John Nickerson opens the line of communication between Knight Federal Solution (KFS) customers and Wounded Veterans to get projects done. With 21 years of military service, John has experience in management consultation, team building, professional development, strategic implementation, leadership, and company collaboration. Since John’s retirement from the United States Marine Corps, he has worked in the Joint Staff J-7 as a database administrator and recently took on the position of Project Manager of the Knight Federal Solutions Purple Knight Initiative (PKI) program. As a wounded veteran himself, he is a graduate of the PKI program and can attest to its successes.
Recording annual revenue growth is a major milestone for most companies during this time of turbulence caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. And having consecutive sales growth for multiple years is an even bigger accomplishment.
That’s why the Orlando Business Journal’s 2021 Elite 50 deserve kudos for their business success not only through 2020, but also in the previous two years. The Elite 50 honors the cream of the crop among local, privately held companies who have achieved great success in the past year in the 2021 Elite 50.
Knight Federal has been selected as one of the 50 honorees for 2021, representing one of the five companies selected that are leaders among both OBJ’s Golden 100 List (top companies based on most recent year revenue) and the Fast 50 Lists (leading companies based on three consecutive years of positive revenue growth).
Below is an excerpt from the OBJ interview with Knight Federal’s CEO Chris Baeten:
How did the pandemic initially affect how you do business?
We had to adjust to our workforce by working remotely. Communication with our employees was no longer face-to-face, so we had to find creative ways to stay in touch to ensure productivity was high and deliverables were being met.
How did you adjust/pivot/reimagine the business to keep operating during the pandemic?
On-line meetings became a necessity.
What were some things you had to stop doing or do less of during the pandemic?
Our company and office are built around open communication. Without everyone in the office our communication with each other was not as frequent.
How did that affect your business?
Initially, it negatively affected our productivity on a week-to-week basis, however once we adjusted to the new working conditions, we found new ways to have open forums of communication where everyone could stay in touch with each other throughout the day.
What were some things you instituted to keep employee morale up?
Virtual happy hour!
What does the future look like now for your company?
Our company has continued to grow. We are reinvesting in the infrastructure of our company and increasing the support we have at our headquarters.
What do you believe makes your company an elite business?
Knight Federal was built with an entrepreneurial mindset that has been passed on through our employees. We are constantly looking at ways to improve the skills, performance, and quality of life of our employees.
Your advice to other local businesses on surviving this challenging economic environment:
Constantly look for ways to adapt to the ever-changing work environment. Don’t get stuck in your own ways and be ready to pivot when your original ideas aren’t working.
What’s the most exciting thing that happened to your company last year? We opened our new office across the street from UCF in the Quadrangle Office Park. It’s exciting to be close to the university so we can provide opportunities for growth for interns to be part of our company – Go Knights, Charge On!
To view the list of honorees – visit https://lnkd.in/g_2n4Cpt
Knight Federal Solutions, a provider of simulation and training, cybersecurity, IT, finance and intelligence analysis solutions to the Defense and Intelligence sectors, was named by Washington Technology as a Fast 50 Award winner for 2020. The outlet lists 50 of the nation’s fastest growing small businesses representing a full spectrum of capabilities, technologies and customers that make up the GovCon market.
Knight Federal is listed number 43 based on its four-year compound growth rate of 27.8 percent. Knight Federal’s revenue has continued to increase over the last three years.
“Our team has worked hard to serve our government clients with dedication, focus and high quality by delivering successful results which is demonstrated by our proven performance and growth. We are honored to be recognized by Washington Technology as one of this year’s fast 50 companies,” says Chris Baeten, CEO of Knight Federal Solutions.
To be eligible for the list, a company must be considered a fast-growing small business in the government market with at least $50,000 in government revenue in 2015. It ranks small businesses according to their compound annual growth rate over the last five years. Government revenue includes prime contract subcontract work in the federal, state and local markets.
Washington Technology, a web-based specialty publication, is considered the foremost authoritative source of competitive intelligence for executives of small businesses in the federal contracting market.
For more information, view the entire list here.
Each quarter, Knight Federal’s Employee of the Quarter (EOQ) award for the Suffolk, VA location recognizes the outstanding qualities and contributions of employees towards Knight Federal’s goals and mission. Knight Federal recognizes that driven and loyal employees empower an organization. This fourth quarter the award recipient covers January-March 2020 is Sean Louisin.
