GovCon execs enter the world of pro sports

Gettyimages.com/anton5146

Attain's Greg Baroni and Cognosante's Michele Kang are making moves into the world of professional sports, which may seen like a big leap but isn't.

Over recent weeks, two well-known executives in the government contracting world have made headlines for decidedly non-GovCon reasons.

Now getting into the world of professional sports are Y. Michele Kang, founder and CEO of health IT company Cognosante; and Greg Baroni, a long-time executive and founder of Attain Partners.

Baroni sold the federal portion of Attain to Maximus last year for $430 million. He has since started Attain Sports and Entertainment and acquired the Bowie Baysox, a minor league baseball team in the Baltimore Orioles' system.

That sports arm with the Attain branding has also purchased the Frederick Keys, a collegiate summer baseball team. Both teams are in Maryland.

His rationale as said in the release is straight-forward: it's a feel-good thing.

“It’s about building teams and serving the players and fans, and that resonates with me,” Baroni said when the transaction was announced last week.

Kang’s sports endeavor is a very different story, though her motivations and actions are driven both by good intentions and a passion for soccer.

She is a co-owner of the Washington Spirit, the D.C.-area team of and 2021 champion of the National Women’s Soccer League, and wants to buy control of the club from Managing Partner Steve Baldwin. Negotiations between them have been contentious to say the least.

I don’t necessarily want to rehash all of that. But here is a Washington Post story describing their battle: Co-owners of NWSL’s Spirit fight for control after abuse allegations against coach.

A little more of the juice is detailed here in Sally Jenkins’ column published Thursday: The NWSL’s toxic dispute between a man who failed and the woman who should replace him.

I hope Jason Sudeikis and the other writers behind the Ted Lasso TV show are taking notes. There are definitely some plot lines they can copy.

So, what does all this say about government contracting?

We had just launched our Project 38 podcast in 2018 and one of our first guests was industry veteran John Hillen, now CEO of EverWatch. At the time, he was both an executive in residence and professor of practice at George Mason University’s school of business.

In what was just the second episode we recorded, we talked about whether GovCon was a real market and signs of its maturity. Click here to go back and listen again, but please excuse the sound quality as we were just getting started.

Our conversation centered around the basics of a mature market, such as having a lot of buyers and sellers and being competitive and transparent.

GovCon is still evolving in those directions. But it isn’t as much of a political process as it was 30-to-40 years ago when there were fewer sellers, higher barriers to entry, and much more burdensome rules and regulations than today.

But one area that didn't come up was was wealth creation and what to do next. That's what comes to mind when thinking of Kang and Baroni’s sports ventures.

For a lot of reasons, the government market is a feeding ground for entrepreneurs and few can argue with the entrepreneurial acumen of Kang and Baroni. They built strong, profitable businesses and earned their success.

Both are active in their communities, so I see their sports purchases (or ongoing attempt to purchase in Kang’s case) as outgrowths of that activity.

Professional sports teams are for-profit businesses yes. But the players, the fans and the broader community are driving values as well.

Because Kang is involved in a fight for the Washington Spirit, her passion is front-and-center. The Spirit playing group knows her passion and her leadership skills.

In her column, Jenkins quotes a letter they wrote to Baldwin:

“Let us be clear, the person we trust is Michele. She continuously puts players’ needs and interests first. She listens. She believes that this can be a profitable business and you have always said you intend to hand the team over to female ownership. That moment is now.”

In many ways, sports team ownership isn’t too different from owning a government contracting business. Baroni talked about how team building and serving players and fans resonated with him.

That echoes what I’ve heard so many GovCon executives say about their companies and customer relationships. It’s not a big leap from GovCon to sports: focusing on the mission drives success.

So here's the sign of maturity that I see: two seasoned GovCon executives taking the skills and values they learned in this market and applying it to a new market.

A second thing I learned is to not mess with Michele Kang. Just look at the board room hat trick she’s scored over Baldwin. She’s someone you want on your side of the pitch.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.