The Silicon Review has published an issue of 50 Most Admired Companies of the Year 2020

1. 50
Most
Companies
of the Year
SR2020
ADMIRED
Filipp Chebotarev | Co-founder | COO
Cambridge Companies SPG
Top Investor Backs Clean Label Future
CEOs
Technology Business Features CIOs
Leadership
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U.S. Special

2. T
he Engineer-Procure-
Construct (EPC) model is
becoming a popular project
delivery method in the high voltage
electrical construction market.
Known in other industries as design-
build, utilities, and renewable
energy developers are increasingly
moving to the EPC model for their
larger, more complex projects.
The reason for the increase in EPC
projects is based on many factors
such as an aging workforce in the
utility and engineering industries,
fast-tracked delivery dates for key
infrastructure projects, the increase
in capital spending by the utilities
to address aging infrastructure,
integration of renewable energy, and
implementing new technology to the
grid such as smart grid equipment
and battery storage projects.
In light of the foregoing, we’re
thrilled to present Great
Southwestern Construction, Inc.
(GSWC) — a company that provides
electrical construction services. It
specializes in transmission lines,
distribution systems, substations,
and switchyard construction.
The company was incorporated in
1977 and is headquartered in Castle
Rock, CO.
Brandon Lark,
Great Southwestern
Construction President,
spoke exclusively to The
Silicon Review. Below is
an excerpt.
Explain your services in
brief.
GSWC delivers a complete range
of services for transmission,
distribution, substation
construction, and live line services
across the United States. As a
contractor, we are well-positioned as
a contractor of choice for performing
transmission, distribution, and
substation construction, and
maintenance services. Our offices,
as well as management, manpower,
equipment, and fleet resources, are
conveniently located throughout the
United States, providing accessibility
throughout the country.
Our years of experience has
provided us with an arsenal of
knowledge regarding issues when
it comes to topography, weather
conditions, permitting/ROW/
landowner relations, familiarity with
local and regional subcontractors,
and established relationships with
engineering firms to utilize as a
subcontractor for all engineering
activities.
As an operating subsidiary of MYR
Group Inc. (MYR Group), GSWC
offers customers the benefit of
extensive, nationwide resources in
equipment and manpower, industry-
leading safety statistics and
programs, management expertise,
and financial backing.
Along with national presence and
continued growth, we adamantly
strive to maintain strong local
presence and support by offering
such advantages as a single point-
of-contact for clients, an emphasis
on personal responsibility on
all projects, and flexibility and
adaptability to conform to client
methods and standards.
How do you source quality
individuals to maintain the
quality of your services?
Over the last 40 years, GSWC has
established itself as one of the top
contractors in the United States.
During that time, we have been
able to obtain and retain the top
craft labor and employees in the
Brandon Lark, Great Southwestern Construction, Inc.
President: ‘We’ve Distinguished Ourselves in the Electrical
Construction Industry by Providing Services Based on
its Values of Safety, Respect, Integrity, Responsiveness,
Creativity, Initiative, and Teamwork’
“Our offices, as well as management, manpower, equipment, and fleet resources are conveniently located throughout
the United States, providing accessibility throughout the country.”
Along with national presence and continued growth, we adamantly strive to maintain
strong local presence and support by offering such advantages as a single
point-of-contact for clients, an emphasis on personal responsibility on all projects, and
flexibility and adaptability to conform to client methods and standards.
“ “

