Where they are now | After contracting: Back to basics

Joseph Kampf made a name for himself in thefederal contracting world when he tookcharge of Anteon International Corp. in 1996after the New York buyout fund CaxtonIseman bought the company. He took Anteonpublic in 2002 and four years later sold it toGeneral Dynamics Corp. for $2.2 billion.Now Kampf has made his first acquisitionsince founding CoVant Management last yearwith several former Anteon executives. Theprivate equity firm announced March 5 that itpurchased A-T Solutions Inc. ofFredericksburg, Va. Terms of the deal werenot disclosed. The company provides analyticaland training solutions to detect, identifyand defeat improvised explosive devices andweapons of mass destruction.After the sale of Anteon, Kampf and his sixclosest management team colleagues immediatelybegan to look for their next challenge."We spent a couple of months as a team thinkingabout what we wanted to do," Kampf said.No one was prepared to retire, but could theycreate another Anteon? "Our assessment ofthe market was that it really wasn't going to bepossible over the foreseeable future to buildanother Anteon," Kampf said.He said he saw little chance of a new federalcontractor realizing the same rapid growththat took Anteon from the $100 million revenuemark to the $2 billion threshold in adecade. The market now is tighter, more competitiveand the midtier is a precarious placeto be, he said."The market is definitely bifurcated andcertainly favors the bigger players from a coupleof perspectives," Kampf said. "One, theyhave the resources and, two, the customersare really bundling their opportunities intolarger and larger deals, and they're looking forname brands to award them tobecause it's safer."Kampf and his team decided toraise several million dollars for anequity pool to invest and attack themarketplace vertically, seeking topurchase a company with specifictechnology capabilities. In early2007, they established a fundingdeal with Caxton Iseman and createdCoVant as a private equityfund. Then last April they startedto pursue their first acquisition.The idea, Kampf said, was tosearch for an outstanding companyin the $30 million to $200million range and build it throughorganic growth and acquisitions."Certain areas of the nationalsecurity waterfront excite us a lot,particularly with respect to modelsimulation and training," he said.Other areas of interest includesecure identification, intelligencedatabase analysis and management,and logistics modernization."If anybody stands a chance todo a rollup in the federal services industry, itwould be Joe and his compatriots," said PaulSerotkin, president of Minuteman VenturesLLC.Kampf understands the financial, valuecreationand operational areas of the business,Serotkin said. "Certainly not all private equityguys know that, and not all CEOs of companiesin that sector know that," he added.Kampf has devoted nearly all of his time toCoVant in the past year. "I'm spending asmuch time doing this as I did runningAnteon, which was time and a half," he said.But he added that he is having as much funas he did in the first six or seven years atAnteon.Taking Anteon public in 2002 was a newand exciting experience that lasted only a fewyears, he said. Once the company passed the$1 billion revenue mark, "the challenge of creatingvalue changed," Kampf said. "It was a lotharder to move the front of the ship to pointit in a different direction. That took a lot moretime."Creating CoVant was a strategic challenge, hesaid, because it was "putting the buildingblocks together, finding the right [acquisition]targets, thinking through the market strategy,and that's exciting."Having directed CoVant's first acquisition,Kampf does not plan to step into a leadershiprole. Running a small company has its specialrewards, he discovered."I had almost 10,000 employees when I leftAnteon, so to go from 10,000 to seven is adream job," he said. "I can go home at nightand have a little more time to think strategicallythan I did at Anteon because at Anteonyou have so many issues to deal with ? businessissues and personnel issues and customerissues and contract issues. Here, a lotof that will be delegated to the managementteams that run the operating companies. It's alot more fun for me."Kampf plans to continue his outside interests,which include travel and serving on theboards of Deltek Inc. and the Wolf TrapFoundation for the Performing Arts.Despite his busy schedule at CoVant, he hasmore time to spend with his family. AtAnteon, Kampf said, "I used to steal a ski triphere and there." But since leaving the company,he and his wife have taken several extendedtrips, including an around-the-world journeywith National Geographic last April."I'd have to say my life has become morediversified even though I have been spendingmost of my time on CoVant," he said.The name, he said, is a combination of "co,"meaning together, "V" for value and "ant"from Anteon, or "together we can build valuelike Anteon,'" he said, adding that CoVantprobably will never be as big. And that's finewith him.