GTSI taps veteran government contractor to lead company

The board of directors of GTSI Corp. has named Sterling Phillips Jr. the corporation’s new chief executive officer and president.

After an extensive search, the board selected Phillips because he is a proven leader with a track record of growth in the government contracting industry, John Toups, chairman of GTSI's board, said in a statement dated Nov. 29 that announced the appointment.

“Having a seasoned leader like Sterling at the helm will enable GTSI to continue to focus on management’s strategic plan to grow GTSI’s core business while expanding professional services and investing in solutions development with the goal of increasing shareholder value,” Toups said.

“I am grateful to the board for their confidence in me to lead GTSI during this critical time in the transformation of the company,” Phillips said. “Our focus will be the execution of an effective strategy to accelerate the company’s growth, particularly in services.”

Phillips succeeds Scott Friedlander, who resigned in October, when the Small Business Administration lifted the temporary federal contract suspension it imposed on the company Oct. 1, when GTSI agreed to cease working with small businesses serving as prime contractors and end its participation in the SBA mentoring program.

GTSI is continuing to cooperate with the ongoing investigations of its conduct as a subcontractor for certain small businesses.

Phillips has served in top management positions in several federal professional services contractors, including six years as chairman and CEO of Analex Corp., a publicly traded federal professional services firm that was acquired in 2007 by QinetiQ North America.

During Phillips’ tenure, Analex grew from less than $20 million to more than $180 million in annual sales. After the sale of Analex in 2007, Philips was a venture partner at FirstMark Capital LLC, formerly Pequot Ventures.

Before Analex, Phillips was senior vice president of Federal Data Corp., now part of Northrop Grumman Corp., where he was instrumental in completing six acquisitions and growing revenues from $130 million to more than $650 million in less than five years.

Phillips began his career with IBM Corp., progressing through a variety of technical, marketing and general management assignments. During his last nine years at IBM, he was an executive in the company's federal systems division, where he served in business development and general management roles.

After his retirement from IBM, Phillips joined Computer Sciences Corp., where he was president of the federal business development division.

Phillips holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

GTSI, of Herndon, Va., ranks No. 59 on Washington Technology’s 2010 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.