Part one of our three-part series on building a business in the government contracting market. In this episode, we explore the first of three ways businesses are built, founder bootstrap led, as we sit down with Olivia Trivisani Bowker, Founder & CEO of Amivero.

In this episode, Olivia shares her experiences and insights on how to build a successful business from the ground up, including the challenges and opportunities she faced as a founder. She also discusses the culture of openness, engagement, empowerment, authenticity, and agility that she has cultivated at Amivero, which has helped her company stand out in a crowded market.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a GovCon professional, or simply interested in hearing from a successful business leader, this episode offers valuable insights and inspiration. Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn from Olivia Trivisani Bowker's story and the knowledge/tricks of the trade she's acquired along the way. Tune in now to Episode #8 of our series on building a business in the government contracting market.

Hi, hello, and welcome to another episode of Beyond Strategy, an ACG National Capital Region podcast focused on the leaders that drive innovation, enhance understanding, and achieve market clearing outcomes in the national capital region. I am Andy McEnroe of Raymond James Defense and Government Investment Banking team.

And I am Jenn Wappaus of the Infinity Wealth Management Group at RBC.

Episode 8 marks part 1 of a three-part series focused on how one builds a business as we take a deeper look at three different ways businesses are built in the government contracting market. In each episode, we will talk with a leader that has experience building a business by bootstrapping it, i.e., founder-led, by spinning a business out of an existing operating entity, or by partnering with a private equity firm to execute a buy and build strategy.

Today, we are excited to present to you Olivia Trivisani Bowker, founder and CEO of Amivero. Amivero is a premier provider of systems modernization, data analytics, digital transformation, and cybersecurity services to federal government decision-makers. They help their clients identify, prioritize, plan, and implement initiatives that achieve measurable, actionable, and lasting results.

With deep roots in the law enforcement community, their expertise consistently bridges the communication gap between agencies, paving the way for increased collaboration and integration grounded in real-life needs of the communities and customers that they serve.

As the daughter of a US Foreign Service Officer, Olivia Trivisani Bowker lived in nine countries on four continents by the time she was 18. Her emergence in a diversity of cultures cultivated the value and executive skills she's known for today as founder and CEO of Amivero, including empathy, resourcefulness, inclusion, patriotism, and forging connections with everyone she meets, which is extremely obvious in the interview.

Olivia opened Amivero's doors in October of 2018, following a 15-year career in various government contracting roles. She coined the name by combining two Latin words of ami, friend, and vero, true. Planting the seeds of her culture's openness, engagement, empowerment, authenticity, and agility, which we'll hear about later in the episode. Olivia's strategy is paying dividends. Amivero has 100 employees, prime contract awards, a healthy opportunity backlog, industry and client recognition, and company-sponsored charitable giving and outreach initiatives that puts values into action.

In this conversation, you will hear Olivia's views on what's required to be successful, including having the right amount of passion for your customer's mission, having the hustle and dedication to making those actionable, achievable results happen, and putting people in the right place or right seat to be successful.

I loved how she talked about her human-centered, data-driven strategy as well. Now, here's our discussion with Olivia Trivisani Bowker.

We are excited to be joined today on Beyond Strategy by Olivia Trivisani Bowker, CEO and founder of Amivero. Olivia, thank you for being here.

Thank you. It's such an honor to be given the opportunity to share all about the company, especially, I think the topic is really on founding your own business and being an entrepreneur is very exciting but definitely a big step. So anything I can do to help others in their journey.

Well, we certainly appreciate that. A big part of heading on that journey of founding a company is establishing a leadership style, and that's part of the podcast mantra by which we operate. And so, when you think of your own leadership style, what's the most important principle that has guided you through your career and into the creation of Amivero?

That's a good one. I actually do have some leadership principles that my leadership knows very well. And there's a lot of good ones out there. I actually read a lot of Harvard Business Review. Amazon even has, I think, some great leadership principles. I do think for me, it's that relationships matter. And what reminding myself of that principle does is, it helps me sleep at night because it means that I'm feeling good about the actions that I take during the day and what I do, how I do it, how I approach it, how I treat other people.

