Recently retired Army exec plans new company, consulting career

Gary Winkler, who recently left government service after more than four years as the Army's program executive officer for Enterprise Information Systems, plans to launch his own company and work as a consultant on national security issues.

“My emerging plans are based upon using my abilities to do more in the national security space, and that’s not as simple as going to work for a new employer,” Winkler told Defense Systems, a Washington Technology sister publication.

As the head of PEO-EIS, Winkler managed an 1,800-person workforce with billions of dollars of mission-critical contracts.

“I’m going to take a two-pronged approach: first, consulting with industry to help ensure government requirements are understood and win-win relationships are established; and second, standing up a government support systems engineering/technical assistance company to address IT, cyber and [Defense Department] challenges,” he said.

Winkler will work with some clients of Guerra Kiviat Inc., a business-to-government consulting firm, and also take on a few clients of his own.

In setting up a government support systems company, Winkler said his goal is to hire government experts who have left the federal government but want to stay engaged in the missions of their agencies.

“I'm afraid that the government is going to start losing a lot of good talent,” he said, citing the expected retirement of many baby boomer federal officials.

“If I can capture that talent and make it rewarding for them to stay engaged in the mission, as support contractors, our country will be better off,” Winkler said.