CEOs You Should Know - Kathleen Flanagan, ABT Associates

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I'm from upstate New York, just outside of Syracuse.
I'm the youngest of four, and I was raised by
a mom and dad who gently but firmly pushed us
all to be independent, to stretch out of our comfort zones.
Every one of us played sports, every one of us
had a job by fourteen when we can get one
of those work permits, and everybody in my family was

(00:23):
encouraged to give back to those who had less. So
she was my mom, was my role model, my mentor.
I went to school and the University of Rochester, both
undergrad and graduate, and then I went to APT Associates.
I had one job on review. I took one job,
and I have been here for forty years.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
I saw that, and that is truly remarkable. We don't
get to talk to too many leaders and CEOs that
have been with only one place, so I know it's
probably special to you, your special to your staff, and
it is really extraordinary. I would like you to share something, though,
because I think you have a unique perspective of this.
So staying with one company and working yourself up the ladder,
A lot of people do this, but they sense that

(01:02):
maybe I'm not moving quick enough. I'm not getting up
the ladder where I need to be. I'd like to
be at this position. I'm going to go to a
different company. Can you tell us about your ascension and
the experiences that you had, maybe some roadblocks, maybe you
walked a different direction and got up to the next level.
Just tell us about your journey with the company, because
I think it's going to be fascinating. As president and
CEO right now, it's going to be pretty cool. So

(01:23):
tell us about it.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Sure, absolutely so. After Associates was founded in sixty five
by an incredible guy named Clark apt and he was
an MIT grad, an engineer. Came out of Raytheon in
nineteen sixty five and said, you know, I want to
found with some really super smart people, a social impact company.
Fast forward to nineteen eighty three when I joined APT Associates.

(01:48):
It was right after President Reagan had come in as
the leader of the United States and he said, we're
going to take a step back, We're going to push reset.
We want to think differently about our social programs. What works,
what doesn't work, What return on investment are we getting.
So app Associates in nineteen eighty went from one thousand

(02:09):
employees to three hundred of US, and a lot of
companies like Apple went out of business. But starting in
nineteen eighty three, we reinvented ourselves. We became a very
rigorous research firm because that's what our clients wanted. I
joined as a master's in public policy with a concentration
in health, and I started working in our health group.

(02:32):
Small number of US, fairly small revenue at the time,
there were only seven US in the of US in
the Washington office, and we did everything you know we did.
We you know, watched the windows, vacuum the carpets, and
wrote proposals and executed the work. What I recognized very
quickly about app associates, besides being attracted by the mission

(02:52):
of this great company, was that the leaders meeting Clark
and all of my supervisors cared more about your head
and your heart than they did about what you looked like,
what you represented, who you felt you were. And I
would say, as a woman in this organization, I have
always felt that I had the ability to come to

(03:13):
the table and give my perspectives. I had the ability
to quickly put my foot into the next door and
take on the next responsibility. I was pushed by my
parents to nurture the butterflies in your stomach and stretch yourself,
and I was pushed by this organization to do the same.
I was always given an opportunity. So within seven years,
I was a managing vice president at younger than thirty

(03:36):
years old. I then started an international development business. I
then moved into leading all of our US business and
then the CEO fourteen years ago. So I was pushed.
Just like as I was growing up, I pushed. I
was pushed here to nurture my butterflies, to plan for success,
to move out of my comfort zone because I had

(03:57):
great leaders as mentors.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
It really is an extraordinary story. I come from a
sports background, and I was one of the few fortunate
people that knew that I wanted to do at a
very young age. And in sports, I've always heard about
these people that started in the mailroom and now they're
the general manager of the team. The ascension is incredible.
Staying with an organization, you have kind of a similar
story when you were starting out and you started to ascend.

