January 13, 2025 • 26 mins
Ken Konkol joined the VMSI Team in 2011 as the Vice President overseeing operations and delivery, and has since been promoted to CEO. As CEO, Ken is responsible for setting and overseeing VMSI’s strategic direction, establishing corporate policies and procedures, managing the overall business and financial performance of the company, and to ensure our mission, “To be the BEST DECISION our Clients make”, is unequivocally achieved.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank Prison CEOs. You should know.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Power by iHeartMedia. Let's meet Ken Conkle Junior.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
He is the CEO for the Veterans Management Services Incorporated,
also known as VMSI, a for profit company that provides
management consulting services to both the federal government and commercial clients,
focusing on project management, administrative support, IT services, acquisition and
grants management, and finance and accounting management. Before we talk
(00:28):
more about Ken's company, I first asked him to talk
a little bit about himself, where he's from and his
origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
But hell from Mischiwaukie, Indiana.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I spent most of my younger life in northern Indiana
or South central Michigan. My dad was in the power
generation industry, so we my eighth grade year, we moved
to South central Michigan, and after that we moved to Henderson, Kentucky,
where I went for my senior year of school in
nineteen where I graduated nineteen eighty eight, attended Doctumunity College.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
For a couple of years.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Decided that I really want to follow my passion and
my family's passion of joining the military. Military today families
go all the way back to World War One, so
Memorial Day and Veterl's Day always big for me. I
was post pictures of my family going way back to
World War One, pictures of my family. So joined the
Air Force February nineteen ninety spent twenty one years, great years.
(01:21):
It was an honor to serve, a privilege to serve.
I went lived in various places in the country and
just really really had a passion for what the military does,
the liberties and the freedoms that it provides to every
American and those who want to be Americans.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, Ken, I know this is not going to surprise you,
but in this series we talked to a lot of
former military people that are now leaders in the private sector,
whether it's for or nonprofit. Just want to thank you
for all your years of service at Air Force. I
happened to live out west in New Mexico for a
long time, so I got up to Colorado spring to
see football games when Fisher to Berry was coach, and
I got to tell you, that's one of the best
(01:57):
places to watch a football game, folks.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Is a very very I've had optually one time in
the military, actually with an advance that I did with
Joe Biden, to have an event that they hosted there
at the Air Force Academy, and what an amazing campus
and academy that is.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It's just I think all the academies are beautiful. I
guess I'm a little biased being from there.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
That's fine, Yeah, that's fine. The best, Yeah, it is.
It is absolutely gorgeous up there. Obviously, we're here to
talk about the Veterans Management Services and your time as CEO.
You've been with the company for eleven years, and we
are going to talk about your ascension up through the
company and what's currently going on mission capabilities programs, and
I want to talk about you just for context purposes
(02:41):
of getting out of the military and what you wanted
to do. And I know for a fact because we've
done our research that you were at the White House,
So I'm going to fan boy about that because that's
really cool. But as you were leaving the military, what
did you want to do?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
You know, I think when you when you do twenty
one years somewhere, I think it's it's like, I'm not
sure if you really know what you want to do.
Sometimes I mean, I think you need to find something
that you can gravitate to. In my thing is I
want to be part of something bigger and with upward
growth in professional development. And I posted my resume on
(03:13):
a weekend, thinking, oh my god, am I going to
get anybody interested in my talent? And on Monday morning
I had three hundred and some emails and my phone
was blowing up, and I said, okay, I'm going to
be okay. So Shame wanted to interview me, and so
I came in first interview I had in twenty one years.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
We hit it off. It was a great thing. I
read his passion.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
He was up on a whiteboard for three hours explained
to me how we were going to, I think, take
over the government contracting world. And I said, man, this
guy has passion. He aligned with what I want to do.
I want to be something bigger and better, and not
only do it bigger and better, but do it the
right way. And I really appreciated his passion for wanting
to do things a methodical way and to make sure
(03:54):
we made sure our clients were extremely happy with the
service you provided. So unfortunately, after he hired me at
the previous company, he moved on to bring Vima side
to the front burner, and we still kind of worked together,
and about three years later, he says, hey, look, our
company is morphed into something. I need somebody to come
over here and be my chief operating officer and run
(04:15):
delivery for me. And I'm like, okay, I can do that.
And I really enjoy you the people engagement. I love
working with employees, I love working with our clients. So
came over and it's been an upward swing from there.
I've been promoted three times since i've been here, and
I never thought when he brought me here he's my boss.
Is a perfectionist. He can be a micromanager at times
(04:37):
in a good way because there's certain that he has
a way that he wants to ensure things are done.
And I'm like, this guy's never going to have confidence
in me to give up those rings because he has
a passion for what he does. I think it was
in twenty fifteen he pulled me in his offices. I'm
going to Europe. I don't know when I'm coming back.
You're running the ship, and I'm like, I guess my
(04:58):
time has come. And we've never looked back since then.
And I've been operating as a CEO since that time
frame and It's just it's very welcoming to know that
I built a level of confidence and trust in him,
to know that I understood how he wanted his business
to be.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Ran.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I want to briefly talk about military service and your
time at the White House and both very important things.
Culture is a big deal. Structure is a big deal,
high level stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So those two things.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
You're two decades of military service in the Air Force
and then working at the at the White House and
communications and then going into this role that you are. Now,
how did those two things help your current life status
and your role there?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I think Air Force in stills a lot of
leadership and you're you know, I was enlisted, came in
as an E one, worked my way up. But leadership
is one of the key elements no matter what hay
grade you are in the military. There's different levels of
leadership schools that send you to, but it's a continuous
learning even throughout your career, even outside of those those
three basic training courses to send you to.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So leadership is kind of instilled.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Getting to the White House, I think, is a whole
different uptick to that because now you're in a zero
failure work environment. I just tell people, the president or
the vice president never steps up to the microphone and says,
can you hear me in the back? He never picks
up the phone and says it's not working. It's a
zero failure. The phone has to work. The microphone better work.
