David Pead is dedicated to serving the government's mission. That's what motivates him in his new role as Director of Federal Sales for Government Indirect Channel and Partner Channel for Comcast, which he joined in June. Pead is a sales executive with experience in telecommunications architecture, information technology, and cloud platforms.In the early 1990s he worked as an equipment purchaser for the Secretariat of Congress for three years. He parlayed that experience into future government relations roles at companies such as Bell Atlantic, Qwest, Ciena, Equinix, and BedRock Systems.
As a seasoned government contract executive, Mr. Pead plans to apply his experience, insight and connections to his new role at CGS. CGS is a division within Comcast that focuses on serving the U.S. federal government and public sector organizations. In this Executive Spotlight interview, Mr. Pead details the work he is trying to accomplish with the company's federal channels and some of the strategies he plans to implement.
What is the federal distribution channel created by CGS and why was it formed?
Ken Folderauer, Vice President of Federal Government Sales at CGS, has worked with the company's management team to create a new role focused on indirect business with the U.S. federal government. CGS already has success with end users such as the Defense Information Systems Agency and General Services Administration Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contracts, opening up previously untapped business channels to partners and resellers. We felt that targeting them was the right next step for us. to the United States federal government.
Can you share any experience from your past roles that you think will help you successfully lead this new sales channel?
Throughout my 30-year career, I have worked in the government market, primarily in the telecommunications and IT sectors. I have a unique perspective on the government market, having held positions at cloud platform providers and cybersecurity startups. Over the years, I have been fortunate to have strong relationships with major federal integrators and cloud platform providers. I plan to use that in my new role at CGS as well. We are also excited to build new business relationships with our partners to drive sales in indirect and partner channels.
What are your indirect and partner channel goals for 2024?
I've brought a strategic focus to every role I've held, whether as an individual contributor or a sales leader. I believe that a clear and well-thought-out sales strategy is essential to the success of any business. In my new role, I am currently finalizing our go-to-market strategy for indirect and partner channels.
In addition to developing go-to-market strategies, I also focus on meeting with all existing indirect channel partners and interacting with potential new partners to establish synergies. My ultimate goal is to leverage these strong relationships to help us win business with the U.S. Federal Government.
To organize our bulk sales approach, we have segmented the market into four categories: carriers, carrier integrators, government systems integrators, and cloud platform providers serving the U.S. federal government and technology partners. These are the types of companies I'm targeting and will be partnering with to drive new channel sales.
How do you define and measure your success in this role?
One of the things I love about sales is that there is an easy way to measure success: market growth. When it comes to new sales channels, intangibles should also be considered, such as increased interest from additional partners and significant pipeline growth with new and existing partners. At the end of the day, success will be measured by expanding potential market opportunities for CGS and its government partners.
What are the areas of greatest opportunity in the federal sector right now?
I think opportunities with government are somewhat cyclical. One of my favorite quotes is, “When the economy is good, the government spends money. When the economy is bad, the government spends more money to promote growth.” Macroeconomics From a perspective, we have recently seen a difficult economy. The government has injected significant funds and resources to strengthen economic activity and stabilize the market.
Since its founding in 2019, CGS has been supporting some government operations with advanced telecommunications and Ethernet solutions. By providing reliable connectivity services to government agencies, we have proven ourselves to be an important competitive partner in the U.S. federal government sector. We believe that by working together with our channel partners, we can build on the success we have achieved to date. Ultimately, channel partners are seen as force multipliers. In my experience, when selling to government, it is essential to complement your direct channels with a focus on indirect sales, as working with a partner can get you much further forward than going it alone.
If you would like to learn more about CGS' indirect and partner channels, please contact David Peed at David_Peed@comcast.com.
