that goes with that to protect
and secure the information that's flowing through those networks.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So, in a nutshell, that's what we do.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Well, I imagine and you know, I've had an opportunity to
talk to people like you that are in this industry
and you know, with AI and technology and all the
super secrets of you have to do, it's got to
be very fluid. So I imagine the education process, keeping
up with processes and capabilities and all the things that
you do, but also what your client's want is quite
a challenge.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
How do you do it all?
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Well, it's changing all the time, and really what we
do is, you know, we're in the business of attracting
very talented technology people to our company, but once they're here,
we continually have to invest in their education in there.
You know, they're being up on the latest and greatest technologies.
(06:52):
You mentioned aim L. That's increasingly becoming a big part
of how we do business. I mean, just in the
cybersecurity realm, have to really employ AI m L capabilities
because the you know, the the bad guys are doing
that right, so you've got to keep pace with the
threat and you know so, so it's about having the
best technical minds working on these problems. But it's also
(07:14):
equally important to have folks like myself who have spent
time in the military then understand the domain, because one
without the other isn't very helpful. You have to have,
you know, the latest technical solutions, but you have to
have people who understand how those solutions can be employed
and used in a you know, in a military or
a war fighting environment.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Dennis, I don't want to make any assumptions that anybody
out there does exactly what you your team in tied
to a thing do. But with that said, in the
competitive space, how do you differentiate yourself from said competition?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Great question.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
You know that's something that we work at every day.
So if we're just another network or IT contractor that
has no differentiation where you know, we're certainly not going
to grow or or or you know, really take our
business into new customer markets. It's something that you really
need to hone every day. So one of the things
(08:09):
that I think really makes us unique is our cybersecurity capabilities.
We acquired a company back in July called Mindpoint Group,
and they have a sock capability, so secure operations center capability,
and they sell that as a service, so they're able
to bring in a full upsock capability and provide that
(08:29):
as a service. They're one of the only providers, so
we're one of the only providers that have that capability
in the marketplace. So that is one example of something
that makes us unique. As we look at doing future acquisitions,
the number one criteria for us is how will it
differentiate title with being in the marketplace? Right So it's
not just adding a customer or revenue or people, it's
(08:52):
what technical discriminator is it going to bring to us?
And that's a key focus for us right now.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
What kind of challenges are in the industry currently for
you and your team.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
So certainly right now, you know it's a it's a
constrained budget environment, right, So this is a this is
an environment. Although there's still plenty of funding out there,
there is a desire in the part of you know,
the the nation right now to really reel in our
debt and our deficits, and so that puts budget pressure
(09:22):
on our customers. And so it's you know, earlier in
my career there was a lot of do more with
less sort of talk, and I think we're returning to
that now. You know, we're you know, we're needing to
be more efficient. These are textpayer dollars we're spending here,
so we need to be as efficient with them as
we possibly can. And interestingly, I think things like artificial
(09:44):
intelligence and machine learning can help.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Us do that.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
You know, if you can have you know, a series
of bots do some of the things that need to
be done that are repetitive in nature and whatnot, when
you don't need a room full of people to do well,
that's going to effectively become more efficient. So I think
I think just dealing with the budget constraints of the
environment right now is probably what's on everyone's mind. Bringing
the most efficient team, the most efficient solutions to our
(10:10):
customers is the order of the day.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Speaking of customers, Dennis, what's the footprint of the company.
Is it exclusive to the d m v is domestically
or are you also international?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
So we support all of our US federal customers wherever
they may need us to around the globe. We are
in all branches of the of the defense you know, business.
We are in the intelligence community. Space is another area
that we are very active in. So and then we're
(10:42):
on the national security side of the federal civil business.
So I think Department ADJUSTICE, FBI, DA, those kinds of
customers you know, are are more national security oriented.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's pretty much how I define our customer base. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
One of the things, as I found out after we
got through COVID, that there's a lot of companies that
had to pivot out there, but people like you and
your team, a lot of people were already remote. With
that said, when it comes to leadership and culture, making
sure that people get the job done but also have
that work life balance and and very intense atmosphere, what
your team does, how do you manage all those people.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
In doing that?
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Yes, I'd put them in two buckets, Dennis. One would be,
you know, if it's a customer requirement and they require
our people to be you know, in a skiff or
you know, on a base or whatnot.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Well, that's where they need to be to do their job.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Right, there are some jobs where that's just the requirement, right,
I think for for everybody else, that's sort of more
in the back office or you know, supporting us here
at Corporate, in our in our rest and town center location,
we've tried really hard not to mandate that anyone has
to be in the office. And what we've done is
taken an approach where we you know, we definitely want
(11:56):
people to be in the office because we think that
provides for more collaboration and more team building and whatnot,
but we're not requiring it. And you know, what we're
trying to get people to want to do is to
come to the office. So we're creating an environment here
where people want to be here. And we've seen that
within the year that I've been here, we've seen dramatic
(12:18):
throughput in terms of how many people are coming into
the office every day and collaborating and it's just sort
of naturally happening because of the environment that we've created here.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
So that's sort of the way I look.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
At I think if you start telling people, if somebody
can do their job from their desk at home, you
should let them do it if that's what they want
to do. I mean, that's where you have to find
the talent sometimes. But if you make this just a
really attractive place to be, I think people are naturally
going to want to be here, and that's what we've seen.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
I know that people like you and your team always
think about the future. We talk a little bit about
how fluid technology AI is and everything's moving very quickly.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
But as you look.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Down the road, obviously the industry and your clients are
going to need you as up the anne. I mean,
the world's on fire and it has been for a
long time, and I know you know that intimately. With
that said, what does the future look like for your
industry and specifically your company?
