Stan Soloway, president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, announced Wednesday that he would be stepping down after 15 years of leading the association.

“I am at that stage of my career where, if I want to do something different and substantial before I retire, the time to do so is now,” Soloway wrote in a letter to PSC members obtained by Federal News Radio.

Soloway, 61, said he has no immediate plans following his departure, but wants to remain involved with the federal professional services and technology sector. He said he will stay on through the transition period, as the council looks for his replacement.

“We’re in a very strong, solid position,” Soloway said. “On many levels it’s probably a good time for a transition. I have incredible confidence in the team we have here and I don’t see a lot of things changing going forward. We have a good strategy, we’re on a good path. I’m excited for the PSC and I’m excited for myself, though I do this with a lot of mixed emotions.”

PSC Executive Committee member and IBM General Manager Anne Altman will lead the search committee for Soloway’s successor. Soloway told reporters that the profile for his successor had yet to be fully defined.

“We don’t have a firm profile at this point,” Soloway said. “I think that we all recognize, given what we do as an organization, it’s not just a standard executive position, it has some other elements to it. Somebody obviously who has some industry awareness, and involvement and engagement in government as well  There are some certain skill sets that they’re gonna need.”

PSC represents about 400 government companies in the government technology and professional services industry.

Soloway came to PSC in 2001 after serving as the deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition reform during the second half of the Clinton administration.

PSC’s membership grew significantly under Soloway’s leadership, increasing by more than 300 percent. The association under his tenure completed three major acquisitions, including the TechAmerica Foundation. 

Soloway credited the council’s interaction and interface as reasons for that growth, and the ability to “foster really good dialogue, discussion and debate.”

“I’m just really proud of the way the organization has matured over the last 15 years into a really substantive, intellectually and thoughtfully rich organization,” he said.

Bobbie Green Kilberg, president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a partner of PSC, called Soloway an “icon in the contracting industry.”

“He has been a tremendous thought leader, policy advocate and producer of results,” she said. “The industry could not have asked for a better champion  and spokesman. PSC has been very fortunate to have Stan at its helm over these past 15 years.”

“It goes without saying that we hate to see Stan depart PSC,” said Ellen Glover, executive vice president of ICF International and chair of the PSC Board of Directors. “During the last 15 years, Stan has been an extraordinary leader for PSC, greatly expanding the association’s reach and scope and taking it to new heights.”

Soloway joined federal leaders last December in criticizing President Barack Obama’s proposed reforms to the Senior Executive Service, and called the measures “far too little too late.”

He also spoke out against the President’s executive order aimed at keeping repeat labor-law violators from winning government contracts. Soloway said the measure was unnecessary, and would unfairly punish contractors accused of wrongdoing that had not yet received their day in court.

Soloway earned many accolades during his tenure, having been consistently named as one of the 100 most influential business leaders in Washington by the Washington Business Journal and as one of the 100 most influential figures in U.S. defense by Defense News. He is also a two-time winner of the Federal 100 Award.

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