(04:19):
Was there any grandeurs of delusion, I'm going to run
this company. Someday, I'm going to be president and CEO,
because I think it's extraordinary because you ascended quickly up there.
People recognized your talents. You obviously were very driven. You
have to be to be president and CEO. Did you
want to be at the very top some days? Was
that something you were shooting for when you joined the company.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
I have to say that Clark Appt will tell me
that in the late eighties, at a we call them advances,
a strategy advance on cape COD, I said that I
could run the company. That's what he tells me today.
So I guess maybe I did right end of the company.
When I was being promoted, we were doing strategy. I

(05:00):
can remember. Also, we were also envisioning the fifty million
dollar APPT the one hundred million dollar APPED and one
hundred and fifty million dollar app and I sort of
wanted to be in the group to envision the one
hundred and fifty million dollar apps, so he claims, and
he's ninety four right now and I'm still in close
touch with them, that he knew and I knew back

(05:21):
in the late eighties and early nineties that I would
be in this position. I would say, I'm not so
sure of that, but I will say that I never
turned down an opportunity and I was given a lot
of opportunity here.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
So well, great story, and I think we're just going
to go that you did say it. Okay, that's that's
I think that's fine. Okay, We're here to talk about
APP Associates, and I do want to ask about the
missions demon because I know with a lot of companies,
especially when that you've been with for so long, it's
really important tell us what that is.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
So the mission of APP, and again it's Clark put
it in place in nineteen sixty five, is to improve
the quality of life and economic wellbeing of people around
the world, make the lies of those it was most
in need better. So recently, though our teams, as we
were creating our next five year strategy, said Kathleen, we

(06:09):
really need to put equity at the cornerstone of who
we are. We have always acted like that and you
heard my story as a young woman throughout my career here,
but obviously with George Floyd and launching a new strategy,
we said we needed to walk the talk. We need
to operate internally here at APT Associates as an equitable organization,

(06:30):
and we needed to drive equity through our work so
that we could contribute to breaking down systemic racism, or
we wouldn't be able to have the impact we were
all striving for. So we've added that, you know, personally,
as a leader, I asked my teams to bring that
mission to life by planning for success, you know, not

(06:50):
thinking about all the speed bumps, and there are many
in our lives and in our markets. Take risks and
encourage others to push themselves into their you know, beyond
their boundaries boundaries, perceive what they can do to realize
their potential, and always strive to have butterflies in your
stomach because I think it's really important that we not

(07:11):
get complacent. And so that's how we drive that mission
with our clients, with communities, with partners in a collaborative way.
None of us can do it alone, but for fifty
eight years we've been bringing that mission to life and
driving impact understanding.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Thank you for sharing all that, And I want to
ask you about something before I get to programs and
capabilities and exactly what you do with your clients. But
you brought up something very interesting that I've heard from
a lot of leaders out there, and that's that you're
constantly pivoting, and you're constantly evolving and changing, because if
you don't, we all know what will happen. You're eventually
be out of business. And it sounds like from a

(07:48):
very early time at APT Associates that was a big
deal to always pivot, to always get better, to always
try something new and be a better company. And I'm
hearing that on the things you're saying, and maybe if
you could talk to some of our future leaders out
there and also CEOs that are listening, how important pivoting
to get better and enhancing the company is.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
So I think for us at APP Associates, you know,
we're dealing every day and trying to solve the biggest,
most complex, most hairy and audacious problems. Right we want
to do the hardest work. And when I go and
talk to our clients, they say, we hire app to
do the most complex problems because we can deal. We're innovative,
we're both thinkers, we're agile. So even when my story

(08:31):
back in nineteen eighty three, when I joined, we hit
a roadblock and Clark apt and all of the leaders
at APP Associates said, we can pivot, we can reinvent ourselves.
We can go into new markets, we can we can
develop new capabilities to respond to what our clients need
and what communities need. So that's critical here at APP Associates.
I would say that, you know, most recently, leaning into

(08:55):
equity is an example of how we've been, you know,
very agile and you know, critically kind of moving through
an innovation in our company, both inside and outside. In
twenty twenty three, we launched a Chief Climate Officer because
it's while we've always done work in climate and environment,
we really need to lean into making sure that we work,

(09:17):
you know, in collaboration with folks around the world in
solving those tough problems. So I would just say that that,
you know, the passion that our folks have for driving
for results is kind of the key of the makeup
of our community here. But more important our ability to
be agile. COVID hit us, all right, all by surprise.
We had to be agile. We had to be agile

