OXON HILL, MD- The Washington Business Journal honored Karsun Solutions Chief Executive Officer Sundar Vaidyanathan at the 12th annual Minority Business Leader Awards. Held on March 28th, 2019 at the MGM National Harbor, honorees are among the Washington region’s top 25 minority business leaders. The award recognizes entrepreneurial drive, creativity and success.
Vaidyanathan co-founded Karsun Solutions with Kartik Mecheri, the organization’s Chief Architect. They founded Karsun as an IT consulting firm with an agile mindset. This vision centered on challenging the tradeoff between cost and quality through innovation. The Karsun Innovation Center, an in-house research and development unit, was an early investment dedicated to solving difficult customer problems. .
Vaidyanathan merges this innovative spirit with a drive toward high performance and quality outcomes for Karsun’s customers. During his tenure, Karsun Solutions won multiple hundred million dollar plus contracts as the prime contractor. Beginning in 2015, it earned a spot four years in a row on the Inc. 5000.In its first eight years the organization saw twenty-fold growth in employee headcount. These growing teams, located primarily in the DC and Oklahoma City regions, currently serve customers throughout the federal government.
“As we grow, it is critical that Karsun maintains its agile roots, especially customer access to our leadership, while leveraging the experience and quality found at a large company,” said Vaidyanathan, commenting on his current vision for Karsun Solutions.
Maintaining an open company culture is also important to Vaidyanathan. Under his guidance, Karsun implemented Coffee with Leadership and other programs to connect team members directly to executives. Observing the role of the teams powering Karsun’s growth he added, “We want our team members to join us for the journey, to grow with us.”
As part of this commitment to ongoing organizational improvement, Karsun Solutions software development practice was recently appraised at CMMI Level 5 DEV. At the time of appraisal, less than 50 organizations nationwide were rated at this level. In addition to software development, Karsun has robust cloud solutions and advanced analytics practices.
In addition to recognition at the award ceremony, the Washington Business Journal compiled a short bio on Vaidyanathan. Here he shares additional background and inspiration. Read the complete profile, along with the profiles, of the 24 other honorees at The Washington Business Journal.
Terry Miller, Chief Operating Officer at Karsun Solutions, will serve as Industry Chair of the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council’s (ACT-IAC) 2019 Partners Program. ACT-IAC is a non-profit educational organization created to encourage collaboration between industry and government. In its 22nd year, the Partners Program pairs leaders from both government and industry. Participants are selected among rising senior executives. The program is one of three fellowship programs from ACT-IAC.
Support for ACT-IAC’s professional development programs has long been a component of Karsun Solution’s support for the federal IT contracting community. Terry is a graduate of the 2010 Partners Program and was the Chair of ACT-IAC’s Management of Change (MOC) event in 2013. Graduates of the program automatically become ACT-IAC Fellows. Additional Karsun Solutions ACT-IAC Fellows include CEO Sundar Vaidyanathan (2010), Badri Sriraman (2015), Rajaji Bellamkonda (2016), Juan Robles (2017), Jay Kondapalli (2017) and Chae Song (2018). Sudhir Duggineni is a current member of the 2019 ACT-IAC Voyagers Program.
About Terry Miller
Terry is the Chief Operating Officer of Karsun Solutions. Terry works with the operations, business development, and technology teams to prepare Karsun for customer delivery excellence. Prior to joining Karsun, Terry served as the Public Sector COO for Visionary Integration Professionals. He also held various leadership positions at CSC and Harris Corporation. Prior to joining private industry, Terry served as the Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at The White House. In this capacity, he was the liaison between the President and state and local government elected officials.
About Karsun Solutions
The federal IT modernization experts, Karsun Solutions enables enterprise transformation for its government customers. Premier customers include the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, and General Services Administration. An innovation-based and performance-driven culture, Karsun Solutions delivers extraordinary outcomes for their customers. Team members are empowered by Autonomy, Accountability, and Advancement. Karsun Solutions is an established firm, with a DCAA Approved Accounting System, CMMI Level 3 – DEV appraisal, and ISO 9001, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 certifications. Partnering with Karsun Solutions ensures the nimbleness, agility, and access to decision makers of a small business without sacrificing the scalability, capabilities, and experience in modern software development, cloud solutions and advanced analytics of a large firm.
