William McCormick
Executive Mosaic is honored to introduce Carey Smith, president and chief operating officer for Parsons, as an inductee into this year’s Wash100 Award selection that annually recognizes the elite leaders in across the federal and government sectors for the eighth consecutive year.
This marks the third Wash100 Award win for Smith. Previously, Smith had earned her 2018 Wash100 Award for her role in achieving key contract awards and leading business expansion efforts for Parsons.
For her 2021 Wash100 Award win, Executive Mosaic recognizes her current growth strategy for Parsons, her vision and leadership to drive innovative solutions for Parsons’ customers and technical capabilities for the federal workforce.
“Carey’s proven track record of organic and strategic growth makes her well prepared to take on this increased leadership responsibility,” said Chuck Harrington, chairman, CEO of Parsons and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient. “She is an exceptional leader and the Parsons team looks forward to further success with her in this new role,” he added.
In her current role, Smith oversees Parsons’ global operation and implementation of the company’s growth strategy in her role as president and COO. She joined the company’s board of directors in Dec. 2020 and emphasized the importance of continuing the work to solve the most difficult challenges for Parsons’ customers with differentiated products and solutions.
“It’s been an honor working with my Parsons colleagues to deliver a better world and I am eager to be a member of the board to drive continued innovation and growth,” said Smith.
Under her leadership and growth strategy, Parsons announced that it secured other transaction agreements worth more than $200 million combined from the Department of Defense (DoD) in 2020 to support the development of sensors, artificial intelligence, machine learning, radars, hypersonic weapons and other technology platforms for warfighters.
Smith said then that the company works to speed up the delivery of operational systems meant to help service personnel defend against threats.
“Our company’s agility and scalability, combined with an innovative R&D and acquisition approach, align perfectly with the Department of Defense’s requirement to field disruptive mission-ready capabilities quickly,” she added.
Parsons’ defense work continues to gain recognition across the federal sector. In Aug. 2020, the company’s Polaris Alpha Advanced Systems subsidiary, which helps government clients develop prototypes and analyze data from sensors and imagery, was recognized by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) with the James S. Cogswell Award for industrial security practices.
“Our selection for this prestigious award reflects our total commitment to the protection of classified information to ensure the greatest protection for the U.S. warfighter,” said Smith. “I am proud of our employees who fully embrace security measures to better safeguard our nation.”
To further execute Parsons’ growth strategy built on tech innovation, the company partnered with Neology to explore business opportunities across critical infrastructure, mobility and transportation sectors by combining their tech offerings in support of government customers.
Neology designs and develops automatic license plate recognition cameras, radio frequency identification readers and other tech products used in the tolling, electronic vehicle recognition and public safety markets.
“Our partnership opens previously untapped market potential in the mobility and critical infrastructure spaces, allowing both companies to continue helping governments succeed at their mission of serving their citizens,” said Smith.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started early last year, Parsons demonstrated its agility and innovation to respond to the health crisis. Smith said the company sought ideas from its entire employee population and classified them into three campaign focus areas: biosurveillance, integrated screening and testing and digital transformation.
Parsons teamed up with Fraunhofer USA in May 2020 to develop a biosensor to help test for the virus “ SARS-CoV-2“ causing COVID-19. Smith cited the critical role of testing capabilities as countries begin the process of reopening and ensure the return to a safe living and work environment.
Parsons also developed and launched an integrated suite of systems called DetectWise that allows for contactless health screening in public places.
“DetectWise uses sensors and cameras to measure body temperature, heart rate and respiration rate that will help our customers better understand if an individual is symptomatic for the COVID-19 virus, allowing them to take steps necessary to minimize the risk of spreading the disease,” Smith said.
In a video interview with Government Matters, Smith said it is imperative for companies to come up with innovative platforms that could help people during the pandemic and post-crisis. She also highlighted the importance of having an agile and responsive culture to meet the needs of government customers.
“Our culture is one of agility, innovation, collaboration and disruptiveness. When you have a crisis such as COVID that hits, you need a company that can quickly come to the table, be responsive and provide solutions now,” Smith explained.
“By leveraging all of our employees, the entire employee population, through open-sourcing ideas, we came up with hundreds of various (solutions) that we felt we could help our customers. For us, it is all about responsiveness and meeting our customers’ needs,” Smith added.
Smith’s career at Parsons started in 2016 when she joined as president of the company’s federal solutions business. She assumed the COO role in November 2018 after Parsons merged its federal and infrastructure business units into a single structure. A year later, she assumed additional duties as president of the company.
In addition, she sits on the boards of the Professional Services Council, Edison International and the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation.
Executive Mosaic congratulates Parsons and Carey Smith on her third Wash100 Award. Her influence and vision in the federal and government contracting (GovCon) sectors demonstrates the level of excellence that is recognized by the Wash100 Award.
Visit Wash100.com to cast a vote for Carey Smith as the most significant executive of consequence to the GovCon sector. Cast your TEN votes TODAY to advocate your favorite leaders in the federal and government sectors. The elite leader with the most votes by April 30th will be recognized by the GovCon community as the industry’s most influential member.
