BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON HOLDING CORPORATION 
By The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) announced today the winners of the 15th Annual Greater Washington Technology CFO Awards, held last night at The Ritz-Carlton in McLean, Va. The CFO Awards recognize local chief financial officers for outstanding achievement and excellence in promoting the area's technology community. In addition, Capital One Co-Founder Nigel Morris was honored as the winner of the Michael G. Devine Hall of Fame award for his contributions to the National Capital region’s technology business community during the course of his career.
The winners are as follows:
Public Company CFO of the Year: Samuel Strickland, Booz Allen Hamilton – As CFO and executive vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, Strickland is responsible for managing the capital structure and financial operations of Booz Allen’s $5.1 billion enterprise. He was the officer-in-charge of Booz Allen’s successful initial public offering in November 2010, enabled The Carlyle Group's major investment in the firm, and led the separation and spin-off of the firm’s former commercial business. Strickland leads Booz Allen’s infrastructure operations, which encompasses acquisitions, global finance, information services, infrastructure services, people services and core services. He also advises senior leadership as part of the firm's leadership team and is a member of its Board of Directors.
Group/Division CFO of the Year: Michael Waple, CGI – As the vice president, head of financial operations and controller for CGI’s U.S. and India operations, Waple provides leadership, guidance and support to CGI’s U.S. and India businesses, representing nearly half of CGI’s annual business volume. In his role, Waple is responsible for finance and accounting operations supporting the U.S. and India business units and leadership team. In the past year, Waple was instrumental in leading the company to record profit. During the summer of 2010, Waple played a key role in the due diligence and planning process associated with CGI’s $1 billion acquisition of Stanley Associates. He now leads the integration of the finance organizations of CGI Federal and former Stanley.
Private Company CFO of the Year: Greg Cole, K2M Inc. – Cole has more than 18 years of financial and management experience with public and private companies, primarily in the technology and health care fields. As K2M’s CFO, he was the lead negotiator on behalf of K2M's CEO and Board of Directors on a sale of K2M to private equity firm Welsh Carson Anderson and Stowe, which was closed in August 2010. In 2010, Cole worked closely with the CEO and operating groups to drive revenue growth of 28 percent over 2009 through new business expansion into five new countries and the addition of several independent distributors in the United States.
Emerging Growth CFO of the Year Award: Joel Reiser, SMARTHINKING Inc. – Reiser served as chief financial officer of SMARTHINKING from September 2009 until April 2011. In this capacity, he led the finance, accounting, human resources and information technology functions. Reiser improved the company's financial management and reporting systems, ensuring that other divisions in the company had good management information from which to make the best business decisions. Most notably, Reiser positioned the company for acquisition and successfully managed the sale of SMARTHINKING to TutorVista/Pearson Education in February 2011 and was an integral part of all aspects of the sale.
Michael G. Devine Hall of Fame Award: Nigel Morris – Morris is recognized for his entrepreneurial vision, managerial skill, ability to inspire those around him and his commitment to the community. Under his leadership, Capital One Financial Services, which he co-founded in 1994, pioneered an information-based strategy that fundamentally transformed the consumer lending industry. During Morris' 10-year tenure from 1994 to 2004, Capital One’s sales grew at a compound annual rate of more than 40 percent and earnings per share growth and return on equity both exceeded 20 percent per year, a financial performance attained by only a handful of American companies. Upon his retirement in 2004, Capital One had successfully transitioned from an emerging startup into an established public company valued at more than $20 billion.
Today, Morris is the managing partner of QED Investors, a direct investment fund focused on high-growth companies that leverage the power of data strategies. In addition, he works in an advisory capacity with General Atlantic Partners and Oliver Wyman Consulting and serves on the board of numerous for-profit companies.
Together with his wife Lori, Morris also runs the Bruhn-Morris Family Foundation, which supports many important causes, including early childhood education and the prevention of child abuse, particularly here in our local communities.