The Karsun Solutions Executive Team recently joined Federal News Radio’s executive editor Jason Miller on his Views from the Corner Office program. During the interview, CEO Sundar Vaidyanathan, Chief Architect Kartik Mecheri and Chief Operating Officer Terry Miller share how IT modernization is opening the door for disruptors. They reveal insights on the state of the federal market, innovation-centric procurement trends, and opportunities for growing small businesses.
The Show Don’t Tell Approach to IT Modernization
When discussing the state of the federal market, both Sundar and Kartik highlight the role of small, innovative disruptors. Kartik, in particular, identifies the ability of such organization to quickly adapt and demonstrate IT modernization requirements. For Karsun Solutions these include expanding opportunities within the commercial cloud and artificial intelligence space.
The Karsun team commends the trend toward innovative procurement processes. Reflecting on Karsun Solutions recent growth the team adds, the organization benefits from matching opportunities to competencies. In describing the approach, COO Terry Miller notes, “what we’re really seeing that’s very different is ‘prove it to me, come in and do a demonstration to show me exactly … what your capabilities are.”
Views from the Corner Office brings together federal executives, lawmakers and other industry experts for insights into trends and challenges facing the Federal sector. The thirty-minute Views from the Corner Office program offers a private industry glimpse into public sector contracting. If you missed the original broadcast listen in here. Alternatively, tune in throughout October to hear the interview on WFED 1500am.
About Karsun Solutions
Karsun Solutions is a premier consulting firm delivering a portfolio of enterprise modernization services to its federal and commercial customers. Its core competencies include Modern Software Development, Cloud Solutions, and Advanced Analytics. Its proprietary GoLean® software development methodology combines Agile, Lean, Kanban and DevOps practices throughout the software development lifecycle. The GoLean.io Software-as-a-Service provides a lean management tool-kit combining the best of these practices.
Karsun Solutions’ Enterprise Modernization Experts are taking to the air on September 21st, 2018 at 12:00 p.m. ET on WFED 1500am. Recording from Federal News Radio’s studio, Karsun Executives Sundar Vaidyanathan, Kartik Mecheri and Terry Miller sat down with host Jason Miller. The thirty-minute Views from the Corner Office program offers a private industry glimpse into public sector contracting. During their interview, the Karsun Solutions leadership team discusses the state of the government contracting space, marketplace trends, and the future of enterprise modernization.
The Innovative Approach to Enterprise Modernization
From their recent founding to rapid growth, the Karsun executives relate an early commitment to establishing an innovative culture. Among their earliest objectives was investing early in dedicated innovation resources while honing the organization’s core capabilities. The team identifies this capabilities first approach to contracting as the key to their success. In the interview they reveal development strategy insights utilizing this approach.
The Future of Robotic Process Automation in Government Modernization
This innovative, capabilities first approach charges Karsun teams with experimenting with emerging technologies. Discussing recent Karsun Innovation Center research, Karsun Co-Founder and Chief Architect Kartik Mecheri takes a deep dive into robotic process automation. He outlines Karsun’s vision for machine intelligence and innovation in the public sector.
Over the course of their thirty-minute interview, the team reveals further insights into their growth process. For more insights from these industry experts tune into WFED at 12:00 p.m. on September 21st. Alternatively, listen live on the 21st at federalnewsradio.com.
About Karsun Solutions
Karsun Solutions is a premier consulting firm delivering a portfolio of enterprise modernization services to its federal and commercial customers. Its core competencies include Modern Software Development, Cloud Solutions, and Advanced Analytics. Its proprietary GoLean® software development methodology combines Agile, Lean, Kanban and DevOps practices throughout the software development lifecycle. The GoLean.io Software-as-a-Service provides a lean management tool-kit combining the best of these practices. Karsun Solutions’ quality, development, and information security practices include CMMI Level 3, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 certifications.