Our Amivero's tagline is human-centered and data-driven. And so being human-centered and data-driven is really about also balancing the empathy aspect of human centered, or one might say the heart aspect with data-driven, which is maybe a little bit more black, white, a little bit more brain versus heart. And so it is that constant balance of those two. And when it's the right time to put more value in one over the other. And so I think keeping that in mind when you have relationships with people allows you to enforce that high integrity mentality which lasts in business, way beyond the business existing.

Is that something that you developed when you took the helm, started Amivero, or was this something that throughout your building blocks of your career that you picked up along the way from a mentor or an experience?

I think it was a little bit of what I honestly naturally already had. Having grown up overseas, moving around so often, so many different languages, getting thrown in different cultures, having to make new friends so often, naturally, relationship building is what I need ed to do in order to survive the innate quality I have for providing value to others and pleasing others and that kind of thing. So the combination just led to it being a strength of mine in my career as a whole.

Honestly, when it came to starting the business and I was actually just having lunch with somebody the other day, the original bank that I had pitched a business plan to, and they had said that the most impressive part was I came with an Excel spreadsheet of all my LinkedIn contacts, exported into a spreadsheet that then was categorized as an advisor to the business, a partner of the business, or someone I want to hire in the business. And then I built templates around each of those three categories, like email templates.

And that's how I started my marketing campaign was, I want you to work for us, so let me tell you all about why it's so cool to work here. To here's why you should hire us for services, to here's why you should partner with us.

Pretend we're the bank today that you're referencing. What is that pitch? What is the pitch for someone that wants to join an exciting company like Amivero? What is the pitch if you want to get business from a government customer? Why the company that you founded here today?

I'll tell you, there's a lot of companies I think that... First of all, not every company is for everybody, so I'm not trying to hire anybody, and I'm not offended if people don't want to come work for Amivero. I really think that it's important to make that match, and that's why we spend a lot of time in the recruiting process to ensure what we call RPRS, which is right person, right seat. Right person means they meet our core values. Right seat means the position they're applying for, they get it, they want it, and they're capable of doing that job.

Why us? What's our differentiator that I would tell customers is that lots of people talk about being mission first or people-centric. I would say that Amivero is all of those things in one, meaning that with the human-centered, data-driven type mindset that we have, because we integrate that into our hiring process, into our performance management process, what that does is it confirms high value to the customer's mission because we are listening to what the customer is identifying as high value and we're being human-centered, empathetic in the experiences that they're having.

And then also it's helping them define through data what's most valuable to them in what they want to accomplish. And so those things together really enable what I would say is a definite higher mission level type service. And then what's also nice is, without both of those, without human-centered and data-driven, then you're not as human. It's like if you're just human but you don't have the data part, then the way that you're providing value is independent of the other. It's really that combination that's a differentiator for us, for sure. And then again, back to why would an employee or why would somebody want to come work for us?

It's a competitive labor market out there. So how do you get them in the door?

Again, not for everybody, but we're growing so fast that in a way, I feel like even if someone has a ton of experience, it's like an internship with us because you learn so much so fast, and it's a challenge keeping up for sure. That right person, right seat thing has to be there because we're moving so fast that if you're not keeping up, you're not right seat anymore because the way you define a contract manager at this size is different than a contract manager at this size. Now we have prime contracts, now we have multiple, now we have a JV, and so you need to know those rules.

But maybe I hired you when we were this size and I only needed this, and I can't afford to hire the senior expert, whatever, or where we're going to be five years from now. And so you do that, and so that's why the right seat, the right person is important. All the core values because you're basically saying, strap on that seat belt because we're going freaking fast and you're going to gain so much experience and learning and growth as an individual through experiencing this with us.

And so people that are hungry for that... I have a neon sign in my office that says hustle.

I like that.

People are like, why is that not one of your core values? And I'm like, because everybody just has to have it. I don't even have to explain it. No.

Jenn's going to ask you about your origins, and I'll certainly defer to her here, but how did you learn tha skill set? I mean, how do you go from being a part of a company to saying, this is the framework, or, this is the establishment of our core valus or of the underlying traits that make me want to stand something up?