3. industry. We believe in hiring the
best employees possible; we invest
in every employee we hire and want
everyone to feel like family.
The best employees are happy and
healthy, and we do all that we can
to help them stay that way. At GSWC
employees are provided a benefits
package that offers everything you
would expect in addition to the
other perks. Whether saving for
retirement or trying to provide the
best life for their family, GSWC’s
benefits have been designed to help
them achieve an optimal work-life
balance.
Over the years, we have been able
to recruit many high-quality craft
labor and employees to join our
team. To become fully integrated
into the company’s safety culture,
every employee undergoes an
onboarding process to ensure they
fully understand the safety and
work culture of the company. This
process includes an introduction to
the company’s mission, vision and
values, knowledge, and skills test
for craft labor, review of our safety
handbook, and an overview of our
entire safety program.
Tell us in brief about your
capabilities in the EPC
segment.
GSWC’s first foray into the EPC
market began in 2003, when we
were awarded one of the largest
EPC projects at that time, a 76-
mile segment of transmission in
Colorado called the Cedar Creek
Wind Project. From there, GSWC
steadily built a solid reputation
of a contractor who had the
sophistication and operational
execution to be able to tackle the
more complex EPC projects in the
T&D industry for both utility clients
and renewable energy clients.
Currently, with over 600 craft
labor employees, a Department
of Labor certified apprenticeship
program, and a well-seasoned
EPC management staff, GSWC can
deliver a very unique approach to
EPC and design build projects.
What are your trajectories
for the next five years?
GSWC hopes to grow rapidly and
develop into the largest high voltage
electrical contractor in the United
States. While achieving this rapid
growth, we want to maintain the
same constants that have made
us the company we are today.
We’re providing our clients with
the same services we have always
provided in a safe and effective
work environment putting people
first and ensuring a quality product
every time we step onto a job site.
Brandon Lark: A Trusted Leader
Brandon Lark was appointed President of Great Southwestern Construction,
Inc. in May 2014 and is responsible for devising and leading the overall growth and
operational strategies of the company. Brandon joined the company in 2000 as a Substation
Superintendent, assuming increasing responsibility throughout his tenure including Project
Manager, Project Developer, Senior Project Manager, and Vice President. Mr. Lark also serves
on the Executive Management Committee for MYR Group, developing and executing corporate
strategy while managing enterprise risk. He blends his hands-on combination of field and
project management expertise when working alongside project and operations managers
repeatedly delivering successful on-time, under-budget project execution. Mr. Lark has
extensive experience in transmission, substation, and wind farm electrical construction on
projects throughout the west and southwest.
Mr. Lark embraces the mission, vision, and values of the organization and united with
his values and leadership philosophy forms his foundation for success. At the core of his
philosophy is steadfast focus on employee development, which allows for continuous
performance improvement and also generates innovative enhanced service offerings.
Mr. Lark has both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration (MBA)
in Project Management. He also has an Associate of Science Degree in Civil Engineering
Technology and is a certified Project Management Specialist. He has continued his education
through the MIT Sloan Executive Education, The Center for Creative Leadership, and Academy
Leadership programs as well as many in house training programs with both technical and
leadership curriculums.
In his time away from the office, Mr. Lark enjoys spending time with his wife and three
children. The entire family is involved in sports. Most weekends are spent cheering at a youth
soccer game or enjoying other outdoor activities such as hiking or skiing.
Brandon Lark
President
SR

4. A
s global complexity deepens
so too do the demands
on governments to meet
the funding and service delivery
requirements of an ever more
sophisticated citizenry. Good
governance, transparency and
accountability are critical today
and yet even governments of
the world’s most advanced
economies battle with digital
transformation and public financial
management.
As a solutions provider focused
on government FreeBalance
understands better than most just
how complex this new world is for
Ministries of Finance. The company’s
Public Financial Management
(PFM) solutions, advisory services,
and training deliver realistic and
impactful public sector reforms
that enhance transparency, improve
effectiveness, restore trust, and
create innovation breakthrough
opportunities. FreeBalance believes
strongly in fiscal transparency and
accountability and its products help
bring the power of open government
to citizens and decision-makers
around the world.
With a 35-year track record
of success and operations in
25+ countries, FreeBalance has
unparalleled experience in
public finance reform and is a
specialized Business-to-Government
(B2G) firm.
The company was incorporated
in 1984 and is headquartered in
Ottawa, Canada.
Manuel Schiappa Pietra,
FreeBalance President
and CEO, spoke
exclusively to The Silicon
Review. Below is an
excerpt.
How did FreeBalance come
into existence?
Back in the 90s, the Government
of Canada engaged Ottawa-based
Linktek to create a set of software
products designed to improve
fiscal controls and eliminate
overspending. The government was
able to see the amount available
for spending, using commitment
accounting functions, in real-time.
The calculation of budget less
commitments and actuals is known
as the “free balance”.
Linktek became so well known for
“free balance” in real time that it
rebranded as “FreeBalance”. Today
FreeBalance is a global company
working to bring about positive
change in the world. Our story is one
of diversity, inclusiveness, kindness,
and respect. For more than 30 years
we’ve worked to build a company
to be proud of and a team that is
committed to making a difference in
the world.
How do you make
FreeBalance stand out from
the competition?
FreeBalance is unique in many ways,
but perhaps the most important
differentiators are:
Customer Centricity
Customer centricity is not just a
buzz word for us. Our customers
truly are at the core of everything we
do. From our very first engagement
our focus is on developing the
solutions that are most relevant
and that would be most effective
for that specific country’s context.
Best practices are not one size fits
all solutions and, in our experience,
don’t work. So, we take the time
to thoroughly understand the
issues and solve the problems. This
ethos continues through both the
implementation and support phases
of all projects and even directs
our business model which is built
around driving down total cost of
ownership. We believe that GRP
systems should enable current and
future PFM and transparency reform
without being cost prohibitive.
Government Specialization
The FreeBalance team built the
only smart management solution
powered by, and built exclusively
for, government. We co-create our
systems together with our clients.
We believe that our customers are
the best people to decide what our
product development roadmap
An Interview with Manuel Schiappa Pietra,
FreeBalance President and CEO: ‘Our
mission is to help governments across the
world leverage robust financial management
technology to drive sustainable growth’
“FreeBalance is
a purpose-led
organization
dedicated to
improving
citizen
wellbeing
around the
world.”