Karsun Solutions is pleased to announce that Jay Kondapalli has been promoted to Program Manager for the CAMEO Small Business contract. Jay previously served as the Technical Program Manager on CAMEO. He brings over 19 years of experience leading and developing solutions to modernize enterprise-wide IT strategy/systems that are scalable for enhanced performance aligned to business missions. Jay is responsible for providing the technical strategy and the overall delivery for multiple application portfolios. He is also responsible for modernizing and streamlining the portfolio by providing cloud solutions, software development services (Agile, DevOps practices, Microservices) and leading teams that support large IT transformation efforts.
Prior to joining Karsun Jay held leadership positions at Booz Allen Hamilton and Unisys Corporation supporting the delivery and operations for multiple complex applications in GSA Federal Acquisition Service. He was involved in the Acquisition Process Improvement (API) and IT Alignment Project that maximizes the effectiveness of GSA’s offerings to help its customers in acquisition. Jay is a current member of ACT-IAC’s Partners Program and is expected to graduate in 2017. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in India and a Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications.
Sundar Vaidyanathan, Chief Executive Officer of Karsun Solutions, has been elected to a second term on the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) Executive Committee. He will continue as a Vice Chair at Large on the Industry Advisory Council’s Executive Committee. Committee members were announced at ACT-IAC’s recent annual Management of Change event.
Mr. Vaidyanathan is a Co-founder of Karsun Solutions and a thought leader on Enterprise Modernization. He is a graduate of ACT-IAC’s Partners Program and previously served on ACT-IAC’s Best Practices Subcommittee. In February 2017 he was selected as a Washington SmartCEO Future 50 award winner.
About Sundar Vaidyanathan
Sundar Vaidyanathan is the Co-founder and CEO of Karsun Solutions. In this role, he is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the company, developing and executing long-term strategies, and driving business results. Sundar epitomizes Karsun’s commitment to modernizing enterprises through technology innovations. Sundar is a proven leader with deep expertise in developing strong customer relationships, a passion for building high-performance teams, and a disciplined focus on delivery excellence. Prior to founding Karsun Solutions, he held leadership roles at Unisys Corporation and KPMG Consulting, driving strategy and implementation of complex multi-million-dollar IT programs. Sundar is active in the federal IT community and has served in leadership positions at technology-focused industry organizations such as the American Council of Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC). He currently serves on the board of ACT-IAC. Sundar holds a Master’s Degree in Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science and an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.
Sundar Vaidyanathan, Karsun Solutions Co-Founder and CEO
Karsun CEO Sundar Vaidyanathan appeared on Executive Leaders Radio on March 9, 2017. As one of Karsun Solutions’ co-founders, he delves into his approach to entrepreneurship. He identifies the strategic importance of thinking ahead and risk mitigation in building the organization over the last seven years. Reflecting on leadership lessons learned from his father, he observes discipline and rigor are necessary to deliver customer-focused innovations. This is a driving factor behind Karsun’s Enterprise Modernization practice.
In discussing Karsun’s workplace culture Vaidyanathan observes organization looking to attract people driven by their work are built on collaboration and innovation. In January Karsun was honored among Washington SmartCEO’s Best-Run Companies. The award identifies entrepreneurs building businesses with strong corporate culture, strategic vision, and fast growth.
Visit Executive Leaders Radio to hear the complete interview.
Karsun Solutions Chief Executive Officer Sundar Vaidyanathan was recently interviewed in CEOCFO Magazine. Mr. Vaidyanathan delved into Karsun’s founding vision and the future of IT modernization within the federal government. He recalls the founding of the Karsun Innovation Center (KIC) as an early adoption of this vision. The KIC developed GoLean which forms the backbone of the organization’s methodology. GoLean is designed to enable lean automation of Agile and DevOps processes. With GoLean Karsun teams achieve faster delivery with reduced cost by focusing on resource optimization.
Moving beyond Karsun’s modern software development portfolio Mr. Vaidyanathan also discussed the organization’s cloud solutions and advanced analytics products. He concludes the interview by revealing Karsun has released a GoLean offering for commercial customers.