Lots of good things come from frustration and pain. That's why on my laptop I have a sticker that says, ditch your comfort zone. And not to pooh-pooh any of the companies I worked for before, but my frustrations with those led me to think that I can do it maybe better by my definition. So a couple of pain points that I had that I wanted to solve as part of my own was that delivery and sales and the connectivity between those two things. So often sales, you pitch something and then you toss it over or something somebody else has to deliver it, so you do what you have to do to win it. And then somebody else is responsible for delivery. Or you just figure it out afterwards and you ask for forgiveness.

I feel like in the GovCon space, in particular, and again, back to relationships mattering, you will build a much stronger, trusted, long-lasting relationship with your customer if you have the conversations upfront about, you can turn this acquisition into a way that gets you what you want. And if you choose to not do that for whatever reason, maybe it's too political, maybe you don't have the resources internally, maybe you don't have the time, I'm just letting you know, this is how I'm going to bid it because this is what it's going to take to win it.

And then this is how we're going to have to figure it out on the other side. And this is how I'm going to help us be successful, regardless. And I'm not talking about either like just pricing. It's not about price low and then see what you can... It's literally like if someone wants to move towards DevSecOps, or if somebody wants to do something more exciting with their data, but they just don't know how to define that in an acquisition, or don't even know how to define what they want, or how to procure, and then how to evaluate multiple proposals just for that service, then okay, I'm going to let you know how to bid a procurement that at least on the other end, you'll get what you want because that's why it's harder.

How did you learn all of that? Taking a step back, you worked for CSC, Knight Point, Cyber Media Technologies. What did you take from each of those that helped you?

It even started before CSC. I worked for what was Input at the time, here at Reston town center, now Deltek, and I sold government spending to federal contractors that were looking to pursue government. Before that, I sold knives for Cutco for many, many years. And there I learned the doors and the face, the handle objections before they come up. Oh, you've got a really expensive knife, how do you show value in that? All that stuff. So that's where some of the hustle and stuff came from also. But then I get to Input and I'm learning all about the government and I'm all passionate about our taxpaying money.

And then I was like, wow, I'm teaching all these companies to sell to the federal government, I should just do it myself. And so by do it myself, it meant, go sell to the federal government. 9/11 hit, the agency I was most passionate about serving was Homeland Security. I targeted not the company, but who would let me work, Homeland Security, because I knew I needed to be passionate about what I was selling. So CSC hired me on. I was at CSC for many, many years, almost 10 years, started out in business development.

And then is it okay to say people's names? I mean, it's really positive. Dave Zelet, who's in this industry and amazing, changed my life with the advice that you should go until delivery. Get some experience executing that work with the customer. Everything I had just won, tons of business at CSC, he's like, okay, now go run it. I was like, oh, wow. I'm sorry, what I just sold? I told the customer I was going to. I got to do it. This is my first time doing it. Oh, my God. What am I going to do?

But thankfully, it was Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, super passionate about it. I went in and did it. Super young, came in overseeing a lot of people with a lot more experience than me. But I think, again, that relationship management, that human-centered-type approach to solving problems, really helped me be successful. And Knight Point systems was our protege. So I went ahead and moved over to work for Knight Point when CSC was merging with SRA. So I saw that process happen, that was fun. And I learned a lot through that process. A Iot. The delayering process as you get to go through some M&A situation. And I cried a lot of nights. I had to let some people go.

And I didn't quite get it because I was at that level where, thankfully, I made it through and all that, but it was challenging, but I learned so much. So some people left when they saw writing on the wall. I was like, no, I am not. I'm going to fight through this because I'm learning all of the enterprise value of an organization and why these people are making these decisions. And I just took notes.

Then I went to Knight Point and same thing, smaller business, helped them compete in the large. And then they went ahead and sold to Prospectus, so I got to see that process and I got to see it from a different perspective. And so, again, it's like, what are you doing? What are you focusing on? What's of greatest value to somebody else? And they had great culture, too. So it's like, how do you make sure that you're building something that can translate into another company one day in case that's the direction that it goes? I would say I learned. I don't know if that answers your question.

No, absolutely.

I should just send all my potential clients over to Olivia and she can give the pitch of how do you build enterprise value over time.

