U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce® Announces 2020 Women Contractor Award Winners
The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce® (https://www.uswcc.org) proudly announces our 2020 Women Contractor Award Winners to firms who have achieved outstanding success as suppliers in the federal contracting arena. Awards will be presented in Washington, DC on March 5, 2020 at the National Small Business Federal Contracting Summit | DC Spring 2020.
“Women-owned firms are very active and competitive in the challenging federal supplier marketplace,” says Margot Dorfman, CEO. “The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce is proud to honor the growth and achievements of our women-owned contractors during Women’s History Month. By recognizing women-owned firms for their outstanding success as suppliers in the federal contracting arena we honor the achievements of these firms and lay the foundation for greater success and opportunity for the future,” adds Dorfman.
Award categories are as follows:
EMERGING STAR – awarded to contractors who received their first government contract award within the last two years and are on their way for future opportunities.
INNOVATION & PERFORMANCE – awarded to contractors who exhibit outstanding innovation and/or performance on a key contract that will significantly bolster their ability to secure future opportunities.
GROWTH MASTER – awarded to contractors who have achieved significant growth in the government sector over the last three years.
STELLAR – awarded to exceptional contractors who have shown exemplary growth, quality, and are positioned as leaders within the contracting community.
We extend our congratulations to the following exceptional women for the success of their firms.
Emerging Star: Manisha Morris, MSM Technology, LLC
Manisha Morris is the President of MSM Technology, LLC. Manisha has spent over 25 years as a Federal IT contractor and created MSM Technology with a philosophy to treat employees as her #1 asset. Her goal was to create a company with an employee-centric philosophy, proving that by investing in employee satisfaction and personal growth, employees would work harder and more efficiently, and achieve higher customer satisfaction. Manisha offers her employees a comprehensive benefits suite providing continuing education opportunities, including college classes and over 3,000 training and certification opportunities.
Manisha donates her time to mentoring and advising young women in their career aspirations. Manisha in partnership with local middle and high schools, creates community support opportunities in which the youth can grow their team-work, leadership, and communication skills. Manisha also sponsors company-wide initiatives to participate STEM program small business alliances to encourage kids of all ages to pursue STEM careers.
Manisha is an animal welfare activist. Nine years ago, Manisha co-founded the Animal Rescue Fund (ARF) of Virginia. Through this nonprofit and its annual events, she has led volunteer efforts that raised and distributed over $1 million in grants to animal rescue organizations.
Innovation & Performance: Elise Hernandez, Ideal Systems Solutions, Inc.
Elise Hernandez is the President and CEO of Ideal System Solutions, Inc. Founded in 1997, Ideal has been a leading provider of information technology products, solutions, and professional services throughout the U.S. to Government Agencies, Prime Contractors, Educational Institutions and Commercial Organizations nationwide.
Headquartered in Minnesota, with offices in NM and the DC Area, Ideal offers leading-edge technology solutions including storage, data center, cloud computing, infrastructure management and support services. Ideal’s professional services organization provides network and system design and integration, project management, IT staffing and managed services. Ideal is a Small, SDB, HUBZone, Woman and Minority-owned certified business.
In addition to an MBA in Business Management and Marketing, Elise has over 25 years of technology sales, marketing and management experience, and over 15 years of government agency contract and project management experience.
Elise enjoys spending her free time with her family in the great outdoors hiking, boating, skiing and biking. in addition, Elise has served on several non-profit boards and enjoys mentoring other women in business.
Innovation & Performance: Carol Craig, Craig Technologies
Carol Craig is Founder and CEO of Craig Technologies and Craig Technologies Aerospace Solutions, headquartered in Merritt Island, FL. Craig Technologies is an Engineering, Technology and Manufacturing company that supports both government and commercial customers nationwide with employees in over 20 states. Over 10 years, Carol grew Craig Technologies from one person in 1999 to over 450 associates with steadily increasing revenues and diversification and has spent the last decade focusing on aerospace and defense with a concentration on commercial opportunities.
Carol earned a BA in Computer Science from Knox College, BS in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Illinois, and an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Carol was one of the first women eligible to fly in combat for the U.S. Navy and was the first female aviator to join her P-3C Orion squadron.
Carol has won numerous awards and been featured in several publications. Over the past 10 years she has held positions on over 30 boards. In response to her son’s diagnosis with Prader-Willi Syndrome in 2001, Carol also supports multiple organizations related to identifying interventions that help him and others lead independent lives.
Growth Master: Shavila Singh, Zero Waste Solutions, Inc.
Shavila founded Zero Waste Solutions, Inc. envisioning work environments without “waste” and has been hard at work transforming our services into sustainable solutions for her clients. As President, Shavila has been managing a wide range of portfolios in the Government Contracting industry for the past 18+ years. From Facility Support (561210) to Waste Management (56211) services, she exceeds expectations across a wide range of markets traditionally fulfilled by men. She is a driven leader who has focused on leading our environmental programs, business development initiatives, and managing customer relationships with high performance success ratings. Thanks to her passion, steps across the country are working towards zero waste.
Stellar: Nisha Shajahan, Integrity Management Services, Inc.
Nisha Shajahan is Partner and President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at IntegrityM. Named one of Washington Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 in 2018, DCA Live’s 2018 Rising Stars of GovCon, and a finalist for the Women In Technology 2018 Leadership Award for Small Business/Entrepreneur, Ms. Shajahan has helped IntegrityM grow from a wholly-owned subsidiary with less than $1 million in revenue to its own women-owned small business entity with $12 million in revenue.
In her role, Ms. Shajahan provides overall leadership for carrying out the mission, vision, and values that are the foundation of the organization. She promotes excellence in service delivery and has a passion for corporate social responsibility by giving back to the community. Under her leadership, IntegrityM has been recognized by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Small and Emerging Contractors Advisory Forum (SECAF) for performance excellence in government contracting and making a valuable contribution to the community.
Previously, Ms. Shajahan worked in the healthcare commercial sector on a variety of healthcare consulting projects, including compliance program implementation, program evaluations, performance audits, training sessions, and regulatory analyses (e.g. Medicare, Medicaid, HIPAA) for numerous healthcare organizations.
She has been published in industry and trade publications, such as the Journal of Health Care Compliance, HCCA’s Compliance Today, and AIS HIPAA Security Compliance Guide.
The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce unifies the collective strength of women in the U.S. economy. Using a platform of influence, innovation, and opportunity, the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce works with and for its members to grow successful businesses and careers. For additional information, go to https://www.uswcc.org or call (202) 607-2488.
The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce has invited these exemplary women business owners to share their stories during our upcoming GrowthMasters series. Meeting dates and times can be found at: www.uswcc.org/meetings.