“The timing of Bill’s retirement was planned during the transition to Arlington Capital’s ownership last year, and we are grateful for his outstanding leadership as SPA’s President and CEO over the past seven years,” said David Wodlinger, Board Chairperson and a Managing Partner at Arlington Capital Partners. “With Bill at the helm, SPA achieved impressive performance through consecutive years of high growth while achieving excellence across each of our key performance indicators, culminating in the recently announced 2022 GovCon Contractor of the Year award, while also being named for seven consecutive years as a Washington Post Top Workplace. Over the past year, he skillfully led SPA through the integration of four companies while maintaining SPA’s culture of excellence, setting the stage for the next phase of the Company’s growth.”

Among other significant accomplishments, Dr. Vantine was named the GovCon CEO of the year in 2019 and the WashingtonExec DoD Private Sector Executive of the Year in 2021.

“SPA is thriving as it heads into its next chapter thanks to our incredible team that delivers high quality, high-impact decision support that our clients have relied on for over 50 years. I have had the privilege to lead and learn from this great team as they have continuously supported our clients’ complex missions. I will always be SPA’s biggest supporter and I am filled with gratitude for my time here. I look forward to continuing to contribute to SPA’s amazing success through my participation on the Board of Directors, and I am confident the Company will be in great hands under Rich’s leadership,” said Dr. Vantine.

Mr. Sawchak commented, “I am truly honored and excited at the opportunity to lead SPA, a great Company I have long admired. Having served on SPA’s Board of Directors for the last year, I have gained an even greater appreciation of SPA’s focus on mission, values, and culture. I look forward to continuing to execute on the successful strategy initiated by Bill over the last seven years. SPA has an extremely bright future ahead, and the first 50 years are only the beginning.”

Rich Sawchak will succeed Dr. Vantine as CEO on 21 November and brings over 25 years of leadership experience within the government services and technology industries to SPA, where he will continue driving its success as a pure-play technical advisory services firm focused on a people-first culture and commitment to its customers’ missions. Mr. Sawchak served most recently as the CFO of Hypori, Inc.  Mr. Sawchak has been a senior executive for four private equity or venture-backed companies, where he successfully completed many acquisition, integration and financing transactions to drive stakeholder value.

Prior to joining Hypori, Mr. Sawchak was the CFO of Novetta for nine years until the successful sale of the company to Accenture Federal Services. He was previously employed by Schafer Corporation, where he served as Executive Vice President and CFO. Before that, Mr. Sawchak served as Senior Vice President and CFO of Paradigm Solutions until the successful sale of the company to CACI International. He serves as a board member of SPA, Gunnison Consulting, and Cydecor as well as a trustee of the University of Valley Forge.