There you go.

That's right. I'm raising the roof right now because you can't see, it's on radio, but I'm raising the roof.

Oh, my gosh. Let's go into a different direction. So let's dig into the company. What's the significance behind the name, the logo, and the branding and culture, and how does it all tie into the business?

I will try really hard not to cry because this is definitely... I love it. I love, love, love how we chose to convey the name and the logo. So Amivero, ami meaning friendly, like [foreign language 00:18:03] and vero, is that true? Is it real? Vero, like that's Italian, excuse me, Latin, French. And so it stands for friendly and real. And so that goes back to human-centered, data-driven. Real is like the data, the authenticity, the facts, the this.

The friendly is the human-centered piece, the starting conversations with assuming positive intent that people more often than not are trying to do good. So if what they're doing isn't good to you, try to understand why. Because it's probably not the intent, is to be mean or hurtful or whatever the case is. And our logo, which many know, is on our director of marketing's arm tattooed. That's how cool and badass our logo is. It's a compass, and that compass is four different things and means four different things. The compass is for direction. Overall direction, like helping people find their North Star, helping them gain direction, see direction, pointing them in the right direction.

The top part, one of the colors is a... I think it's the light blue one, is a drop, a drop of water. The idea is that the work we do is meaningful. And again, it has this ripple effect. Maybe we're not at the borders right now, as in me standing at the southern border of the country, but the work that we're doing is in support of the people that are helping keep our nation safe and protecting and balancing humanitarianism and rights with the safety of the nation and all that stuff. So that ripple effect.

Then there's the pinpoint, which I think is the dark blue, and that's like on back in Google Maps or whatever, it's like, oh, here's where you're going, or here's where I am. A lot of companies don't invest in their talent enough, I think. They think it's like a waste of time or you don't know if you're going to be able to retain them, and so why put that extra effort in? In the services business, your capabilities are your people. If you don't have IP, it's your people. And so how do you retain your people and then investing in your people?

And so for us, that is, again, you are here, here's where you want to go. Here's how we can help you get there. So we put a lot of effort into talent mapping. And if you're somebody in cyber that wants to go into development or vice versa, then what do you need in order to get there and how can we help you? And then the orange one is an eye, which is eye meaning like focus and things like that. So that's Amivero, and that's the meaning of the logo. And it can actually be translated both for our candidates coming in for employment, same thing, focus, all that other stuff, or client needs. Focus, you're here, helping you get there, or making a ripple effect, or all of that stuff.

There's so many meanings.

So many meanings.

How did you come up with the name and logo? Is that something that is uniquely you as the CEO founder, or was it a team-oriented approach?

It's definitely a team-oriented approach, but I did need it to be because it's really hard. This sounds pretentious because obviously I love being a CEO, but it is really hard being a CEO. We came up with the name as a team, but then the translating it into Latin or Italian form was the personal part for me that brings me back to my family and heritage and things like that that helped me through some of those hard times, reminding me of where I came from and making my parents proud and that stuff.

But the long story short of the name is, I got some of the core leadership teams that I knew were going to be part of Amivero before it was built. And we printed out about over 100 different words, adjectives that would describe a business, a culture of a business. And we all had to rate our top five. And the words friendly or real or truthful were circled by every one of those people at the table. And so it was like, there you go. Common core value, common culture belief. Now I've got these two words, let's translate it.

Oh, and this one starts with an A and you put an A first. So if you're sponsoring something, you'll be in the upper left hand corner. Procurements has to do two bids. Why just pick the top two? And we're an A at the top kind of thing, and that's how it came about. And I think it flows and it really speaks to our culture. It maybe doesn't sound like a techy name. Some people are like, oh, but you can't tell what you do by the name. And I'm like, we do people. So yes, you say the words Amivero, and it sounds like caring and romantic and fun. So yeah, that's us.

At a minimum, what we've been able to discern through this conversation is that some of those core tenets of Amivero are passion, are hustle, and that culture and people matters. You referenced it earlier, what are some of the challenging elements of leading a founder-developed business and putting your own stamp on it while also institutionalizing some of those tenets that are core to you and now core to the business?