So it teaches you attention to detail. We had really
(06:25):
some of the best hands sucked individuals from DUD working there,
and we had some of the best leaders. One is
still Mike Black is still a great mentor to me
today and just some of the things that he taught
me in my time at the White House and leadership
and also fostering good relationship with all of your comrades
no matter what rank they are, and he didn't care
(06:48):
if you were any one or if you were the ten.
Everybody was treated the same way. And I think that's
something that's really really important because people need to be
whether it's your clients, whether it's your employees, Compassion empathy
are really really important in leadership. And I think in
coming to this world as a CEO from the military
all the way through work at the White House for
(07:08):
eight years, that leadership component is just so important. And
I think my mentors for bringing me to the level
to put give me the tools that I need to
be successful in the job that I'm in today.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Well, I appreciate the explanation, and I'm going to talk
about culture a little bit later because it's highlight on
your website and I know that's very important to you,
and being former military working at the White House and
now what you've done over the last eleven years and
now the last four CEO, I understand why culture is
so important to you, along with your team and your people.
But let's do this first before we talk about what
you do. What is the mission statement when it comes
to the Veterans Management Services, Inc.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, so our missions statement is to be the best
decision our clients make. And we have a Creto card
that every employee who joins this company gets mail this
Credo card and it really.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Talks about what that means.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And our boss are Chairman's of Primary and so a
lot of these key things are important to him and
important to our culture. Heaving a sign it's being agile,
being adaptive, being flexible.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
The answer is yes. Now, what is your question?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
And that's really when our clients bring something to us,
it's really just we'll figure it out and we're going
to make it happen. And it's you know, that's my
boss's key words, and I figured out make it happen,
and we do.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
It's also doing your job with passion.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
It's having got back to having compassion and empathy when
required and being very genuine. And I think you need
to be approachable, and most importantly, I think you need
to be proactive in planning and preparing yourself for the
roles that you're in, but always being ready to be
reactive to the curve balls that may come along as well.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And anybody over the weekend that saw the Army Navy
game at Northwest Stadium sees that you can have great
competition but also get along and ken proving that the
Marines in the Air Force can also get along too
at times, which is wonderful. So that's great. Well, listen,
let's do this. If you were to give a thirty
thousand foot view of someone that hasn't heard of VMI,
what would you tell them that you do okay?
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Well so so BMSI or you know that is the acronym.
But we're Veterans Management Services Incorporated. We're founded in nineteen
ninety nine currently have about one hundred and seventy five
employees nationwide. We provide an array of professional services, including contracting, acquisition,
We do grants management services.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
We do training.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Although training is only one of our primary contracts, we
actually train the entire Department of Veterans Affairs acquistion, contracting
and program management workforce. Not only do we train them,
we actually developed the entire curriculum for the majority of
those courses. So it is I love that because we're
making a difference not only by training, but actually developing
the curriculum in a way that when people come to
(09:41):
these courses in classes that we're offering through the VA,
they come back to their home stations with tools that
they can put into their toolkit to hopefully better service
their end user. And for the Department of Veterans Affairs,
that's the veteran so a lot of passions there for
the veterans. So it is one of my favorite contracts
that support just end up and it relates to government contracting,
(10:02):
which contracting was what I did in the Air Force
as well. So we also do some program management, a
little bit of supply chain and in IT services, and
then there's an array of administrative support type contracts that
we've had, budget finance, a little bit of HR administrative
support in just various ways.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So I mentioned that you've been with a company for
eleven years. I'm going to talk about your ascension and
just a little bit about leadership because I think that's
important conversation for our current leaders and also our future
leaders to listen to this program. But the company started
back in nineteen ninety nine, I imagine between hard work, culture, goodwill,
and also doing a great job for your clients out there,
that the company has grown exponentially. When it comes to
(10:39):
you working with all of your clients, is it more
that they're calling on you you're also soliciting yourself or
is it a combination of both. How does it all work?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I think it's a combination of both.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I think, you know, you always have to win the
new work to get new clients, but I think with
our existing clients, I think it's setting yourself apart from
the competition and making sure you're a contractor of choice.
So you have to kind of focus both twofold on
you know, how do you continue to build your client
portfolio but never lose focus on your current clients, and
I think some government contractors do that they're trying to
(11:11):
move on to the next the next win, versus what
we have really got here at ems I is we
have We've never lost a recompete any of our current work,
and I think that's because we have proven that we
can hire the right talent, we provide excellence in all
that we do, and I think that really just sets
us apart from a lot of our competition up there,
because there are there's a lot of companies who are
(11:33):
interested in to a government contracting back to the federal government,
and so you have to set yourself apart from that
and set it apart for your clients, and you also
have to set yourself apart for your employees as well
that they want to be part of your organization.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Can I mentioned the sension in the company over the
last several several years and several times as we talked
about the different jobs you've had as you've been promoted.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It says a lot about.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
You and your growth and what you wanted, but also
what the company thought about you. In this series, I've
talked to a lot of a lot of people that
have been just a CEO and didn't do other jobs
or didn't work their way up the ladder, and everybody
has their own journey. But I always think, especially in
the field, that I've been about learning what everybody does
and getting a really good ground swell for knowing what
(12:16):
everybody does in the company. As I move up, that
gives me more knowledge, and knowledge is power. With all
that said is you did all these different jobs and
then you moved up the ladder. Can you tell me
about your journey in the company from where you started
to where you are now the last four years.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Of CEO and how it meant to you. It's it's
a growth.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
And I think if you focus on the task at hand,
some people focus on success.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I think success follows.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
If you focus on the task in hand, your mission,
your vision, what your company and your peers are trying
to accomplish, success follows. And so I think if you
keep prodding yourself forward and focusing on that, good things happen.
