DRT hires former Cognosante president as CEO

Federal technology integrator DRT Strategies hired James Gordon as its new chief executive. Gordon joined the company on April 4 after nearly three years as president of health IT firm Cognosante.

The three-decade market veteran succeeds DRT’s founder and former CEO Susan Kidd, who transitioned to chairman of the board of directors also on April 4.

“He is outwardly focused, and we believe he will help us expand our brand, customer base, health IT offerings, and create new opportunities for our employees,” Kidd said in a release Monday regarding Gordon’s appointment.

While at Cognosante, Gordon led it through some portfolio reshaping moves that included both an acquisition and a divestiture aimed at honing the core health technology business. His career also includes senior leadership roles at Maximus and General Dynamics.

Now at the 250-employee DRT, one of his goals is to position the company for a greater presence across what it defines as “the next generation of IT.”

In an email to Washington Technology, Gordon said DRT is specifically focused on the “emerging government modernization of digital transformation.” He also cited the tools that enable it such as robotic process automation, so-called low-code solutions and data mastery.

“We say ‘data is cheap, information is expensive,’ we want to modernize that data into actionable data,” Gordon wrote to me. “We are listening to our customers and developing solutions that hit their pain points.”

Regarding the next steps for DRT, Gordon wrote that one of his goals alongside the company’s continued growth while “maintaining the culture that has provided nearly two decades of success.”