|
The changing face of Virginia business
Enrique
Tessada
Tessada & Associates
Springfield
by
Joan Hennessy
Virginia Business
March
2005
Talk
business with Enrique “Rick” Tessada, and
it quickly becomes apparent that his company is hard
to pigeonhole. One day it’s providing actors to
play “bad guys” for FBI training exercises.
Other company contracts deal with sophisticated information
technology and the upkeep of wind tunnels. Last year
the firm was awarded a $175 million, five-year contract
to manage information technology and multimedia services
for NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
When the U.S. Small Business Administration’s
Washington district office named Tessada minority businessperson
of the year in 2003, it described his business as “systems
integration.” Tessada uses the term “facilities
management contractor.”
Whatever the description, the firm is undeniably competitive.
When Tessada won the SBA award, the firm had about 350
full-time employees. Now, it has more than 700 full-time
workers. “What he’s been able to do is …
market the capabilities of his organization,”
says Joseph Loddo, district director of U.S. Small Business
Administration’s Washington Metropolitan Area
District Office. In initial contracts, “[Tessada]
has been able to produce quality work on time,”
Loddo says. The track record helps when Tessada goes
after other work.
The proof is in the company’s ever-expanding revenue.
In fact, based on the company’s $32.84 million
revenue in 2003, Hispanic Business Magazine ranked Tessada
& Associates 138th of the 500 largest Hispanic companies
in the country. The 2003 figure was up nearly 74 percent
from 2002. In 2004, the revenue was $36.6 million in
sales. Tessada projects upward of $70 million for 2005.
His goal is $100 million by 2008, but the firm could
get there sooner. There’s a simple reason for
this ambition. “It translates to more opportunity
and benefits for people in the company,” Tessada
says.
Not bad, considering Tessada founded the firm in 1993.
“I started a company at 50,” says Tessada,
who is now 61. “A little late.”
Raised in Mexico City in a bicultural home - a Mexican
father and American mother - he was educated at prep
school in Virginia and then at Texas A&M before
a career in the Navy. He flew helicopters on search
and rescue missions in Vietnam.
But he was always entrepreneurial. While in the Navy
he bought property in California. After leaving the
Navy he worked as an executive producer of documentary
films. He also holds a graduate degree in international
public policy from Johns Hopkins University.
All that could have prepared him for the high-wire act
of running his own business. Tessada founded his company
about the time that the government was increasing its
outsourcing. Since then, he has tackled multiple contracts,
ranging from database administration to auditing to
bilingual call center operations.
Last year, the firm graduated from the federal 8(a)
program, which is aimed at assisting minority-owned,
small businesses become competitive in the marketplace
through government contracts. The firm has been ready
for the move, Tessada says. “I’ve always
been preparing for the day.”
Tessada’s story is “an ideal example of
how the 8(a) program is supposed to work,” says
Loddo of the Small Business Administration. “They
[minority-owned businesses] gain access to the economic
mainstream.”
Tessada is willing to pass along his wisdom. He’s
mentoring two firms, and he has plenty of solid advice
to offer. “You have to be 110 percent committed,”
he says. “You have to believe in what you’re
doing. You have to very much involve yourself and set
the pace. …We have a passion for making sure the
customer succeeds.”
Return to Virginia Business - March 2005 |