And over the last four years, again I have sort
of CEO for that was the VP, that was chief
proper officer, But it was just continue to prepare yourself
(13:03):
and build trust and confidence not only in our chairman
but also in your peers who you're at our corporate office,
with our employees, with our clients, and as you start
seeing the success of organic growth from the existing clients,
you're not losing your recompete. You know, definitely your chairman
or your own or your company is going to have
a lot of confidence that you can bring the delivery
(13:24):
that they're looking for and the support to their employees.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
At the same time, Well, I want to stick with
that one more thing about leadership. And you mentioned your
employees and your staff. The one hundred and seventy five
plus you're in I think almost forty states, which is incredible,
And I know that we're living in a kind of
a new world since COVID, that people are living where
they live and not necessarily in the same spot. With
all that said, your experience in the military, the structure
(13:50):
that you've had, and all the different things that you've
done over your life, can you tell me, as CEO
and as a leader, how you work with that many
people that aren't onside that you don't see all the time,
making sure that they do what you want them to do,
but also they have a great work life balance. How
does it work for you?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, it's a challenge a post pandemic.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I think you asked most companies of our size people
working in a remote capacity. Prior to the pandemic, we
would go out to every client site two, three, sometimes
four times a year, meet with your clients, take our
employees out for dinner or some type of team build
an event that's kind of lost in postum because people
are spread throughout. I can go to some cities, but
(14:29):
there's only a handful of people still living that. People
have had the opportunity now to branch out and move
to places they've always wanted to live to. So what
we have focused on is really employee engagement, and we
had to kind of change our outlook and how we're
going to do that, and so now we do a
lot more all hands.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I just did two all hands yesterday.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
It's kind of giving people an update on how the
company is doing, you know, our performance on that contract,
things that are coming. People like to be in the
know and know that they feel they're important part of
your company.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I tell people you're out of site.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
You're never and so you know, we need to call
people more often than just hey, your timesheet is late.
There's some company that's all the time you ever hear
from they need something from you.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I have a data call.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I need you to work on this, versus Hey, how
are you, how's your family doing?
Speaker 2 (15:13):
How is your last vacation.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
You need to understand your people, what motivates them and
what makes them tick. And that is instilled from the
military for me, and it's shamee coming from the military
as well. Has that same culture here for the company
at ems I, so I appreciate that and again one
of the reasons why I followed him here to this company.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
We send out probably about a thousand cards a year
outside of our holiday cards, just to tell people at
a birthday, even if you don't work for us anymore,
you still get a birthday card from once you get.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
An anniversary card. If you call and I'm talking you
see how you're doing. You tell me your dog is sick,
You're going to get a card signed by everybody in
this corporate office with a personal message. It's not a signature,
but a personal message just saying, Hey, I hope your
dog gets well soon, or I hope you congratulations on
your son graduate boot camp, congratulations on your daughter.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Being graduating from college.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
We some just some little things that you can do
that make big differences in your employees' lives and letting
them know and reemphasize that they are an important element
of your company.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Well, Ken, I'm glad you brought that up because I
know this is not going to surprise you, and I'm
a firm believer in other people just want simple acknowledgment
and that you do that. And then you mentioned the
work culture, and I promise I was going to talk
about this so briefly. You're very transparent on your website
and you've talked about it several times. Can you talk
about the culture of the company, not only what leadership
has done for you, but what you do for your
(16:33):
staff now.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I think it's really being having open communication and setting
expectations and letting people know what they're held accountable to do. Again,
the all hands are really good and lets people ask questions,
lets people know what's coming down, that there's growth opportunities
in the company for them people want to have. I
want people who want to have a passion to be
part of this company. I have people that have worked
(16:56):
for us over a decade, some on the same contract.
I have people who are on their fifth and sixth
contract lists here at this company, and a lot of
it is the trust and faith that they have in
me Vemasi, our corporate staff here that what we say
is what we're going to do. And when you hire someone,
you kind of go into a blind and you have
a resume, you do, you do a thirty one hour interview,
(17:17):
you bring them on, you put them on a client
site or virtually support that client. And now you have
to follow up and you have to make sure they
have the tools that they need to be successful. Do
they have the right resources. There's a computer working, there's
a connectivity working. What things do you need for me
to help you do the best job that you can do?
And so on top of just taking care of people
(17:38):
and making sure that they're doing well and you're communicating,
but also how can we help best support them in
their job supporting our client.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Final thing on access to employees. So I've talked to
so many CEOs and not one of them is not
terribly busy all the time, and I imagine you are too.
But you've got one hundred and seventy five employees that
are scattered throughout domestically the United States. So that said,
when it comes to access and they need to reach
out to you. How much access do you grant or
do you want to give in these situations.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
I get asked that all the time because I've had
people say your website says give access to the CEO
twenty four to seven, and that is a true statement.
And that goes back to my time at the Air Force.
You know, I was an advanced lead again for chaining
and for Joe Biden. And when things happen, you get
a phone call at two o'clock in the morning. I
remember a civilian aspect, Well what do you do? Do
(18:28):
you just call them back the next day? Like, no,
you get up and you take care of the situation.
So I have employees call me all the time, nights, weekends,
and so that I get employee, I didn't think you
were going to answer. I just was called a leave
a voice muster. Well you called me, They said, what's Saturday?
I said, doesn't matter. If you called me, you must
need something. And that goes back to letting your employees
know with confidence they're important piece of your company, and
(18:50):
that is you know, answering if they send an email
to us, you get email back the same day. If
you call it, you're going to get a phone call
back the same day. If I can't answer that phone,
I'm going to call you back immunately once I have
the first availability. And again it's just we are in
the people business and you need and you have to
have the same passion for your employees that you want
them to have in supporting your client.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Well said Ken.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
We always joke in this series that even if a
company is doing really well, it's not always unicorns and
rainbows all the time. So that said, when it comes
to challenges, and they might be specific to your business,
if not the whole genre of what you guys do
along with your competitors out there who might do something similar.
