Charles Lyons-Burt
David Peed is dedicated to serving the government’s mission. It’s what motivates him in his new position as senior director of federal sales for the Indirect and Partner Channel at Comcast Government Services, which he joined in June. A sales executive with experience in telecommunications architecture, information technology and cloud platforms, Peed spent three years in the early 1990s working in the U.S. Congress as an equipment purchaser for the Office of the Clerk. He parlayed that experience into future government-facing roles at companies like Bell Atlantic, Qwest, Ciena, Equinix and BedRock Systems.
As a seasoned government contracting executive, Peed plans to apply his experience, insights and connections to his newly formed role at CGS, a segment within Comcast focused on serving the U.S. federal government and public sector organizations. In this Executive Spotlight interview, Peed speaks at length about the work he seeks to accomplish in the company’s federal channel and some of the strategies he plans to implement.
Tell me about the federal sales channel CGS created and why it was formed.
Ken Folderauer, vice president of federal government sales at CGS, worked with our leadership team to create a new role focused on indirect business with the U.S. federal government. CGS had already achieved success with end users, such as the Defense Information Systems Agency, and holds a General Services Administration Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract, so it felt like the right next step for our company to target a previously untapped business channel — partners and resellers to the U.S. federal government.
Can you share experiences from your past roles that you believe will help you successfully lead this new sales channel?
I’ve worked in the government market throughout my 30-year career, primarily in the telecommunications and IT sector. I’ve held positions with cloud platform providers and even a cybersecurity startup, so I have a unique view of the government market. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to build strong relationships with key federal integrators and cloud platform providers, which I plan to leverage in my new role with CGS. I’m also excited to build new business relationships with partners to drive sales for our Indirect and Partner Channel.
What are your goals for the Indirect and Partner Channel heading into 2024?
I’ve approached every position that I’ve held — whether as an individual contributor or sales leader — with a strong focus on strategy. I believe a clear and well-thought-out sales strategy is essential to the success of any business. In my new role, I’m currently in the process of finalizing our go-to-market strategy for the Indirect and Partner Channel.
In addition to crafting our go-to-market strategy, I’m also focused on meeting with all our existing indirect channel partners and engaging in conversations with potential new partners to establish synergies. My end goal is to leverage these strong relationships to help win business with the U.S. federal government.
To organize our collective sales approach, I’ve segmented the market into four categories: carriers, carrier integrators, government systems integrators and cloud platform providers serving the U.S. federal government and technology partners. These are the types of businesses I’m targeting and plan to partner with to drive sales for our new channel.
How will you define and measure your success in this role?
One thing I love about sales is there’s an easy way to measure success — growth of the market. There are some intangibles we also need to consider when it comes to our new sales channel, such as increased interest from additional partners and significant pipeline growth with new and existing partners. At the end of the day, I will measure success by our ability to expand the potential market opportunity for CGS and our partners in government.
What are the biggest areas of opportunity in the federal sector right now?
I believe opportunity with the government is somewhat cyclical. One of my favorite sayings is, “When the economy is good, the government spends money. When the economy is bad, the government spends even more money to stimulate growth.” From a macroeconomic perspective, we’ve recently seen a challenging economy firsthand. To bolster economic activity and stabilize markets, the government has injected large sums of money and resources.
Since CGS’s inception in 2019, we have powered some of the government’s operations with advanced telecommunications and Ethernet solutions. By providing government agencies with reliable connectivity services, we have proven to be a significant, competitive partner in the U.S. federal government space. I believe I can build upon the success we’ve already achieved by working with channel partners. Ultimately, channel partners are viewed as a force multiplier. In my experience, when selling to the government, it’s essential to complement the direct channel with an emphasis on indirect sales because working with partners can help take you much further than going at it alone.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Indirect and Partner Channel at CGS, please reach out to David Peed at David_Peed@comcast.com.
