Wins at VA, the IRS, SEC, a grant to pilot tools powered by generative AI and the addition of Sam Elmi as Director of People Services were just some of the recent activities at Nava that caught our attention. Today we catch up with recently added Executive Vice President, Growth James Gordon.
Guiding Mission Aligned Business Growth
To sum it up, I’ve gained a lot of experience leading mission-aligned business growth and maturing operations across federal, state, commercial, and international markets.
As a government contracting executive, I’ve served as an advisor to some of the largest federal programs and delivered key programs for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Cash-for-Clunkers, the Decennial Census, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Info program.
Before joining Nava, I was President of government contractor Cognosante. I also gained over a decade of experience as the vice president and general manager of General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), where I spearheaded the growth of their federal health division.
Conscientious Growth and Pursuit
It felt like a no-brainer because Nava has an incredible staff and structure. As a public benefit corporation, Nava has a legal responsibility to itself and the broader public. As such, Nava is conscientious about pursuing new work. When evaluating new opportunities, we focus on potential outcomes rather than merely assessing whether our capabilities are a good fit.
This structure and intention lends itself to Nava’s mission of making government services simple, effective, and accessible to all. Our agile approach has enabled the company to cement its place as a trusted digital services firm and better serve end users. At the end of the day, that’s a big part of why I joined.
Expansion as a Human-Centered Systems Integrator
I’m excited to expand upon Nava’s success in the industry, including its position as a human-centered systems integrator. As we scale, I’ll focus on maturing operations so we remain competitive in a complex middle market while keeping our mission at the core of our decision-making process.
Part of our future strategy involves leveraging and growing Nava’s state and federal work, improving upon service delivery and operations, and continuing to foster a collaborative civic tech ecosystem through events and partnerships. While remaining selective about the projects we choose, our trajectory as an organization is exciting, and I’m very much looking forward to helping drive Nava’s growth.
A Hybrid Design and Development Model
As a human-centered integrator, companies should be able to implement a combination of custom and commercial products based on their client’s needs, goals, and existing systems. This solution is a hybrid design and development model that I’ll focus on more at Nava given the complex middle-market, and I also see it as a broader industry trend. The goal of the model is to absorb all the complexity of end-to-end government services and deliver with simplicity and efficiency.
As a whole, I see government and industry partners working together to build a culture that is increasingly open, collaborative, and nimble. Ultimately, this leads to more sustainable, future-proof programs.
Small Business Opportunity
Nava has had great success with our brilliant small business partners. These joint-ventures have allowed us to win contracts and prime awards with new agencies. Some of our partners, like Aquia, bring a cybersecurity lens that pairs well with Nava’s cloud expertise. We’ve also had a lot of success with Nava Labs, our philanthropically funded division that’s prototyping policy and systems changes within government programs and advocating for their adoption. Notably, Nava Labs has partnered with experts in academia, like those at Georgetown’s Beeck Center.
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