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Well, I think, you know, I think the US federal
government is the largest buyer of technology in the world,
and I think they will always be that, right. I mean,
we are, you know, we have the best military, the
best intelligence community that is, you know, obviously fueled by
very brave and courageous people that serve in uniform, but
(13:29):
it's also served by just cutting edge technology, the best
of the best, and I think our customers are always
going to demand that. And I think for companies like
ours who bring them the you know, the best technical
solutions that are out there, I think that we're always
going to have a partnership and I think the future
is very bright for companies that provide those kinds of solutions.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Dennis, if I could put.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
A pin and work just for a second and talk
about philanthropic and charity work and whether it has to
do with the company or maybe you personally with your family,
what do you like to be involved in So.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Where I really it probably won't be a big surprise
to you that I spent a lot of time focused
on charities to support our military. So one charity that
we're really passionate about here is the Fisher House Foundation.
And you know that obviously gives a military and veteran
(14:21):
families a place to go when their loved one is
you know, maybe in a hospital or you know, ill
or whatnot. So in titles sixteen year history of being
involved with the Fisher House, we've we've raised almost six
hundred thousand dollars for them, So we've we just we
do an annual charity golf tournament. We had I think
a record year this year. We raised almost seventy five
(14:43):
thousand dollars for them, And you know, that is a
you know that that is the kind of charity that
I've liked to be involved with.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
But you know, there's others.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
You know, there's the Bouldercress Foundation that I personally am
involved with, which gives a you know, PTSD support to
our MI military members. You know, outside of that, I've
been involved with the American Heart Association. You know, my
dad suffered with heart disease, so that's something that you know,
outside of the military and more of a personal thing
(15:12):
that I've been very passionate about. But you know, overall,
supporting fill and profit efforts to support our people in
uniform is what I really liked is support.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Well, I appreciate you sharing all that, and I've talked
to people at Fisher House and also Bouldercrest out of
Texas to great people so that you're involved in that's wonderful. Well, listen,
I did want to ask you one more thing about leadership,
and I realized that your journey is very specific to you,
but we have a lot of future leaders that listen
to the series, and of course a lot of CEOs
and founders that also enjoy hearing from people like you.
(15:45):
Well that said, maybe just a little advice. You've done
a lot, you've served, You've been a part of many
different companies, and you're doing some very important work right now.
If you can impart some advice on people that will
lead a company someday, what would you tell them?
Speaker 4 (16:00):
You know, it really probably goes back to something I
learned as a child, something I even learned in church.
And you know, it's do unto others as you would
have done unto you. Right, So I think that that
simple sort of phrase is a bedrock of what I
think about when I'm dealing with anyone in a particular situation,
is you know, how would I want to be treated?
Because you know, when you're a leader, there are times
(16:21):
when you have to make really tough decisions, and you know,
I always want to be that leader that's approachable that
you can come to me and you can really, you know,
lay a problem at my feet and ask for help,
and I'm going to be there to help you. And
I think I've been known for that in my career.
I have people all the time that reach out to
me from previous companies that I've worked with and whatnot,
(16:44):
and sometimes they just want you to lend an ear
to a problem they're having. And I always have time
for people like that because I just think if I
were in a similar situation, it comes back to that
basic principle. I would want to feel comfortable coming to
someone like myself and saying, hey, I need I need
help or I need your advice on something.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
So well, Dennis, I'm glad, I'm glad you brought that
up because one of the things you're talking about that
I've said for a long time, whether it's at my
place of business or I think just with humanity, it's
simple acknowledgment.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Sounds like that's what you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
That's what it is, it really is, and just you know,
treating people the way you'd want to be treated and
be a decent human being. So that's you know that
I couldn't live with myself if I didn't, you know,
if I didn't carry myself that way.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
That's just the way I am.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Well, I thank you and I are both on the
same page that we could probably use a little bit
more acts of kindness when it comes to where we
are today in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
So I appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
I do want to get some final thoughts from you,
and I've really enjoyed the conversation you do. You and
your team are doing incredible work there and we're so
appreciative that we're able to sleep at night from all
the things that we don't know that you're doing that
you are protecting our country with your clients out there.
But just some final thoughts from you, sir about what
we talked about the floor is yours?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, great, appreciate it. Well.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
You know what I would say is that a company
like ours lives in breeds on good people. So we're
always looking for good people to help us support our
customers really interesting and important missions. So if you're a
former military person that you know has that domain expertise
I talked about, or if you're a technology person, a
cybersecurity person, come come look up, look us up. I mean,
(18:25):
we've got a lot of opportunities here. We'd love to
make you part of Team Title. You can go to
go title dot com and you know, look on our
careers page and you'll see a lot of opportunities out there,
and we'd love to have you make you part of
the team, so.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Unders Ja, that's the thought that I would leave you with. Dennis.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Well, Dennis, thank you so much. I can't tell you
how much I appreciate your valuable time because I know
how busy you are. I want to thank you for
your service to our country and also once again what
you and your team do in protecting all Americans out there.
I know we don't know exactly what you do for
the most part. What we know that you're protecting us
with all the companies out there and the federal government.
So we're very appreciative of that, and thank you so much.
(19:07):
I'm glad we could feature you on CEOs. You should
know my pleasure. Thanks Dens. Our community partner, M and
T Bank supports CEOs.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
You should know.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Is part of their ongoing commitment to building strong communities,
and that starts by backing the businesses within them. As
a bank for communities, M and T believes in dedicating time, talent,
and resources to help local businesses thrive because when businesses succeed,
our communities succeed.
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