But what kind of current challenges does the industry or
you specifically have right now?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I think, again back to the post pandemic, I think
just figuring out new ways to have employee engagements because
you're not you know, you don't have boots on the
ground with the client site. I used to go, we
have a big contract with Noah. I used to go
up to Silver Spring every week and I would walk
cubicle to cubicle to say hello to every employee. I
never asked them how the job was. I just said,
(19:53):
how are you doing? What you got planned this weekend?
Any vacations? How's that grandchild? People love that aspect and
that it's hard now that you don't have it. Now
it has to be individual phone calls. So we kind
of have a communications plan here that we leverage to
make sure we don't lose touch with those employees. So
that has been, you know, one of those challenges that
we've had to really overcome, not only with our employees
(20:17):
but also our clients. You know, you're not having as
much FaceTime with with your clients as we once did,
so you've got to find ways to get that because
that secures your future option years on contracts, follow on contracts,
and you're securing the jobs for that current workforce that
you have. And so you know, anytime we make decisions
not only for this company, but you have to keep
(20:38):
in mind the workforce that you have and there's some
responsibilities that you have to tho one hundred and seventy
five plus people.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
All right. One of my favorite things I like to
ask is about some great stories or maybe a good story,
And I know you probably have bushels full of great
things that have happened, either individuals, families, or maybe even
a company you worked with. But as CEO, maybe over
the last four years, I always ask that question. You know, well,
there's a reason why we get up every day when
something really great happens and maybe we planned it, we
(21:04):
didn't plan, but this is why we do what we do.
Do you have maybe a short story you can share
with us, a something the incredible that you're proud of
that happened.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I think there's every contract that we bid on, there's
a there's a tie into us. There has to be
like we feel that we can get in there and
make a difference. It's it's a mission that we can
buy into that we think we can best support. We
can bring some effectiveness, some efficiencies. One of my we
have lots of contractor support. It's but I was actually
on the phone. You actually have one of our clients
(21:32):
and she was talking about that there's a construction project
we need to work on up in the northeast and
there's this struggle because there's just this endangered seal that
is there and they can't do the projects. They had
to figure out how do we move this seal or
do something to do that it's like, so, okay's let's
have a plan and we're working with that client to
kind of address how do we still get what the
client needs done at this location, but also protect the environment,
(21:55):
protect the seal. Another big contract that we have, not big,
but then big importance to me. We support the Golf
Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council down to New Orleans and what
they are doing is taking a big piece of the
VP Horizon spill money and pushing that out to local
and state governments as well as third party grant awardees
(22:18):
to restore the golf. So when you look at doing
something and giving back and trying to leave things in
a better place than where they're at right now, the
damage that the Horizon BP spill cause was significant, and
it's amazing this many years later, there's still tons and
tons of money and effort to restore the golf to
(22:39):
the best that we can. And So when I look
at things that we do at VMSI, and you look
at the missions and some of the clients you support.
I talked about the v a little bit earlier. Another
big one that we have passion for those things, you
just it gives you the passion to continue to do
your job. And I remind my employees sometimes not of
our clients are the best, best, and they can be tough,
(23:00):
tough manager. It's tough expectations, but even during those tough times,
I always try to remind my employees, remember the mission.
Remember that veteran you're supporting the needs that World War
two veteran that needs to needs a heart transplant, and
that hospital you're getting your helping get built is where
he's going to have that done. You know, no, I
don't forget we're trying to protect the seal, but still
make sure that we can go out and monitor the
(23:20):
weather and satellites and all the things that Noah needs
to do for our environment as well. If there's so
many missions that we support, to tie into things that
our company has passion for, our employees that passion for
and you know, we always trying to find employees who
have the passion for the client that we're supporting, because
someone who really has the passion for Noah may not
be the best person to be at the VA and
(23:43):
the opposite of that, so you have to kind of
tie in the talent. And I tell our alliance that
when they are looking at a resume. A resume is
one component of it, but I also have to find
somebody who can fit into their culture and whether that's
the mission, whether it's how their leadership style is is.
I call it the e harmony piece of finding the
(24:06):
right person to support their mission and their office directly,
and it's it's sometimes equal or more important than the
tech coal aspect of their resumes, finding somebody who can
really thrive in that work environment that we're placing them in.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You know, I know you're also a big sports guy
like me, but there's so many similarities when it comes
to structure and running an organization with the military and
also an organization zation like Here's or a sports team.
You know, you're kind of the quarterback of everybody and
you've got to keep everybody under wraps but also let
them have a lot of fun but execute what you
would like them to do. So I appreciate the analogy,
(24:40):
but also your explanation and all the cool things that
you're doing. Well, let's do this, Ken, I really enjoyed
the conversation, but I want to get some final thoughts
in a recap from you. We are going to give
the website to everybody. I know you're hiring the best
of the best at VMSI let's do this. Maybe just
some final thoughts from you so or the floor is yours.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
VM aside, going back a little bit about how we
do things here. You know, my boss brought the W
hotel mentality here and it's the whatever whenever mentality. When
you pick up the phone at the W, there's one
button you push. You don't pick the conciergra, not the
bell bell hop, it's not the front desk.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
There's one button.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Whoever ins that phone can help you. So if you're
if you're a governing agency out there, or if you're
an employee who wants to be part of something who
has passion for our clients, has passion from being part
of our company, please, you know, check out our website Www.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
V e t MS dot com.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
So it's www dot vet ms dot com. There is
a talent down there for looking for opportunities. There's also
an outline of all the services we provide.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
What you see is what you get.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
It is a straight we're straightforward, very transparent organization. And
if you're looking for a top notch contractor or top
notch contractor be part of as an employee. I definitely
encourage you to check out our website and let's let's
talk well.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Ken, I want to thank you for your valuable time.
