Applied Insight seeks integrated approach

By Marjorie Censer / January 25, 2019 at 3:09 PM

As the new chief executive of Applied Insight, contracting industry veteran John Hynes will be tasked with integrating the company while also seeking additional acquisitions.

Hynes takes over from Gavin Long, managing partner at the Acacia Group, the investment firm that is backing Applied Insight.

In an interview with Inside Defense today, Long said he was seeking someone who knows how to build a "cohesive entity."

The Acacia Group, he said, isn't just a holding company.

"We needed someone who could actually pull all of that together," Long said.

Applied Insight was created last year after the Acacia Group acquired and then split Intelligent Decisions. The federal contractor was cut into two companies: ID Technologies, a products business, and Applied Insight, a professional services business.

In October, Applied Insight acquired Organizational Strategies, which provides analytics, mission IT as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services to government and commercial customers. Applied Insight now has about $120 million in annual sales and more than 550 employees.

Hynes said during the same interview he saw demand in the market for a nimble, mid-tier company that would be able to innovate.

"They'd already made several acquisitions, and we're going to announce more here shortly," Hynes said. "I'm joining the team at a time that my skills can really come into play."

Long said AI has been developing intellectual property and is seeking continued investment into codified IP. He told Inside Defense Applied Insight is spending more than $1 million annually on technology development.

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