5. should look like and so many years
ago we set up the FreeBalance
International Steering Committee
(FISC) which brings together
customers to focus on relevant new
technology and ideas for improving
the management of public finances.
Global Reach
We are citizens of the world. With
operations in 25+ countries and
over 30 different nationalities in
the team we work with the full
range of governments from some
of the world’s most fragile states to
emerging economies to the G7. We
pride ourselves on our diversity and
are deeply committed to building
local talent in the countries in which
we operate.
High Configurability
There no code customization required
for the FreeBalance Accountability
Suite compared to traditional
commercial off the shelf applications.
Our government focus has enabled
the creation of software that is
massively configured. Business rules,
processes, workflow, additional
fields, help, and terminology are
all adaptable without any coding.
This means no scripting, call outs or
code customization to support these
features.
Fair and Financially Sustainable
Pricing
Our pricing for turnkey Government
Resource Planning (GRP)
implementations tend to be lower
than alternatives because of our
customer-centric business model that
limits long-term costs, post-modern
software that adapts easier and faster
to change, and because we use agile
methods designed to acceleration
implementations.
Manuel Schiappa Pietra: A Trusted Leader
Manuel Schiappa Pietra is a global executive and entrepreneur with
more than 25 years of successful management experience in companies
based in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa and Latin America.
He has a proven track record in building and running companies, from start-
ups to well-established private and public organizations. He has consistently
demonstrated an ability to build and lead successful teams and businesses in
the international arena.
As President and CEO of FreeBalance, Manuel leads global growth strategies
focused on advancing the company’s objectives and promoting revenue,
profitability, and growth. Manuel provides direct oversight to the FreeBalance
corporate and regional operations teams to ensure customer-centricity,
quality, service, and optimal use of resources. Manuel is responsible for
ensuring that FreeBalance fulfils its mission to help governments across
the world leverage robust government financial management technology to
accelerate country growth.
Manuel is a recipient of the ‘Next Generation Executive of the Year Award’
sponsored by the ‘Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation’ (OCRI) and in
2009 he led the company to win the prestigious ‘Canada Export Achievement
Award’. FreeBalance was also recently named as one of the ten most
renowned brands to watch in 2020 by Leaders Globe.
Manuel is also the Chairman of the WOHASU Foundation as well as Chairman
of the H-20 Government Summit, the invitation-only ‘Government Meeting
of the World Happiness Summit®
’. Manuel spearheads the efforts to explore
public policy innovation and wellbeing economics through a new perspective.
Manuel has held executive positions on the boards of several international
companies and actively participated in the venture capital space. He has
participated in several successful IPO’s in North America, Europe and South
Africa.
“FreeBalance believes
strongly in fiscal
transparency and
accountability. Our
products help bring
the power of open
government to citizens
and decision-makers
around the world.”
Manuel Schiappa Pietra
President & CEO
SR