Also want to thank you for your service in the
Air Force, the two decades that you put in for
our country. But you've done so many amazing things since
then in your journey, and I know it continues, but
it seems like it's been a great ride in the
eleven years you've been with VMSI so far. Thank you
for this, give my best to all your people, and
thank you so much. I'm glad we could feature you
on CEOs. You should know. Our community partner M and
(26:18):
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Speaker 2 (00:04):
Power by iHeartMedia. Let's meet Ken Conkle Junior.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
He is the CEO for the Veterans Management Services Incorporated,
also known as VMSI, a for profit company that provides
management consulting services to both the federal government and commercial clients,
focusing on project management, administrative support, IT services, acquisition and
grants management, and finance and accounting management. Before we talk
(00:28):
more about Ken's company, I first asked him to talk
a little bit about himself, where he's from and his
origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
But hell from Mischiwaukie, Indiana.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I spent most of my younger life in northern Indiana
or South central Michigan. My dad was in the power
generation industry, so we my eighth grade year, we moved
to South central Michigan, and after that we moved to Henderson, Kentucky,
where I went for my senior year of school in
nineteen where I graduated nineteen eighty eight, attended Doctumunity College.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
For a couple of years.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Decided that I really want to follow my passion and
my family's passion of joining the military. Military today families
go all the way back to World War One, so
Memorial Day and Veterl's Day always big for me. I
was post pictures of my family going way back to
World War One, pictures of my family. So joined the
Air Force February nineteen ninety spent twenty one years, great years.
(01:21):
It was an honor to serve, a privilege to serve.
I went lived in various places in the country and
just really really had a passion for what the military does,
the liberties and the freedoms that it provides to every
American and those who want to be Americans.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, Ken, I know this is not going to surprise you,
but in this series we talked to a lot of
former military people that are now leaders in the private sector,
whether it's for or nonprofit. Just want to thank you
for all your years of service at Air Force. I
happened to live out west in New Mexico for a
long time, so I got up to Colorado spring to
see football games when Fisher to Berry was coach, and
I got to tell you, that's one of the best
(01:57):
places to watch a football game, folks.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Is a very very I've had optually one time in
the military, actually with an advance that I did with
Joe Biden, to have an event that they hosted there
at the Air Force Academy, and what an amazing campus
and academy that is.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It's just I think all the academies are beautiful. I
guess I'm a little biased being from there.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
That's fine, Yeah, that's fine. The best, Yeah, it is.
It is absolutely gorgeous up there. Obviously, we're here to
talk about the Veterans Management Services and your time as CEO.
You've been with the company for eleven years, and we
are going to talk about your ascension up through the
company and what's currently going on mission capabilities programs, and
I want to talk about you just for context purposes
(02:41):
of getting out of the military and what you wanted
to do. And I know for a fact because we've
done our research that you were at the White House,
So I'm going to fan boy about that because that's
really cool. But as you were leaving the military, what
did you want to do?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
You know, I think when you when you do twenty
one years somewhere, I think it's it's like, I'm not
sure if you really know what you want to do.
Sometimes I mean, I think you need to find something
that you can gravitate to. In my thing is I
want to be part of something bigger and with upward
growth in professional development. And I posted my resume on
(03:13):
a weekend, thinking, oh my god, am I going to
get anybody interested in my talent? And on Monday morning
I had three hundred and some emails and my phone
was blowing up, and I said, okay, I'm going to
be okay. So Shame wanted to interview me, and so
I came in first interview I had in twenty one years.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
We hit it off. It was a great thing. I
read his passion.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
He was up on a whiteboard for three hours explained
to me how we were going to, I think, take
over the government contracting world. And I said, man, this
guy has passion. He aligned with what I want to do.
I want to be something bigger and better, and not
only do it bigger and better, but do it the
right way. And I really appreciated his passion for wanting
to do things a methodical way and to make sure
(03:54):
we made sure our clients were extremely happy with the
service you provided. So unfortunately, after he hired me at
the previous company, he moved on to bring Vima side
to the front burner, and we still kind of worked together,
and about three years later, he says, hey, look, our
company is morphed into something. I need somebody to come
over here and be my chief operating officer and run
(04:15):
delivery for me. And I'm like, okay, I can do that.
And I really enjoy you the people engagement. I love
working with employees, I love working with our clients. So
came over and it's been an upward swing from there.
I've been promoted three times since i've been here, and
I never thought when he brought me here he's my boss.
Is a perfectionist. He can be a micromanager at times
(04:37):
in a good way because there's certain that he has
a way that he wants to ensure things are done.
And I'm like, this guy's never going to have confidence
in me to give up those rings because he has
a passion for what he does. I think it was
in twenty fifteen he pulled me in his offices. I'm
going to Europe. I don't know when I'm coming back.
You're running the ship, and I'm like, I guess my
(04:58):
time has come. And we've never looked back since then.
And I've been operating as a CEO since that time
frame and It's just it's very welcoming to know that
I built a level of confidence and trust in him,
to know that I understood how he wanted his business
to be.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Ran.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I want to briefly talk about military service and your
time at the White House and both very important things.
Culture is a big deal. Structure is a big deal,
high level stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So those two things.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
You're two decades of military service in the Air Force
and then working at the at the White House and
communications and then going into this role that you are. Now,
how did those two things help your current life status
and your role there?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I think Air Force in stills a lot of
leadership and you're you know, I was enlisted, came in
as an E one, worked my way up. But leadership
is one of the key elements no matter what hay
grade you are in the military. There's different levels of
leadership schools that send you to, but it's a continuous
learning even throughout your career, even outside of those those
three basic training courses to send you to.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So leadership is kind of instilled.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Getting to the White House, I think, is a whole
different uptick to that because now you're in a zero
failure work environment. I just tell people, the president or
the vice president never steps up to the microphone and says,
can you hear me in the back? He never picks
up the phone and says it's not working. It's a
zero failure. The phone has to work. The microphone better work.