I think two things, if I can talk about it. One is my personal, probably mental health and my family. And that's one topic that's a challenge that I need to stay focused on. And the other is probably the leadership team and how the leadership changes, what we need in leadership changes as the company grows.

Handling the first one, I am married to an amazing supportive husband who slow danced with me in the bathroom last night for Valentine's or whatever it was two nights ago to our Frankie Valley wedding song. And I have a seven-year old son named Dean that I love more than anything in the world. And one of the challenges is definitely balancing, again, I guess, heart and mind in a way, if I can keep coming back to this theme.

So family is the heart, business is the brain, but not even because even when I'm at work, I care so much about the people that I feel like I'm challenged every day with having to make difficult decisions between what might be best for one individual in the organization versus what's best for the business. And the bigger the business gets, the heavier that weight falls then on the individual that I want to do right by.

And so one way that I gap that challenge is in ensuring transparency and communication, because for me to sleep okay at night, I need to feel like I have explained as much as I can as to the why I've made the decisions that I have made. And that helps people learn. And sometimes they don't learn it now, but hopefully 10 years from now, in the same way that I've called the former CEOs of Knight Point Systems that I used to work at and folks like Dave and Pat Schamback and Mark Emery at CSC, where I call and text them randomly to be like, oh, my God, you're so much smarter than I ever thought. When you have kids, or even as you grow up, your parents get smarter as you get older-

There's hope for you, Jenn.

Yes, there's still hope.

That is a challenge, is making those... Again, it may not be best for this individual in the organization, but I have to do what's best for the business because it's 100-plus families versus maybe this one individual. And so that makes it a bit challenging. And I think the second part I was talking about was the challenge with leadership and how leadership changes when you're growing so fast. Imagine learning how to drive on a Fiat. Really want to be in the [inaudible 00:26:51] fun. My money don't tickle, tickle.

I feel like for some reason, this happens to me at work all the time. Someone says something and then it turns into a song that I heard and then I can't... Anyway, so imagine driving a Fiat. You just learned how to drive and you're driving a Fiat, but then a month later, they put you in a Ferrari. And then a month later, you're asked to drive a helicopter. And then a month later, you're flying space shuttle to the moon or whatever. Obviously, that's like extreme, extreme quote, but I think you get my gist. And so it's like, what you need at each of those different stages is something different.

And sadly, when you hire at the stage you're in and then you so quickly move, if those people don't move with you and they're not keeping up with the pace of the business, they can get left behind. I don't want to be selfish and leave them behind. I make a very concerted effort to be like me and the leadership team, reaching everybody, holding our hand out, picking people up, saying, come here, and communicating. When you get here, make a right. We're right around the corner. So you're doing everything to help. Some people keep up and some people don't and I'm okay.

Some people have things going on in their personal lives that then they can't keep up anymore and they need to make a different career decision or whatever the case is, and I'm cool with that, too. As long as I'm transparent and authentic about what's going on, where we're going, what people can gain from it, and I am listening to them and sharing how I can serve them in the best way possible while maintaining the responsibilities that I have, then I sleep better at night and I don't have as many challenges in the world.

You mentioned the evolution of the company, essentially going from a startup to being on a very nice upward trajectory. What's next? Are you looking at M&A targets to tuck in? Are you looking for investment out there? Is organic growth the way to go? What's the next phase of the company's evolution?

Yeah, 100%. I'm such an opportunist. If it makes sense, definitely. We did, we're in the middle of due diligence now, and it's really exciting to think what this acquisition will do for us. It has to make sense for the business. Those opportunities don't always arise. I think it's important to think about them because when they do come, you don't want to miss that opportunity. It's important to have those conversations with your bank to understand, with your accountants, with your whatever, to understand your growth trajectory so that you can see where you want to go and what you may need in order to help you get there. So 100% I am. It would have to be the right kind.

Olivia, what's the one thing you feel like the audience should know if they're considering starting a federal contracting firm?

It is exceptionally rewarding. So hard. Definitely be ready to serve and be okay with that. It needs to be a conscious decision that... Again, I hate the term, it's lonely at the top. Why it's lonely is because there's just not a lot of CEOs. And so when you talk to other moms about what it's... Or other wives or other friends, you have that connectivity. There's not a lot of CEOs. And even if there are, different things make us each tick as to what's our biggest passion or whatever.

