Strasser pushes commercial energy partnership at PPC

Just a couple months on the job as CEO of PPC, Paul Strasser shows off his strategic growth chops with a partnership with a commercial software company to launch a new energy management as a service offering.

Paul Strasser hasn’t wasted any time in bringing his trademark strategic growth chops to his new company Project Performance Co.

Named the CEO of PPC in late July, Strasser announced a new alliance this week with a pioneering company in the energy management space.

The partnership with Enerit is part of a new product suite that PPC is launching called EMneXus that focuses on energy management services.

Enerit is a 10-year-old British company that develops energy management software, but most of its customers to date have been in the commercial sector in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It landed its first U.S. customer in 2012.

The partnership is significant to me because it’s another example of the trend of government contractors partnering with commercial technology players to bring a new services offering to the public sector market.

And, in this case, PPC is offering the service via a management-as-a-service model.

This is also noteworthy because energy is often pointed to as a potential growth area for government contractors.

As Strasser says in the company announcement, “This is a key step in our strategy to focus on growth markets of national and global significance.”

The EMneXus service will provide energy managers with tools and expertise to assess and optimize energy usage, which can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve equipment and process reliability, PPC said in its statement. Training, baseline assessments, and customized energy management system development are offered as part of the service as well.

The company has long worked with the Energy Department on corporate energy management and analysis projects, and Enerit brings its energy management software products that can help with compliance with ISO 50001, an international energy management standard.

Strasser joined PPC as CEO in late July when Harry Thornsvard announced his retirement. He joined the company after stints at Dynamics Research Corp. and Engility, which acquired DRC. He also was a senior executive with Pragmatics.

During his career, Strasser has built a reputation for strategic initiative,s and while he hasn’t shied away from acquisitions, organic growth has often been his primary focus.

Looks like that focus is alive and well at PPC.