So it teaches you attention to detail. We had really
(06:25):
some of the best hands sucked individuals from DUD working there,
and we had some of the best leaders. One is
still Mike Black is still a great mentor to me
today and just some of the things that he taught
me in my time at the White House and leadership
and also fostering good relationship with all of your comrades
no matter what rank they are, and he didn't care
(06:48):
if you were any one or if you were the ten.
Everybody was treated the same way. And I think that's
something that's really really important because people need to be
whether it's your clients, whether it's your employees, Compassion empathy
are really really important in leadership. And I think in
coming to this world as a CEO from the military
all the way through work at the White House for
(07:08):
eight years, that leadership component is just so important. And
I think my mentors for bringing me to the level
to put give me the tools that I need to
be successful in the job that I'm in today.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Well, I appreciate the explanation, and I'm going to talk
about culture a little bit later because it's highlight on
your website and I know that's very important to you,
and being former military working at the White House and
now what you've done over the last eleven years and
now the last four CEO, I understand why culture is
so important to you, along with your team and your people.
But let's do this first before we talk about what
you do. What is the mission statement when it comes
to the Veterans Management Services, Inc.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, so our missions statement is to be the best
decision our clients make. And we have a Creto card
that every employee who joins this company gets mail this
Credo card and it really.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Talks about what that means.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And our boss are Chairman's of Primary and so a
lot of these key things are important to him and
important to our culture. Heaving a sign it's being agile,
being adaptive, being flexible.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
The answer is yes. Now, what is your question?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
And that's really when our clients bring something to us,
it's really just we'll figure it out and we're going
to make it happen. And it's you know, that's my
boss's key words, and I figured out make it happen,
and we do.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
It's also doing your job with passion.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
It's having got back to having compassion and empathy when
required and being very genuine. And I think you need
to be approachable, and most importantly, I think you need
to be proactive in planning and preparing yourself for the
roles that you're in, but always being ready to be
reactive to the curve balls that may come along as well.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And anybody over the weekend that saw the Army Navy
game at Northwest Stadium sees that you can have great
competition but also get along and ken proving that the
Marines in the Air Force can also get along too
at times, which is wonderful. So that's great. Well, listen,
let's do this. If you were to give a thirty
thousand foot view of someone that hasn't heard of VMI,
what would you tell them that you do okay?
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Well so so BMSI or you know that is the acronym.
But we're Veterans Management Services Incorporated. We're founded in nineteen
ninety nine currently have about one hundred and seventy five
employees nationwide. We provide an array of professional services, including contracting, acquisition,
We do grants management services.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
We do training.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Although training is only one of our primary contracts, we
actually train the entire Department of Veterans Affairs acquistion, contracting
and program management workforce. Not only do we train them,
we actually developed the entire curriculum for the majority of
those courses. So it is I love that because we're
making a difference not only by training, but actually developing
the curriculum in a way that when people come to
(09:41):
these courses in classes that we're offering through the VA,
they come back to their home stations with tools that
they can put into their toolkit to hopefully better service
their end user. And for the Department of Veterans Affairs,
that's the veteran so a lot of passions there for
the veterans. So it is one of my favorite contracts
that support just end up and it relates to government contracting,
(10:02):
which contracting was what I did in the Air Force
as well. So we also do some program management, a
little bit of supply chain and in IT services, and
then there's an array of administrative support type contracts that
we've had, budget finance, a little bit of HR administrative
support in just various ways.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So I mentioned that you've been with a company for
eleven years. I'm going to talk about your ascension and
just a little bit about leadership because I think that's
important conversation for our current leaders and also our future
leaders to listen to this program. But the company started
back in nineteen ninety nine, I imagine between hard work, culture, goodwill,
and also doing a great job for your clients out there,
that the company has grown exponentially. When it comes to
(10:39):
you working with all of your clients, is it more
that they're calling on you you're also soliciting yourself or
is it a combination of both. How does it all work?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I think it's a combination of both.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I think, you know, you always have to win the
new work to get new clients, but I think with
our existing clients, I think it's setting yourself apart from
the competition and making sure you're a contractor of choice.
So you have to kind of focus both twofold on
you know, how do you continue to build your client
portfolio but never lose focus on your current clients, and
I think some government contractors do that they're trying to
(11:11):
move on to the next the next win, versus what
we have really got here at ems I is we
have We've never lost a recompete any of our current work,
and I think that's because we have proven that we
can hire the right talent, we provide excellence in all
that we do, and I think that really just sets
us apart from a lot of our competition up there,
because there are there's a lot of companies who are
(11:33):
interested in to a government contracting back to the federal government,
and so you have to set yourself apart from that
and set it apart for your clients, and you also
have to set yourself apart for your employees as well
that they want to be part of your organization.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Can I mentioned the sension in the company over the
last several several years and several times as we talked
about the different jobs you've had as you've been promoted.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It says a lot about.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
You and your growth and what you wanted, but also
what the company thought about you. In this series, I've
talked to a lot of a lot of people that
have been just a CEO and didn't do other jobs
or didn't work their way up the ladder, and everybody
has their own journey. But I always think, especially in
the field, that I've been about learning what everybody does
and getting a really good ground swell for knowing what
(12:16):
everybody does in the company. As I move up, that
gives me more knowledge, and knowledge is power. With all
that said is you did all these different jobs and
then you moved up the ladder. Can you tell me
about your journey in the company from where you started
to where you are now the last four years.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Of CEO and how it meant to you. It's it's
a growth.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
And I think if you focus on the task at hand,
some people focus on success.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I think success follows.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
If you focus on the task in hand, your mission,
your vision, what your company and your peers are trying
to accomplish, success follows. And so I think if you
keep prodding yourself forward and focusing on that, good things happen.
