Beltway Money Woman: Laura Lukaczyk

WASHINGTON, D.C.–In the spring of 2000, Laura Lukaczyk was hard at work putting together a new venture capital fund. By day, she consulted for venture giant New Enterprise Associates; by night, she honed her marketing and fundraising plans.

She launched Avansis Ventures in early summer. But by then, the Nasdaq market was in free fall, and the telecom bubble was about to blow.

“It was, like, four times my worst case scenario,” Lukaczyk recalls with a chuckle.

Easy to laugh now. Though relatively small at $10 million under management, Lukaczyk and her firm have a roster of interesting portfolio bets and plans for expansion.

Full story at Forbes.com

The Parrotheads Working For The Spooks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – If you like a touch of irreverence in a chief executive, you’ll appreciate Essex Chief Executive Leonard Moodispaw. The company’s stock symbol, KEYW, pays tribute to his fondness for Key West and the music of singer Jimmy Buffett. According to his official bio, Moodispaw also “enjoys chocolate” and “is growing older but not up.”

Jimmy Buffett? Chocolate? Not exactly the sort of stuff you’d expect to hear about an executive in Essex’s line of work. Essex uses optical processing and proprietary digital algorithms to analyze signals, images and other big chunks of data for federal defense and intelligence outfits. The Columbia, Md., company can’t even reveal the identity of many of its customers, because the contracts are classified.

Speak with Essex brass about strategy, however, and Moodispaw’s line about not growing up starts to make more sense. Indeed, company execs see that youthful spirit as one of its most important assets in a tough intelligence-tech services market.

Full story at Forbes.com

Fighting Hackers, Viruses, Bureaucracy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Search the exact phrase “National Computer Security Survey” on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Web site, and you won’t find a thing.

That’s surprising, because the Department of Homeland Security is a co-sponsor of a study titled “National Computer Security Survey.” At the end of next month, it will be sent by Rand to thousands of businesses in 37 sectors. A DHS rep says there are no plans to issue a press release on the subject until after the survey is completed.

Who’s more interested in getting the word out now? Lobbyists. “This is a pretty important survey,” explains Paul Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance.

Full story at Forbes.com

Beltway Bet: Symbol Technologies

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, 25,000 conventioneers flocked to Washington for FOSE, an annual trade show on technology for the U.S. federal and defense market. A greeting from President George W. Bush adorned convention programs, and Lockheed Martin chief Robert Stevens kicked things off with a sweeping keynote on challenges facing the United States. “Access to information is central,” he said, “it has never been more important.”

One outfit hoping the government crowd will want more access to information is Symbol Technologies. The Holtsville, N.Y., maker of bar code scanners and other technology to track goods shows signs of competing vigorously in the government market, particularly regarding radio frequency identification (RFID). For the Beltway-minded investor, Symbol’s shares look interesting.

Full story at Forbes.com

Nanobiz To Congress: This Isn’t Asbestos

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Internet businesses haven’t been the only high-tech concerns drawing attention on Capitol Hill. It was standing room only for a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing on nanotechnology.

The mood from the Senators? Glowing, for the most part. “This is likely to be a $1 trillion industry,” said Oregon Republican Gordon Smith. “Mind-boggling to say the least,” added Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry.

There was plenty at the hearing to boggle the mind. Bryant Linares, chief of closely held Apollo Diamond, told Senators how his company uses nanotechnology, which works on the scale of atoms or molecules, to “grow” diamonds for use in jewelry, semiconductors and other applications. Timothy Swager, professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, detailed efforts of his MIT research center–along with corporate partners like Honeywell, Raytheon and W. L. Gore & Associates–to create fabric for U.S. soldiers that can monitor health or detect explosives.

But business interests at the hearing weren’t just strutting their stuff for Congress. They also took the opportunity to press their case for keeping nanotech regulation at bay.

Full story at Forbes.com

Oshkosh Truck Powers Up In Hybrids

Among the more agreeable types of government programs are the ones that help your company win new business and cozy up to important customers. Consider the case of Oshkosh Truck, Waste Management and the Department of Energy’s Advanced Heavy Hybrid Propulsion Systems initiative.

The program, managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, began in 2002. Its goal: Bring industry and government researchers together to get cleaner, more fuel efficient trucks and buses on the road by the end of the decade. Notable corporate participants are Eaton, Caterpillar, General Motors and Rockwell Automation.

In February 2003, Oshkosh Truck , which makes big, tough, trucks for military, municipal and other customers, received a $9 million grant from the Advanced Heavy Hybrid program to develop hybrid power-control systems and electronics for its severe-duty trucks. A key component of Oshkosh’s bid: its relationship with trash industry giant Waste Management .

Full story at Forbes.com

State Of The Border Security Business

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A prediction for tonight’s State of the Union address: President George W. Bush will get a standing ovation when he talks tough on stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S.

If our prediction holds, another group will have reason to clap: defense and technology contractors doing business in homeland security. Last week, a few hundred of their reps heard from the Administration on technology needed for an ambitious border security proposal, one that could be worth billions.

“This issue is clearly one of the most important public-policy priorities for the Administration as well as for the Congress,” Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson told the crowd.

Full story at Forbes.com

Smartcard Small Cap

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The notion that small-caps are riskier than large-caps flows from common sense. Small companies usually have fewer customers and lines of business. Their stocks aren’t as widely held, thus intensifying the effects if a big shareholder pulls the plug.

But what if one of your customers is the recession-resistant mother of all spenders? The one that can print money? Fargo Electronics is strong in a niche business that the U.S. federal government demands: printers that personalize identification cards with text and images.

“The federal government isn’t generally a big risk taker, so they’re looking for products that are tried and true,” explains Kathleen Phillips, Fargo’s vice president for sales and marketing. “We have those products.”

Full story at Forbes.com

Ballmer’s Beltway Pitch

Washington, D.C. – The word “military” doesn’t appear in Microsoft’s most recent annual report. Nor does the company’s name figure into tallies of the largest civilian or military contractors to the United States government. Still, in comments to Washington D.C. tech executives yesterday, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer put such work at the core of Microsoft’s mission.

“The kind of high-technology work going on in the defense business and defense contracting, the use of those technologies by the military,” he said, “are sure shapers of our strategy.”

Ballmer gave his remarks at the Capital Hilton–just down the street from the White House–to an audience brought together by the D.C. Tech Council, the Tech Council of Maryland TechNet and the Northern Virginia Technology Council. The latter group counts 1,000 members, including D.C.-area contractors Anteon International, CACI International and SI International.

An energetic speaker, Ballmer knows how to work a crowd. He took the stage as though he’d just downed a few cups of coffee from the refreshment stand outside the ballroom.

Full story at Forbes.com

Tech’s Christmas Wish

Washington, D.C. – Way back in July, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the creation of a new underling: assistant secretary for Cyber and Telecommunications Security. Tech industry reps are now eagerly awaiting the (supposedly imminent) appointment of a living, breathing person to fill that crucial job.

“Whether that person’s name is about to pop or whether the champagne is going to be kept on ice for a few more weeks, I don’t know,” says Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, an organization representing the likes of Accenture, IBM, Electronic Data Systems and Symantec among others.

Full story at Forbes.com