2025 Ones To Watch - Industry Leaders: Derek Venne, conceptcsi

Recent goal and impact: 

A recent goal we achieved was increasing our projected growth rate by improving our overall win rate on RFP’s. Leadership, the estimating team, and I were able to overhaul our process of customer and contractor engagement, including overhauling our estimating process. As a result of our efforts our internal customer feedback metrics improved over 25% and lead to a win ratio well above industry standard across all market sectors.

Turning problems into opportunities: 

In Q2 of 2024 we were given a massive opportunity to bid a very large-scale project with one of our existing clients. Our previous successful deliveries got us to the table against the largest and most well-known CM’s in the city. During the bid process it was determined that our CM package wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be. Although disappointing, it afforded us the opportunity to completely overhaul our marketing material and bid packages, which led to increased growth through Q1 of this year.

Giving Back: 

I was introduced to love futbol a little over a year ago. They are an organization who builds soccer pitches for communities in extreme poverty. The group uses the sport to bring communities together, and new facilities to improve community infrastructure. They endeavor to ensure every kid has a safe place to play, to grow, and to be a driver for change in their own communities. We are working with the love futbol to raise awareness, funding, and opportunity to continue their growth in the US and abroad. Our VP of Finance, Clare Cunningham, has recently joined the board.

Best books, podcasts, or apps for aspiring leaders: 

Best book: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink Podcast: Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount.

Best advice for new leaders: 

Put the tech down, meet new people, and build your network.