We are thrilled to announce that Blake Harvey has been promoted to Vice President of Growth at Red Team Consulting. As VP of Growth, Blake will execute Red Team’s strategic growth initiatives and will be responsible for delivery across all divisions within Red Team.
Jeff Shen, President of Red Team, is excited about Blake’s expanded role within the company. “We are incredibly proud of Blake’s achievements over the last 5+ years he’s been with Red Team Consulting,” Jeff remarked. “He’s made tremendous contributions for our company, our client base, and our GovCon community. It’s an honor to acknowledge Blake’s positive impacts and tireless efforts to not only grow Red Team, but also improve communication and partnership among federal contractors and agencies. I am confident that Blake’s leadership will propel Red Team’s growth to new heights in 2024 and beyond. Please join me in congratulating Blake on this well-deserved promotion!”
In case you don’t already know Blake (unlikely! 😆 ), we wanted to share a brief Q&A so that you can learn a little more about him, both professionally and personally.
Q: What in your career at Red Team did the most to prepare you for your role as VP of Growth?
A: Working closely with Jeff Shen over the past 5 and a half years has been an invaluable experience. I’ve been able to benefit tremendously from Jeff’s wisdom, guidance, and feedback which in turn has benefited my long-term career growth, our client’s growth, and Red Team as a whole.
I have benefited tremendously by staying engaged in the GovCon community through serving on the board of AFCEA NOVA, volunteering with various other associations like ACT-IAC, and attending many events in our industry to stay engaged in our community. Meeting new people and talking shop with others in our industry helps me to learn new things every day!
Q: What’s your favorite thing about working at Red Team?
A: The team that I work with every day. Our people are fun to work with, very smart, unique, and overall awesome. We recently took a company retreat to Napa which wasn’t too bad either 😊. Our stellar team is what has kept me at the same company for over 5 years.
Q: Any advice for people looking to expand their role in corporate growth?
A: It depends on where you are in your career. If you’re more junior, I’d say don’t shy away from hard work and don’t think that any task is “below” you. If you excel at the basic tasks, then you will be trusted with increasing responsibility. For mid-level and more senior people, I would encourage you to stay creative as the best growth strategies and tactics are a result of fresh revenue generating ideas. Also, no matter where you are in your career, you should never stop aggressively building your network!
Q: Anything exciting on the horizon for Red Team in 2024?
A: You know it!! Due to the tremendous feedback from our clients, we have many exciting things on the horizon including an enhanced strategic planning and growth strategy offering, a greater emphasis on our capture to win practice, corporate trainings, and even our (soon to be announced) M&A Advisory practice. I have a few other tricks up my sleeve, but I can’t reveal everything just yet. Our clients should expect some exciting things from Red Team in 2024!
Q: And now for some fun questions…What is your spirit animal and why?
A: I don’t think about these things too much, but I might have to go with a baby (or toddler) elephant. If you’ve ever had the chance of interacting with elephants, the adults tend to be more stoic and slow moving, while the baby elephants are much more energetic, bring a huge smile to everyone’s face, and don’t take themselves too seriously. I’d like to think that I have some of those character traits, and if you know me then you probably know that I weigh about the same as a baby elephant too!
Q: What is your favorite emoji and why?
A: 😎 because sometimes you need to let people know how cool you are.
Q: The zombie apocalypse is coming, who are 3 people you want on your team?
A: My wife, my son, and the dude from survivor man so he can tie some knots for me and help us avoid the poisonous food.
Q: If you had to delete all but 3 apps from your smartphone, which ones would you keep?
A: Shew that’s tough. If we assume that phone and messages are just parts of the smartphone and not true “apps” then I would keep:
- Spotify for podcasts and music
- Google Chrome so I can access the internet.
- Camera/Photos so I can keep capturing the moments that matter.
If phone and messages are apps, then I’d keep my phone and revert to the 90s by foregoing messages – I’m more of a phone call kind of guy anyways 🤷♂️. That would leave me with Google Chrome and Camera/Photos as the other two apps. Not having Spotify would be tough, but maybe I could stream some music through Chrome or something.
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