Sean is one of four individuals that will receive the award each year. The honor is awarded the beginning of April, July, October and December during the Christmas party for an outstanding employee from the three preceding months.
EOQ 2020 Winner:
January-March – Sean Louisin
Sean ensured a successful data import from the United States Marine Corps Lessons Learned System to Joint Lessons Learned Information System (JLLIS). He completed this by reviewing the latest requirements that were accepted by both stakeholders and determined the ColdFusion (commercial rapid web-application) JLLIS application needed a few updates to the Task Tracker and Consolidated Document Repository (CDR) modules to support the additional Marine Corps Lessons Learned Program (MCCLL) data.
Sean added a few extra search result fields to the form as well as to the add/edit/view interfaces to support events, event types, and units. These fields along with a metadata selection tool were added to the search form to allow further refinement. Sean also reviewed the MCCLL to JLLIS database mappings derived from the database schemas and requirements documentation to import all the battle board (task tracker) and structured document (CDR) data into JLLIS via a collection of SQL (relational database management system with the primary function of storing and retrieving data as requested by other software applications)scripts. To import the MCCLL unstructured documents, Sean was instrumental in creating a ColdFusion import process to read all the documents/files, match them to the correct CDR record and import them into JLLIS.
At the conclusion of the UAT, the JLLIS Program Manager expressed complete satisfaction with the progress made, and truly much of the credit goes to Sean. In summary, Sean’s performance was exemplary. His work was completed accurately, without a template to follow, and on time. In the hundreds of hours Sean devoted to this effort, he demonstrated unsurpassed understanding of software development and ensured the upcoming JLLIS v4.3 Release remained on-schedule.
The Employee of the Quarter will receive:
- A gift card for $50
- A framed certificate recognizing their accomplishments
- A Knight Federal imprinted leather notebook
Nominate an Employee
Complete the EOQ Nomination Form and submit it to the program manager Murray Hess. Anyone may nominate an employee. Nomination forms may be submitted at any time. Nominations are due the week before the end of the quarter.
The Process
The EOQ Committee will meet on a quarterly basis throughout the year. The committee will assure that the nominee meets all of the basic requirements. The committee will consider the following contributing qualities when making the award selection:
- Longevity and performance
- Contributions to the Knight Federal community
- Contributions to his or her office
- Contributions to the outside community
- Awards or recognition received
Each quarter, Knight Federal’s Employee of the Quarter (EOQ) award for the Suffolk, VA location recognizes the outstanding qualities and contributions of employees towards Knight Federal’s goals and mission. Knight Federal recognizes that driven and loyal employees empower an organization. This quarter the award recipient covers April-June – 2020 and is awarded to Takeya Miller.
Takeya is one of four individuals that will receive the award each year. The honor is awarded the beginning of April, July, October and December during the Christmas party for an outstanding employee from the three preceding months.
EOQ 2020 Winner:
April – June – Takeya Miller
Takeya has proven to be one of our most reliable Modeling and Simulation operators. She shows up to work early with a drive that is ready to go as soon as she steps into the building…even without coffee! She has helped our leading Joint Theater Level Simulation (JTLS) techs to decipher multiple issues with JTLS during exercise times and has helped other techs to understand the quirks in the JTLS model.
Onboard less than a year, she has quickly mastered the JTLS simulation and is well on her way to mastering our other simulations. A team player, she has a way to make everyone around her smile; be it with her calm demeanor or infectious laughter. No other tech has stepped up to learn the ins and outs of the Air Tasking Order (ATO) translation as well as she has. Her continued superior performance has made Takeya’s selection as this quarter’s employee of the quarter a foregone conclusion.
The Employee of the Quarter will receive:
- A gift card for $50
- A framed certificate recognizing their accomplishments
- A Knight Federal imprinted leather notebook
Nominate an Employee
Complete the EOQ Nomination Form and submit it to the program manager Murray Hess. Anyone may nominate an employee. Nomination forms may be submitted at any time. Nominations are due the week before the end of the quarter.