6. E
stablished in 2002 by
Patricia Mathis and Vladimir
Smelyansky, XCastLabs’
engineering team was an innovator
in unified communications long
before. The LA-company’s visionary
team was directly responsible for
the world’s first digital personal
assistant and its founding engineers
were amongst the very first to
showcase the power of speech
recognition technology to the world
in the 1990s.
In 2020, XCast is a pioneer
and a master innovator in
VoIP technologies. We recently
interviewed Patricia Mathis,
Executive Chairman and Founder
of XCast Labs. She gave us a unique
insight into the innovations
underway at XCast.
Tell us about the
successful journey of
your company.
The XCast Labs engineering team
has a long history of developing
disruptive technology. In the mid-
1990s, I created a Chicago-based
company to develop the first Voice-
driven Personal Assistant. One of
the teams in that company was also
exploring analog replacement and
actually installed the first softswitch
in a major carrier around 2000. A
dozen talented engineers from that
project reconvened in 2002 to focus
solely on developing the pioneering
technology we now call Voice-Over-
the-Internet. That is the foundation
of XCastLabs. In eighteen months,
the platform was ready to begin
offering services in the Midwest. The
intellectual and creative force behind
this development was co-Founder
Vladimir Smelyanky and the talented
engineering team he has led ever
since.
XCastLabs offers the full suite
of Hosted PBX and SIP trunking
services to small and midsized
business. We also offer a highly
intelligent wholesale platform
that supports dozens of American
carriers as well as call centers
serving numerous vertical markets,
predominantly in the United States.
Our technology also supports
our clients and customers with a
proprietary integrated back office
system.
How robust and
flexible are your
telecommunications
services?
The lack of third-party
licensing fees not only
allows XCast to have an
unconventionally low
cost of operations but
also an uncommon
flexibility in
introducing new
features or services
dictated by business
needs. The XCast
platform is designed to scale from a
single server handling thousands of
users to multi-server clusters serving
millions. The XCast engineers–all
pioneers in the VoIP space– wrote
the code and all core components
of the technology from the ground
up. So, we really have no “learning
curve” when we need to build a
new product. We just need either a
customer request or an innovation
that we might consider disruptive.
Powerful and scalable
telecommunication
services come with an
expensive price tag.
How do you manage to
maintain your service
affordability and
profitability?
XCast Labs has designed and
developed every aspect of its
technology solution in-house.
We can quickly address customers’
needs and requirements without any
dependence on outside vendors—
which means no licensing fees. This
means that we can develop products
on our own platform without
incurring a lot of additional overhead
cost.
Importantly, our business base
is very stable. It is a rarity when
a customer leaves our platform.
When they do, it is usually when
someone has acquired their company
who has their own favorite provider.
It is not unusual for that company
to return to our platform the first
chance they get.
Also, we do not spend millions
of dollars on marketing. We have
operated on the philosophy that
XCast Labs, Inc: America’s First in VoIP Communications
“We
carefully
scrutinize what new
technologies would be
most beneficial to the
largest number
of businesses
we serve.”

7. by doing good work and serving
our customers’ needs, our
reputation would propel our
growth.
Although VoIP
technology has
been touted as a
communications
cure-all by many
small-to-midsized
businesses, integrative
complexity and security
vulnerabilities will
remain a challenge. How
do you manage to deal
with these challenges?
This is a very important issue.
Integration of nascent technologies
is no small undertaking for
engineering teams. At XCastLabs,
we carefully scrutinize what
new technologies would be most
beneficial to the largest number
of businesses we serve. Our direct
dialogue with our customers is
constant. We do not believe that
every shiny new penny will have
ultimate value. We have all lived
long enough in the digital world to
know that what is here today can
be gone tomorrow. It is like the
old PacMan machine: one cannibal
constantly eating the other; in this
case, one technology gobbling up or
vaporizing another. So, we try not to
be lured by the latest shiny object
which might not be demonstrably
valuable to small and midsized
businesses. We try to curate
expectations in a realistic way.
Our engineering team has placed
a high emphasis on developing
security features. Our team prides
itself on detecting potential fraud
within the US carrier market sooner
than most of our carrier partners.
Scammers and other hoodlums
harass and mislead unsuspecting
victims with unwanted calls and we
are actively involved in projects to
curtail that kind of fraud.
As part of our basic service model,
XCastLabs does provide 24x7
service. We have a long-standing
partnership with a major national
provider and their US-based call
center takes our after-hour, week-
end and holiday calls. All our
customers have access to our
integrated back office systems
and access to our trouble ticket
platforms. This means that any
customer can report any problem
directly to us no matter the
time of the day or circumstance.
Our NOC team is very vigilant
and responsive. Our executive
management team culture is
“always on” and our resellers can
speak directly to a senior executive
of this company—simply by texting
or calling them in an emergency.
What is the XCast team
currently working
on? What can we look
forward to?
At the moment, we are integrating
access to Microsoft Teams into our
standard hosted service offerings.
That would be a good example of an
integration that is sensible for small
and midsized businesses while
not necessarily the most popular
“hot button” in the down market
consumer space. There are many
features that are now integrated
into Microsoft Teams that are
popular in the mass market— like
the SMS features and video chat
available from multiple vendors. But
the heaviest initial users of hosted
services integration with Teams will
be for business applications.
Patricia Mathis, Executive Chairman & Founder
The Leader Upfront, Patricia Mathis,
Executive Chairman and Founder
A visionary leader and an entrepreneur,
Patricia Mathis has been in the
communications and unified communications
space for over two decades. She has been on the
board of several communication companies.
SR