And over the last four years, again I have sort
of CEO for that was the VP, that was chief
proper officer, But it was just continue to prepare yourself
(13:03):
and build trust and confidence not only in our chairman
but also in your peers who you're at our corporate office,
with our employees, with our clients, and as you start
seeing the success of organic growth from the existing clients,
you're not losing your recompete. You know, definitely your chairman
or your own or your company is going to have
a lot of confidence that you can bring the delivery
(13:24):
that they're looking for and the support to their employees.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
At the same time, Well, I want to stick with
that one more thing about leadership. And you mentioned your
employees and your staff. The one hundred and seventy five
plus you're in I think almost forty states, which is incredible,
And I know that we're living in a kind of
a new world since COVID, that people are living where
they live and not necessarily in the same spot. With
all that said, your experience in the military, the structure
(13:50):
that you've had, and all the different things that you've
done over your life, can you tell me, as CEO
and as a leader, how you work with that many
people that aren't onside that you don't see all the time,
making sure that they do what you want them to do,
but also they have a great work life balance. How
does it work for you?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, it's a challenge a post pandemic.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I think you asked most companies of our size people
working in a remote capacity. Prior to the pandemic, we
would go out to every client site two, three, sometimes
four times a year, meet with your clients, take our
employees out for dinner or some type of team build
an event that's kind of lost in postum because people
are spread throughout. I can go to some cities, but
(14:29):
there's only a handful of people still living that. People
have had the opportunity now to branch out and move
to places they've always wanted to live to. So what
we have focused on is really employee engagement, and we
had to kind of change our outlook and how we're
going to do that, and so now we do a
lot more all hands.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I just did two all hands yesterday.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
It's kind of giving people an update on how the
company is doing, you know, our performance on that contract,
things that are coming. People like to be in the
know and know that they feel they're important part of
your company.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I tell people you're out of site.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
You're never and so you know, we need to call
people more often than just hey, your timesheet is late.
There's some company that's all the time you ever hear
from they need something from you.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I have a data call.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I need you to work on this, versus Hey, how
are you, how's your family doing?
Speaker 2 (15:13):
How is your last vacation.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
You need to understand your people, what motivates them and
what makes them tick. And that is instilled from the
military for me, and it's shamee coming from the military
as well. Has that same culture here for the company
at ems I, so I appreciate that and again one
of the reasons why I followed him here to this company.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
We send out probably about a thousand cards a year
outside of our holiday cards, just to tell people at
a birthday, even if you don't work for us anymore,
you still get a birthday card from once you get.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
An anniversary card. If you call and I'm talking you
see how you're doing. You tell me your dog is sick,
You're going to get a card signed by everybody in
this corporate office with a personal message. It's not a signature,
but a personal message just saying, Hey, I hope your
dog gets well soon, or I hope you congratulations on
your son graduate boot camp, congratulations on your daughter.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Being graduating from college.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
We some just some little things that you can do
that make big differences in your employees' lives and letting
them know and reemphasize that they are an important element
of your company.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Well, Ken, I'm glad you brought that up because I
know this is not going to surprise you, and I'm
a firm believer in other people just want simple acknowledgment
and that you do that. And then you mentioned the
work culture, and I promise I was going to talk
about this so briefly. You're very transparent on your website
and you've talked about it several times. Can you talk
about the culture of the company, not only what leadership
has done for you, but what you do for your
(16:33):
staff now.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I think it's really being having open communication and setting
expectations and letting people know what they're held accountable to do. Again,
the all hands are really good and lets people ask questions,
lets people know what's coming down, that there's growth opportunities
in the company for them people want to have. I
want people who want to have a passion to be
part of this company. I have people that have worked
(16:56):
for us over a decade, some on the same contract.
I have people who are on their fifth and sixth
contract lists here at this company, and a lot of
it is the trust and faith that they have in
me Vemasi, our corporate staff here that what we say
is what we're going to do. And when you hire someone,
you kind of go into a blind and you have
a resume, you do, you do a thirty one hour interview,
(17:17):
you bring them on, you put them on a client
site or virtually support that client. And now you have
to follow up and you have to make sure they
have the tools that they need to be successful. Do
they have the right resources. There's a computer working, there's
a connectivity working. What things do you need for me
to help you do the best job that you can do?
And so on top of just taking care of people
(17:38):
and making sure that they're doing well and you're communicating,
but also how can we help best support them in
their job supporting our client.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Final thing on access to employees. So I've talked to
so many CEOs and not one of them is not
terribly busy all the time, and I imagine you are too.
But you've got one hundred and seventy five employees that
are scattered throughout domestically the United States. So that said,
when it comes to access and they need to reach
out to you. How much access do you grant or
do you want to give in these situations.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
I get asked that all the time because I've had
people say your website says give access to the CEO
twenty four to seven, and that is a true statement.
And that goes back to my time at the Air Force.
You know, I was an advanced lead again for chaining
and for Joe Biden. And when things happen, you get
a phone call at two o'clock in the morning. I
remember a civilian aspect, Well what do you do? Do
(18:28):
you just call them back the next day? Like, no,
you get up and you take care of the situation.
So I have employees call me all the time, nights, weekends,
and so that I get employee, I didn't think you
were going to answer. I just was called a leave
a voice muster. Well you called me, They said, what's Saturday?
I said, doesn't matter. If you called me, you must
need something. And that goes back to letting your employees
know with confidence they're important piece of your company, and
(18:50):
that is you know, answering if they send an email
to us, you get email back the same day. If
you call it, you're going to get a phone call
back the same day. If I can't answer that phone,
I'm going to call you back immunately once I have
the first availability. And again it's just we are in
the people business and you need and you have to
have the same passion for your employees that you want
them to have in supporting your client.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Well said Ken.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
We always joke in this series that even if a
company is doing really well, it's not always unicorns and
rainbows all the time. So that said, when it comes
to challenges, and they might be specific to your business,
if not the whole genre of what you guys do
along with your competitors out there who might do something similar.
But what kind of current challenges does the industry or
you specifically have right now?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I think, again back to the post pandemic, I think
just figuring out new ways to have employee engagements because
you're not you know, you don't have boots on the
ground with the client site. I used to go, we
have a big contract with Noah. I used to go
up to Silver Spring every week and I would walk
cubicle to cubicle to say hello to every employee. I
never asked them how the job was. I just said,
(19:53):
how are you doing? What you got planned this weekend?