The Process
The EOQ Committee will meet on a quarterly basis throughout the year. The committee will assure that the nominee meets all of the basic requirements. The committee will consider the following contributing qualities when making the award selection:
- Longevity and performance
- Contributions to the Knight Federal community
- Contributions to his or her office
- Contributions to the outside community
- Awards or recognition received
Previous EOQ winners
2020
January – March – Sean Louisin
Each quarter, Knight Federal’s Employee of the Quarter (EOQ) award for the Suffolk, VA location recognizes the outstanding qualities and contributions of employees towards Knight Federal’s goals and mission. Knight Federal recognizes that driven and loyal employees empower an organization. This quarter the award recipient is Matt Driscoll for his exceptional efforts during the period January through March 2020.
Matt has distinguished himself in being able to come up to speed and support more difficult tasking at a well above average rate. As a result of his demonstrated progress on developing a solid base knowledge level of the technical complexities of the Navy Constructive Training Environment network, he was selected to go to Yokosuka Naval Station, Japan to provide surge support for a major Navy training event in February. He worked independently for a three-week period and was commended by the government. His exceptional performance during this period is a credit to Knight Federal Solutions and the Navy Tech Support Team.
EOQ 2020 Winner:
January – March – Matt Driscoll
The Employee of the Quarter will receive:
- A gift card for $50
- A framed certificate recognizing their accomplishments
- A Knight Federal imprinted leather notebook
Nominate an Employee
Complete the EOQ Nomination Form and submit it to the program manager Murray Hess. Anyone may nominate an employee. Nomination forms may be submitted at any time. Nominations are due the week before the end of the quarter.
The Process
The EOQ Committee will meet on a quarterly basis throughout the year. The committee will assure that the nominee meets all of the basic requirements. The committee will consider the following contributing qualities when making the award selection:
- Longevity and performance
- Contributions to the Knight Federal community
- Contributions to his or her office
- Contributions to the outside community
- Awards or recognition received
Previous EOQ winners
2019
January – March – Carrie Powers
April – June – James Malony
October – December – Kenneth Rodgers
Employee of the Year Winner
Toby Washington (2018)
2018
October – December – Dave Drake
July – September – Al Williams, Jr.
April – June – Glenn James – J7
January – March – Louis E. Williams
Chase Vosler is recognized as a graduate of the Purple Knight Initiative program. He is recognized for surviving the Joint Staff J7 support team and learning as much as humanly possible through Joint Training Synthetic Environment (JTSE) and Environment Architecture Division (EAD).
Chase has distinguished himself as an integral member of the EAD team supporting several simulation upgrades and gaining the respect of the JTSE team. He has proven an avid learner and easily trainable. Chase now enters the field as an experienced contractor and the team at PKI has no doubt he will continue represent Knight Federal well. Chase has demonstrated those qualities that are the best of our wounded warriors and he has set the standard for those going forward. Fair Winds and Following Seas.
For more information about the Purple Knight Initiative program, please view our page.
Knight Federal Earns Spot on the Inaugural List
Inc. magazine revealed that KNIGHT FEDERAL SOLUTIONS is No. 234 on its inaugural Inc. 5000 Series: Florida list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing Florida-based private companies. Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the Florida economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent small businesses.
“We are thrilled to have earned a spot on first 2020 Inc. 5000 Series: Florida list,” says Chris Baeten, CEO of Knight Federal Solutions. “This recognition continues to solidify our efforts as a determined team with fantastic partners to achieve impressive growth and profitability. We credit our entire team for this award!”
The companies on this list show stunning rates of growth across all industries in Florida. Between 2016 and 2018, these 250 private companies had an average growth rate of 302 percent and, in 2018 alone, they employed more than 56,000 people and added $12.6 billion to the Florida economy. Companies based in the Tampa, Miami, and Naples metro areas brought in the highest revenue overall.
Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Series: Florida, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at inc.com/inc5000-series-florida-2020 starting March 18, 2020.
“The companies on this list demonstrate just how much the small-business sector impacts Florida’s economy,” says Inc. editor in chief Scott Omelianuk. “Across every single industry, these businesses have posted revenue and growth rates that are beyond impressive, further proving the tenacity of their founders and CEOs.”
About Inc. Media
The prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. For more information, visit www.inc.com.
About Inc. 5000 Regional Series Methodology
The 2020 Inc. 5000 Regional Series is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2016 and 2018. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2016. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2018. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2016 is $100,000; the minimum for 2018 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.
