Jane Edwards
Executive Mosaic is honored to introduce Jason Providakes, president and CEO of Mitre, as an inductee into the 2022 class of the Wash100 Award, Executive Mosaic’s annual selection of the most significant contributors in the government contracting sector.
This recognition marks the third Wash100 Award for Providakes and underscores his efforts to lead Mitre amid the pandemic and oversee its organizational changes in response to health crisis challenges. Visit Wash100.com to cast votes for Providakes and your other favorite GovCon leaders.
Amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Providakes said Mitre “has been a trusted partner and force multiplier for local, state, and national frontline efforts to secure public health since day one.”
In an open letter published in early 2021, Providakes outlined some of the McLean, Virginia-based nonprofit company’s initiatives during the pandemic, such as designing the COVID-19 patient data standard to develop federated analytics on the effectiveness of emerging treatments, building the infrastructure needed to gather, analyze and share data across 1,000 organizations to ensure readiness amid a surge in cases and helping advance private sector collaboration in support of the health care system.
Mitre also made organizational changes to adapt to challenges brought by the health crisis. These include simplifying the company’s management model by combining program divisions and portfolio into a single team, introducing chief medical officer and chief futurist roles, finalizing the Mitre Accelerator, establishing the Center for Data-Driven Policy and integrating 173 independent technical centers into one organization – Mitre Labs.
“In addition to these organization changes, all our leaders at every level of MITRE were coached and empowered to launch innovation, accelerate risk-taking and discovery, and fully leverage our technology capabilities,” Providakes noted.
In an interview published in May 2021, the chief executive said Mitre looks to reinforce its “impact as a national resource” through industry partnerships to advance national security, modernize health care and address other complex problems as the company continues to manage six federally funded research and development centers.
When asked about Mitre’s key focus areas going forward, Providakes said the nonprofit corporation will continue using its “strong systems thinking” to broaden its work in platform design and adoption, experimentation and system deployment.
“We’ll also continue leveraging the Accelerator and Engenuity, along with MITRE Labs, to drive disruptive solutions and accelerate leading-edge capabilities. And our Center for Data Driven Policy will be discovering new ways to use science, technology and data to inform policy,” he added.
“These entities bridge our work at MITRE to incubate technology with the private sector and accelerate key innovations. Things like safeguarding intellectual property from cyber threats and protecting critical infrastructure,” Providakes said of Mitre Engenuity and Accelerator.
Mitre Engenuity is a tech foundation launched in 2019 to facilitate collaboration with industry, government and academia to protect critical infrastructure. In November 2020, the foundation unveiled the Open Generation Consortium to bring together industry, universities and the government to advance 5G innovation.
In mid-2021, Mitre Engenuity announced the creation of The Semiconductor Alliance to help come up with a strategy for U.S. government investments in chip-focused research and development efforts to help the country maintain its competitive advantage.
“U.S. leadership in advanced semiconductor devices is critical. Investments like the one proposed by the U.S. Congress are needed to augment the U.S. industry’s global market share, but we need to invest it meaningfully,” said Providakes.
With Providakes at the helm, the company unveiled two organizations – Cyber Infrastructure Protection Innovation Center and Clinical Insights Innovation Cell – under Mitre Labs to explore approaches to protect critical infrastructure from cyber threats and address challenges in the public health care system.
Mitre opened a new office in Alabama, called Huntsville iHub, to drive hiring efforts and pursue partnerships with local government agencies and universities and a new laboratory in Bedford, Massachusetts, to prototype and produce technologies through additive manufacturing, 3D printing and other precision tooling resources.
In September 2021, Mitre received a $474 million option contract to continue operating the U.S. Air Force-funded National Security Engineering Center, an FFRDC that conducts research work in cybersecurity and other technical areas.
Providakes started his career in Mitre as a lead scientist, advancing scientific research in support of national security. He has served on the Army Science Board and taken part in several National Academy of Sciences studies.
When asked about his career advice, Providakes said an individual should have the willingness to explore various problems and jobs to learn more and “make sense of the big picture.”
“Seek out opportunities that will cultivate that kind of growth. Be open to taking risks — and be OK with failing. Then invest the time and energy to learn from those experiences,” he added.
Executive Mosaic congratulates Jason Providakes and Mitre on his Wash100 Award selection.
About the Wash100 Award
This year represents the ninth annual Wash100 award selection. The Wash100 is the premier group of private and public sector leaders selected by Executive Mosaic’s organizational and editorial leadership as the most influential leaders in the GovCon sector. These leaders demonstrate skills in leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement, and vision. Visitors to wash100.com can sign in and vote for the executives they believe will have the greatest impact on government contracting in the coming year.