(09:38):
both inside the company and the way we support our employees.
We had to be agile with our clients, and we
worked for the CDC on doing surveillance around flu. Which
vaccine works and which doesn't, How does it impact pregnant
women in the elderly, and our clients called us and said,
retool that platform like asap and turn it in into

(10:00):
a COVID surveillance platform so that we can understand how
our frontline healthcare workers are being impacted, how are pregnant
women impacted elderly, What do masks work or do they
not work, what do we know, how do people responding
to the vaccine, etc. So we had a twenty four
to seven group of people who are passionate right about

(10:22):
responding to COVID, and then overseas we had to shift
all of our work to making sure we were training
healthcare workers. We were getting ventilators there, we were getting
oxygen there, we were doing supply chain completely different roles
than we had been contracted for, but our teams were
up for it outstanding.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
So, Kathleen, we've got a lot of our listeners and
a lot of CEOs out there that are listening and
maybe hearing about app associates for the first ever time.
And with Ed said, if they're new to what you
do with your team, tell us exactly what you do
and who you work with.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
So we work primarily with government clients at the federal
levels here in the UK and Australia, and also state
in local levels here in the United States. Primarily we
take our capabilities of research, digital and data, technical assistance

(11:19):
and implementation and equity frameworks and we bring it together
to solve the toughest problems. Right. We design to make
sure that we can improve programs, that we can find
out what works and what doesn't, and that we can
drive impact. And so our job is to put together
the right teams, including partners from outside of app Associates,

(11:40):
to make sure we drive impact and that we can
measurably and accountably tell our customers what works and what doesn't.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Outstanding, Kathleen, I don't want to assume that there are
other companies that do exactly what you do. But if
there is competition out there, how do you differentiate yourself
from all the other competition, people that maybe do a
little bit what you do.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
So for app Associates, I think one of the biggest
differentiators is the breadth of the expertise we bring to
bear us to driving a solution. Problems are not unidimensional, right,
A healthcare problem, environmental problem, you know, they're not unidimensional.
They intersect and we have folks who can work together

(12:25):
collaboratively to bring the capabilities and skills to solve the
complex problems health and the environment, the impact of climate
change on healthcare centers. We're doing a very large program
in Mozambique right now. That country experience cyclones plus COVID
in the middle of our services to improve access to

(12:47):
HIV treatment, screening and care. The team had to be
incredibly agile to be able to get out to the
most remote areas to consistently deliver those services, to make
store that we were identifying that population, getting them into
screening and giving them right meds. But also in the
context where roads were disrupted, you know, COVID was there.

(13:10):
How do you deliver that same technical excellence and continue
to drive your mission forward in the mission of our
customers when you hit those kinds of roadblocks. So we
had to bring in climate experts, We had to bring
in logistical experts, governance experts, and we have them here
at APT Associates, So interdisciplinary, incredible methodologists, and we always

(13:31):
lean back on our core, which is digital and data
for decision making, real time quick dashboards for somebody that's
a decision maker in a program and the government level
to make a decision quickly and agilely so that we
can get to the right answer.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Kathleen, I like to ask you about a success story,
but I want to put a pin in it, because
I'm sure there are hundreds of great success stories that
you and your team have done over the decades that
you've been with the company. With all that said, in
the industry right now, what kind of challenges are you facing.
I'm sure there's several of those.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
I'd say our top two challenges are how do we
envision the workforce of the future for our employees who
have been mostly remote for three years and we were
mostly an in person company. We weren't a company with
hoteling and that kind of thing. So how do you
maintain engagement. How do you make sure you're supporting staff.