World’s Largest MS&T Conference Held in Orlando
The Training, Simulation and Modeling Industry has a very important job to do in providing the very best of Training Equipment and Simulation Technologies for our forces in the field, as well as here at home. The Interservice/ Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) is the world’s largest modeling, simulation and training event.
Held near the beginning of December in Orlando, Florida, I/ITSEC consists of peer-reviewed paper presentations, tutorials, special events, professional workshops, a commercial exhibit hall, a serious games competition, and STEM events for teachers and secondary students. I/ITSEC strives to meet the very important and ever changing needs of the warfighter.
The attendees that were present at I/ITSEC understood that training is a core process in a successful and modern business. In these successful organizations, training is continuous, pervasive and institutionalized. These organizations come to I/ITSEC to find the resources that they will need to adapt to the new tasks and threats of tomorrow.
Some of the most innovative companies in the MS&T Industry are present each year at I/ITSEC. Previous exhibit displays have included: Computer-Based 3D graphics, Flight Simulators, Convoy Trainers, SCORM, Information Technology, Advanced Distributed Learning, Aerospace, Communications, Public Safety and many more.
“We were very excited to showcase at I/ITSEC this year. The show floor was really terrific and it was a great opportunity for networking with many customers that we have been fortunate to work with and those that we hope to cultivate more business in the future, ” says Chris Baeten, CEO of Knight Federal Solutions.
Knight Federal honored as a veteran-friendly workplace
Knight Federal has received the HIRE Vets Platinum Medallion Award from the U.S. Department of Labor for its commitment to hiring U.S. military veterans. Knight Federal is one of only 6 employers in Florida to receive this recognition. 26 Employers headquartered in Florida received the Gold award.
“Knight Federal is extremely proud of this achievement,” says Chris Baeten, CEO of Knight Federal Solutions. “Veterans are proven leaders who bring a valuable skill set to our company. We are honored by this recognition of our commitment to advancing veteran careers. And we see investing in veteran-specific programs and resources as an ongoing part of our talent development strategy.”
Committed to veteran hiring and retention
The U.S. Department of Labor launched the HIRE Vets Medallion Program as an effort to recognize employers for their commitment in recruiting, employing and retaining veterans. It is the only veterans hiring award at the federal level. Knight Federal was evaluated based on its veteran hiring and retention practices, availability of veteran-specific resources, leadership programming for veterans, dedicated human resources, and compensation and tuition assistance programs for veterans.
Knight Federal aims to provide civilian careers for military veterans by creating a culture that includes principles that veterans valued in active duty, such as teamwork, taking pride in what you do, valuing new ideas, and an environment that fosters teaching and learning.
Supporting military families
Knight Federal doesn’t just offer support to veterans, but also to their families. Knight Federal understands that a person’s career change can impact their family, too, so it partners with the Department of Defense to connect military spouses with a network of partner employers who are committed to hiring military spouse talent.
A clear strategy for veterans
Shawn Lopez, Program Manager of the Purple Knight Initiative, is a military veteran who has thrived in a career at Knight Federal thanks to the company’s culture and values.
“After military retirement, I longed for an organization whose values aligned with mine. It is evident that Knight Federal has a clear strategy, and I could see how my experience and personal attributes could lend to the organization’s vision and goals,” says Lopez.
Knight Federal has developed the Purple Knight Initiative. Collaborating with government agencies and their prime contractors, non-profit organizations, corporations and the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, this program provides paid internships to wounded warriors who are looking to learn a new career in fields that are conducive to their disabilities and desires for employment.
“We developed this program to address a critical need by our nation’s combat disabled veterans. By connecting companies and employers with qualified, impactful and passionate veterans, we can offer hope to advocate, embrace, empower and support them to lead a higher quality of life and be in a better position to support themselves and their families financially,” says Chris Baeten, CEO of Knight Federal.
With the veteran in mind first, Knight Federal Solutions is dedicated to the safety and welfare of the veteran and will do its best to educate, manage, and train all employees on veterans in the workforce, including finding reliable resources for the veteran’s needs.
Join talented individuals like Shawn at Knight Federal
Knight Federal’s services make a difference in the world. And, with many career vacancies available to talented and ambitious candidates, a career with Knight Federal is a smart choice. Visit our career page for the latest openings!