And so it's really hard to find somebody to really connect with. So just be ready to serve what is needed for others. And that is what will help your business grow. But it is a lot of hard work. It is a lot of hustle. It's about making the decisions today to do what others won't so you can do tomorrow what others can't. That used to be a quote of mine that used to motivate me a lot. And too many people think it's a materialistic-type quote because it's about financials, but it's not. It's about opportunity and making opportunity for you and your family and for others in the organization.

You touched on serving and being of service. We didn't mention yet the third annual Thankful Hearts event that you did. So tell us about that and how you got it started and how we can get involved.

Yes, annually, in November during Thanksgiving time, we do an annual Thankful Hearts, Helpful Hands event. It is our way of saying thank you so much to our partners and to our clients, especially, and to our employees for everything that they have contributed to the success of the business. In return, we give helping hands and we have employees submit who they would like us to give back to, and then we vote on it.

This past year was Women Who Code. The year before that was Boulder Crest, the year before that was Meals on Wheel. It's always a different organization that we're supporting, and it's our way of then giving back. It's really just a super fun party that is, again, saying thank you, all these amazing relationships that we have with partners and clients and even Jenn, you were there because you've been so helpful to me and my family around our financial management, which I never recognized before how critical that is also to my sleeping well at night. I guess it's just a way to say thank you. What we do actually is a raffle. And for every thankful, when people do gratitude books, so you write what you're thankful for, they get an additional chance at the raffle.

It forces people to really take the time to think about the things that they're grateful for, and then we share those out with everybody. And there are hundreds and hundreds every year that get sent to folks from our employees, whether it's, again, clients partners, whomever. How you can help? Come. Come have fun with us. Come and see what's possible in an organization.

I really am proud of what Amivero has become. I strive to continue to build an organization that my son would be proud to work at, that I would be proud for my son to work at. Every day, I make conscious decisions to build towards that type of an organization. And every day it's at a different pace because I can't hustle 100,000% every day.

You can't? It seems like you can.

99.9 % of the time, let's be honest. With a little help of chai tea lattes from Starbucks, I can do anything now. But yeah, I'm proud of that. And to come have fun with us is the way that you can help. And then, of course, contributing to the raffle and things like that helps us.

We end all of our interviews with the most important question that we ask, and that's, what's the most important thing we should know aboutOlivia Trivisani Bowker?

Most important thing you should know. Well, I guess just know that my intentions and authenticity, I guess, really is real and it's super cheesy. Jenn, I think you've met my dad before, he told me all growing up and even to this day to try to make the world a better place than what it is that I came into.

The reality is that the pendulum in life is constantly swinging. What the world, "According to that, like changing the world," what the world needs is different, it seems at all different times. But what is constant is the people that exist in our life and in this world with us. And so I would say, know that I aspire to make a difference in people so that they can continue to inspire and aspire others. And then that's that ripple effect that I know would make my parents super proud.

Well, I really enjoyed the conversation today. Olivia, thank you so much for being here on ACG's Beyond Strategy. Best of luck continuing to grow on Amivero. You've positioned the company incredibly well, and I think the community is certainly taking note of the successes and differentiation that you're bringing to the market.

Thank you. I really do appreciate the platform to share more about what we're doing. And thanks for the great questions.

Well, special thanks again to Olivia for joining us. That was a tremendous conversation, Jenn. You could certainly hear it in her voice, the passion and energy that she brings to the business day in and day out. It's very clear why Amivero has been so successful in the market since its founding.

Absolutely. She cares about every single piece of her business, to the people, to her family, and to everyone that's involved with her clients all the way through.

Well, a special thank you to you as well, the listener, for joining us on this edition of Beyond Strategy, an ACG National Capital Region podcast. We encourage you to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts from. For Jenn Wappaus, I am Andy McEnroe. As a reminder, this episode was part one of a three-part series focused on how businesses are formed in the government contracting community. Up next, we sit down with the leaders of Dark Wolf to talk about their transition from being part of Wolf Den to being a standalone entity.