Any vacations? How's that grandchild? People love that aspect and
that it's hard now that you don't have it. Now
it has to be individual phone calls. So we kind
of have a communications plan here that we leverage to
make sure we don't lose touch with those employees. So
that has been, you know, one of those challenges that
we've had to really overcome, not only with our employees
(20:17):
but also our clients. You know, you're not having as
much FaceTime with with your clients as we once did,
so you've got to find ways to get that because
that secures your future option years on contracts, follow on contracts,
and you're securing the jobs for that current workforce that
you have. And so you know, anytime we make decisions
not only for this company, but you have to keep
(20:38):
in mind the workforce that you have and there's some
responsibilities that you have to tho one hundred and seventy
five plus people.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
All right. One of my favorite things I like to
ask is about some great stories or maybe a good story,
And I know you probably have bushels full of great
things that have happened, either individuals, families, or maybe even
a company you worked with. But as CEO, maybe over
the last four years, I always ask that question. You know, well,
there's a reason why we get up every day when
something really great happens and maybe we planned it, we
(21:04):
didn't plan, but this is why we do what we do.
Do you have maybe a short story you can share
with us, a something the incredible that you're proud of
that happened.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I think there's every contract that we bid on, there's
a there's a tie into us. There has to be
like we feel that we can get in there and
make a difference. It's it's a mission that we can
buy into that we think we can best support. We
can bring some effectiveness, some efficiencies. One of my we
have lots of contractor support. It's but I was actually
on the phone. You actually have one of our clients
(21:32):
and she was talking about that there's a construction project
we need to work on up in the northeast and
there's this struggle because there's just this endangered seal that
is there and they can't do the projects. They had
to figure out how do we move this seal or
do something to do that it's like, so, okay's let's
have a plan and we're working with that client to
kind of address how do we still get what the
client needs done at this location, but also protect the environment,
(21:55):
protect the seal. Another big contract that we have, not big,
but then big importance to me. We support the Golf
Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council down to New Orleans and what
they are doing is taking a big piece of the
VP Horizon spill money and pushing that out to local
and state governments as well as third party grant awardees
(22:18):
to restore the golf. So when you look at doing
something and giving back and trying to leave things in
a better place than where they're at right now, the
damage that the Horizon BP spill cause was significant, and
it's amazing this many years later, there's still tons and
tons of money and effort to restore the golf to
(22:39):
the best that we can. And So when I look
at things that we do at VMSI, and you look
at the missions and some of the clients you support.
I talked about the v a little bit earlier. Another
big one that we have passion for those things, you
just it gives you the passion to continue to do
your job. And I remind my employees sometimes not of
our clients are the best, best, and they can be tough,
(23:00):
tough manager. It's tough expectations, but even during those tough times,
I always try to remind my employees, remember the mission.
Remember that veteran you're supporting the needs that World War
two veteran that needs to needs a heart transplant, and
that hospital you're getting your helping get built is where
he's going to have that done. You know, no, I
don't forget we're trying to protect the seal, but still
make sure that we can go out and monitor the
(23:20):
weather and satellites and all the things that Noah needs
to do for our environment as well. If there's so
many missions that we support, to tie into things that
our company has passion for, our employees that passion for
and you know, we always trying to find employees who
have the passion for the client that we're supporting, because
someone who really has the passion for Noah may not
be the best person to be at the VA and
(23:43):
the opposite of that, so you have to kind of
tie in the talent. And I tell our alliance that
when they are looking at a resume. A resume is
one component of it, but I also have to find
somebody who can fit into their culture and whether that's
the mission, whether it's how their leadership style is is.
I call it the e harmony piece of finding the
(24:06):
right person to support their mission and their office directly,
and it's it's sometimes equal or more important than the
tech coal aspect of their resumes, finding somebody who can
really thrive in that work environment that we're placing them in.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You know, I know you're also a big sports guy
like me, but there's so many similarities when it comes
to structure and running an organization with the military and
also an organization zation like Here's or a sports team.
You know, you're kind of the quarterback of everybody and
you've got to keep everybody under wraps but also let
them have a lot of fun but execute what you
would like them to do. So I appreciate the analogy,
(24:40):
but also your explanation and all the cool things that
you're doing. Well, let's do this, Ken, I really enjoyed
the conversation, but I want to get some final thoughts
in a recap from you. We are going to give
the website to everybody. I know you're hiring the best
of the best at VMSI let's do this. Maybe just
some final thoughts from you so or the floor is yours.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
VM aside, going back a little bit about how we
do things here. You know, my boss brought the W
hotel mentality here and it's the whatever whenever mentality. When
you pick up the phone at the W, there's one
button you push. You don't pick the conciergra, not the
bell bell hop, it's not the front desk.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
There's one button.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Whoever ins that phone can help you. So if you're
if you're a governing agency out there, or if you're
an employee who wants to be part of something who
has passion for our clients, has passion from being part
of our company, please, you know, check out our website Www.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
V e t MS dot com.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
So it's www dot vet ms dot com. There is
a talent down there for looking for opportunities. There's also
an outline of all the services we provide.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
What you see is what you get.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
It is a straight we're straightforward, very transparent organization. And
if you're looking for a top notch contractor or top
notch contractor be part of as an employee. I definitely
encourage you to check out our website and let's let's
talk well.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Ken, I want to thank you for your valuable time.
Also want to thank you for your service in the
Air Force, the two decades that you put in for
our country. But you've done so many amazing things since
then in your journey, and I know it continues, but
it seems like it's been a great ride in the
eleven years you've been with VMSI so far. Thank you
for this, give my best to all your people, and
thank you so much. I'm glad we could feature you
on CEOs. You should know. Our community partner M and
(26:18):
T Bank supports CEOs. You should know 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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