(14:25):
That's where our executive team has their head right now.
What is right for APT going forward? I would say
the second and most persistent challenge throughout our history and
the history of this industry is weathering elections, budget negotiations, shutdowns.
And here in the UK and in Australia, we've got

(14:47):
two we have two big clients that are parliamentary processes,
and they don't follow a prescriptive four year cycle, so
it's not as predictive. And here in the United States,
so priorities change, program priorities change, funding changes, and we
have to be agile, We have to pivot, We have
to in some cases reinvent ourselves to make sure we
can respond to our clients. I'd say those are the

(15:09):
top two challenges for us always and certainly going forward
as we enter an election.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
You're here in the US, and there's that phraseology again
or reinventing. It happens all the time. You have to
survive out there. So I'm glad that you talked about that.
I do want to ask you about maybe a success
starlier two and with the time allotted, I am sure
that you have several that you could tell us about,
but maybe one that sticks out where you said, you
know what that year with my team, we really knocked

(15:35):
it out of the park with that one. Can you
share something with us?

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Sure? Here I mentioned already the COVID, the CDC COVID project.
I would say that took everything we had here at
APT Associates right, and many of us right. With a
light switch, we became a completely remote company, and our
client at CDC said, we have to get our hand
a handle on COVID. We had built a flu monitoring

(16:03):
platform with fifteen health systems around the United States, and
they said, like, we need to turn this into a
COVID monitoring Our teams had to literally for a year
straight work twenty four to seven. We had to move
people all weekend long trying to make sure that we
were accurately collecting data from these health systems, especially for

(16:24):
these at risk populations, frontline healthcare workers, pregnant women, is
it safe to get a vaccine if you're pregnant? Answering
questions around what how is the elderly going to be impacted?
How do we keep themselves? How do we keep homeless
populations safe. We're homeless experts here at APT Associates as well,
and so our teams are really trying to figure out
how do we keep these vulnerable populations safe in the

(16:47):
context of a pandemic. So I think our team global,
and I mentioned we had to do it overseas in
the developing world as well. Kind of was agile, was creative,
really bold thinkers, passionate, but also rolled up their sleeves
and put in the time and effort required to keep
our clients up to date so that they could continue

(17:07):
with their mission implementation. A second story that I think
you know, we're all incredibly proud of here at APT
Associates is that for eleven years we have worked and
in hand with the President's Malaria Initiative. Their objective is
to eradicate malaria, is to understand the diseases that mosquitos carry.

(17:29):
And when we won that contract, we were asked we
started it up in like October, and we said by January,
because that's mosquito season. Can you get into sixteen countries
and combat malaria. We have done credibly well, pivoting over
eleven years with the mosquito that carries malaria, all kinds

(17:52):
of diseases, something like six twelve diseases, zeka, you name them.
And our teams have had to work through COVID and
still bring down the malie area rate. They had to
work through climate change and destruction from cyclones and still
bring down the malaria rate. And it's pretty amazing. And
I've been in countries where malaria is at eighty percent.

(18:13):
Nobody's in schools, nobody's working. The clinics are full of
people on quinine drips. They can't help people have babies,
they can't deliver any other services. The community is in gridlock,
is just shut down. Then when we enter and we
bring the rate down to ten or fifteen percent, it's
just flourishing. So I've returned. I went to Uganda when

(18:35):
it was eighty percent, and I went back to Uganda
when it was fifteen percent, And I have pictures of
myself with kids, you know, teeming out of the doors
of schools because teachers are back and kids are back coming.
At the health clinics are supporting sixty five percent of
the burse they don't have anybody on quinine drips. So
it's amazing to see the impact that something a program

(18:56):
like that can have on the economic stability and the
strength and vitality of communities. That's what, you know, That's
what makes me so excited when I get to go
out there and look at it. That's what's kept me
at APT and that's what keeps our people at APT.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Well, it's that impact. It's absolutely extraordinaries tough what you're
doing there. I have to ask you, and I want
to relate my experiences in my business. Sometimes we move
too quickly to really celebrate our success stories, especially we've
done something pretty incredible. I'm in awe listening to some
of the stuff that you and your team are doing.
Do you have a chance to celebrate and are you
went awe what you and your team do.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, I'm in a every single day of what my
team does. I have absolutely incredible colleagues every year and
we just did it last Friday. So interesting Dennis that
you raise it. We have an annual meeting where we
provide awards to our colleagues. We call one is called
the Clark Appt Mission Impact Award, which our Mozambique team

