30 Best CEOs of the Year 2020 30 Best CEOs of the Year 2020 | Page 64

IDEMIA National Security Solutions : ‘Our Vision is to Provide Best-in-Class Identity
Solutions across the Continuum of the National Security and Public Safety Communities’
I
““Innovation is not what we do, it’s what we dare.”
DEMIA National Security
Solutions (NSS) is the result of
the merger between two great
companies: Oberthur Technologies
and Safran Identity & Security,
which have joined forces to form the
new leader in Augmented Identity
for an increasingly digital world.
IDEMIA is a wholly-owned and FOCI
mitigated IDEMIA affiliate, providing
the U.S. National Security and Public
Safety sectors with leading solutions
and services for Comprehensive
Facility Security, Identity-driven
Situational Awareness and Secure
Credentialing. IDEMIA NSS is
the industry’s foremost video
surveillance technology provider,
offering predictive, preventive, and
investigative analytics. Its best-in-
class identity solutions are top-
rated by NIST for speed, accuracy,
and reliability. For over 60 years,
IDEMIA’s extensive hardware and
software product portfolio has
driven consistent results for its
clients. unparalleled understanding of their
evolving needs and requirements.
We have a deep (and growing) body
of intellectual property in the areas
of pattern recognition, artificial
intelligence, and machine learning
that enables us to address many of
these unique requirements through
state-of-the-art technology.
Why was the company
set up? And how did you
expand your company
and its offerings over the
years? There is nothing
more important for
a successful small
business than a well-
defined mission and
vision statements. Can
you explain your M&V
statements in brief?
IDEMIA was incorporated in 2017
and is headquartered in Alexandria,
VA. It has additional office locations
in Long Beach, CA; Morgantown,
WV; Huntsville, AL.
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IDEMIA NSS has a rich legacy of
working closely with National
Security organizations on matters
of identity – DoD, FBI, Dept. of State,
and the Intelligence Community.
Most of our senior executives
come from these government
organizations which provide an
What would you say
are the top three
skills needed to be a
successful CEO?
Ability to focus – The world is
full of good ideas and expert advice
– much of it conflicting or confusing.
Successful leaders choose a path
and don’t stray.
Perseverance – I am a firm
believer in the adage that success
is a marathon and not a sprint – it’s
often about the long game.
Building winning teams – It’s
always about the team – creating
much more than the sum of its parts.
A successful leader learns quickly
the importance of forming high
performing teams.
As an affiliate of a multi-billion-
dollar company like IDEMIA, we
have the benefit of a well-defined
value proposition but the challenge
of articulating a mission and vision
that we can build our own high
performing team around. I am
proud of what our leadership team
has developed but what’s more
important is that we revisit this
regularly to ensure we stay focused
on big-picture opportunities to
make a real and lasting difference.
Mission : At IDEMIA NSS, we aim
to protect the world from known
and suspected terrorists, wanted
criminals, and persons of interest by
being the trusted leader in detecting
threats immediately and verifying
identity indisputably.
Vision : To provide best in class
identity solutions across the
continuum of the national security
and public safety communities:
•
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Delivering superior positive
identification and verification
products and biometric
services;
Offering the industry’s leading
video surveillance collection
management with predictive,
preventive, and investigative
analytics.
What is your greatest
fear, and how do you
manage to overcome the
same?
Given our focus on the U.S. Federal
Government sector, we are acutely
attuned to the political roller
coaster that affects our national
priorities through appropriations,
budget allocations, and contracting
cycles. We know from experience:
our fear that one or more of our
major business opportunities could