8. By devising winning strategies,
DefinedLogic helps clients
transform their business in the
digital landscape
Meet the leader behind the
success of DefinedLogic
Mike Simon is the CEO of
DefinedLogic. He has owned and operated
multiple software and consulting
businesses over his 35 year career. Mike
purchased DefinedLogic in 2020 to help
his talented team pivot the company
solidly in the direction of a Digital Product
Agency.
F
or a company to be successful,
it must be agile in the market,
along with that online
presence also plays an important
role in development. The physical
presence of a business cannot be
everywhere, and all the time, so the
digital presence helps them reach
potential customers. Having a digital
presence will help you establish
an authority in your industry. We
live in a world that is encompassed
with technology, and everything is
digital. If you still haven’t joined the
digital bandwagon yet, you might
be missing out on the major perks
of going digital. You must change
your business strategy and get
your product up and running in
the digital foray. Deliver the brand
message you want to reel in the kind
of customers you want to.
A solid digital presence helps you
with all of this, and a firm called
Defined Logic is helping businesses
establish a stronghold in the market.
DefinedLogic is a digital product
agency that provides services that
cover the gamut of client needs,
including digital strategy, branding
and identity definition, creative
and experience design, website
and application development,
and analytics and marketing
performance management. Since
its inception in 2002, DefinedLogic
has helped brands embrace new
technology to give them competitive
advantage by combining strategy,
design, and technology, creating
useful, enjoyable, and valuable
digital products. It specializes in
helping clients overcome barriers to
innovation.
Defined Logic was founded in 2002
and it is based in Red Bank, New
Jersey.
In conversation with
Mike Simon, CEO of
DefinedLogic
Do you think the
responsibility of innovation
is of one functional group,
like R&D or product
development?
No, we challenge every competency
and practice in our company to
innovate. For us, that means being
students of our trades, being
vocal members of competency
organizations. Every group at
Mike Simon, CEO

9. DefinedLogic is developing
frameworks that sales can explain
and demonstrate and that delivery
organizations can scale from.
This orientation spreads the
culture of innovation across the
entire organization and ensures
that innovative ideas are truly
implementable.
For a company to bring
innovation to its culture, its
employees must think like
innovators, employees need
to feel they have a decent
outlet for sharing their
observations and ideas.
Does DefinedLogic reflect
this view?
I agree wholeheartedly with the
idea of employees as innovators.
Putting this into practice is what
makes the culture real. We think
about culture as “predictable
behavioral responses,” meaning,
does every aspect of our company
naturally live the innovation
culture without “management”
having to force and reinforce it?
Our approach is working well.
Many organizations risk
complacency once their
current product offerings
have reached success. They
deny investing further.
Do you think such a move
can hinder the pace of
innovation?
Absolutely! If you’re not
continually innovating, you’re
falling behind others who are.
We do “retros” on every project.
We study best practices and tools
by competency. We improve and
innovate with each and every
project we do.
To enable continuous
innovation, operations of a
business should be flawless
and streamlined. Do you
help companies patch their
internal inefficiencies?
We do. We have a Product
Innovation Framework that
is informed by Scaled Agile
but with pragmatic tools to
ease implementation. We help
customers implement processes,
forums, and tools for ideation,
intake management, elaboration,
story development, stage-
gate management, deliverable
templates, and organization
through roles and responsibilities.
The goal is to recognize that many
parts of an organization represent
digital ecosystems, and good
processes, tools, and forums can
help them work seamlessly.
How do you help your
clients serve the ever-
changing needs of digital
transformation?
We focus first and foremost on
“purpose.” We determine what
customers are looking to achieve
and how can we help them mold
their digital strategies to achieve
those purposes. That sounds
obvious, but it is surprising how
many customers don’t have
strategies that trace back to an
underlying purpose. As such, they
end up spending lots of money
on campaigns and digital assets,
but without the confidence that
there is a positive ROI around
those investments. As such,
“transformation” is not an event;
it’s an ongoing effort of alignment
to the strategic purpose.
How do you measure
whether an organization
is tapping the right
opportunity? How do you
make sure that your clients
are increasing their success
rate?
By being laser-focused on
“purpose” and measurable
objectives, we help customers
drive discipline around continual
alignment. This includes measuring
everything and being able to pivot
as needed to respond to marketing
opportunities and challenges.
What are your future plans
for the growth of your
company?
We are a 50 person company today
and have plans to double our size
over the next 12 months. That
growth will provide the density we
need to diversify our competency
leadership and to provide growth
opportunities for the next
“generation” of “DLers.” We will
facilitate our growth through
platform partnerships, including
Salesforce, SiteCore, and Adobe.
“From concept to architecture to launch, we have the
expertise and dedicated teams to deliver projects
smarter, better & faster.”
SR