(19:56):
that I mentioned that does HIV treatment and had to
do it through cyclones and COVID and is you know,
at the premier level of impact in the eyes of
our client. We do scientific rigor recognitions, we do leadership recognitions,
and we bring everybody in, including our board of directors,
and we just had an amazing celebration on Friday where

(20:19):
we just looked at all the work we're doing. And
then at this time of the year we release our
Mission Impact Report. So really important for folks to log
onto our website at up Associates dot com and look
at the Mission Impact Report that was just released. It
brings to life through photographs and amazing storytelling the impact
that we have around the world. So we make sure

(20:42):
that we can all read about it, but we also
get together and celebrate and just you know, have a
wonderful time every single June.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Well, I'm glad you do that because you know as
a people person, as a leader, that people want to
be heard, but they also want to be acknowledged, especially
in today's climbing out there. So I'm glad that you
do that. I did want to ask you about philanthropic
and charity work, and it sounds like you and your
team are very busy, but when you do have time
to participate in anything, what is it?

Speaker 1 (21:09):
So personally, that's always been a priority for me, as
I said, you know and my family while I was
going through college and here at app Associates, so I
have been part of nonprofit, standing them up, running them
related to job training, related to homelessness prevention, housing stability.
Every one of the leaders. I'm the fourth CEO at
app Associate's the only woman, but not the only CEO

(21:32):
who's put community connections, which is what we call our
program at the cornerstone of who we are as well. Right,
every one of us as leaders has said it's incredibly
important for us to give back to the community, and
we give back both through the technical excellence that we
can do, the depth of our skills through volunteering, and
we focus on economic empowerment girls and women, equity right

(21:58):
breaking down oranizations that break down systemic racism. And our employees.
A huge number of employees, while they are incredibly busy
and traveling the world, participate in our office locations Cambridge, Massachusetts, Washington, Atlanta,
around the world. We're also in the Raleig Durham area.

(22:19):
So through those communities we get back as an organization
our profits, our time, our skills, and our passion.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Wonderful, Kathleen, as we put a bow in our conversation
for all the listeners that have really enjoyed the conversation,
like I have been hearing about all the amazing things
that you and your team doing and we're just hitting
the tip of the iceberg. What maybe one final takeaway
do you want to have everybody go with when it
comes to op to associates, I'd.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
Say that you know, at the end of the day,
we're four thousand people around the world passionately committed to
improving the lives of people most in need. Right, so
we do that by being bold in our innovations, by
working collaboratively to solve the most complex problems. We want
to solve the hardest problems, not the easiest road to solutions.

(23:12):
We want to bring data to decision makers so that
they make the right decisions. And you can see all
that come to life in our Mission Impact Report. And
so I would just encourage people to check out our website,
to look at that Mission Impact Report and to recognize
that APT is an incredible place of bold, innovative thinkers

(23:33):
who are agile and passionate every day to make sure
that we can solve the toughest problems that our clients
are face.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
And before I ask you to give that website just
one more time, are you looking at hiring people any
careers available?

Speaker 1 (23:46):
We're always looking at hiring, So please make sure you
go onto our website at www. Dot app Associates dot
com again, look at our Mission Impact Report, look at
our jobs open most importantly, look at are the faces
of our employees and people who are caring out our
mission to improve the quality of life and economic well

(24:06):
being of people worldwide every single day.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Well, I'm sure I'm about to echo something that a
lot of people say to you when they either interview
you or get to meet you and talk with you.
I could do this for hours. I love your passion,
I love your enthusiasm. I know it's hard to be
a president and CEO and also be with one company
for almost your entire life, but it's just extraordinary what
you and your staff are doing. And I know there's
a lot of great stories that are going to be
coming out over the next five, ten, twenty years about

(24:30):
what you and your team are going to do. I
just want to thank you for your valuable time, continuing success,
and thank you so much for joining us on CEOs.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
You should know, Dennis, it's been a pleasure. Thank you.