Organization: California Creative Solutions (CCS Global Tech)

Title: Business Development Manager

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustin-langdon-652693156/

After completing graduate school at Cal Poly Humboldt, I began my journey in Public Sector Business Development for the Information Technology Industry in August of 2018 as a contractor. CCS primarily operated in the commercial sector since its inception in 1997 offering Software / Database Development, Business Intelligence and Analytic Professional Services. In January 2018, the government division was launched prior to my onboarding. I am not afraid to say it was quite overwhelming that my first professional role encompassed two areas I had little to no experience with - government bidding and technology. Initially, the biggest challenges I faced was understanding the dynamic between the business and technical subject matters, learning the recipe for success with a very small team and lack of systems. Additionally, it was rather challenging to bridge the gap between business theory (academia) and real world scenarios. Another challenge was crossing language and culture barriers being that CCS is spread across the globe with offices in California, Pennsylvania, UK, India and Costa Rica.

There was a bit of a sink or swim nature when I came aboard and I had to choose whether I wanted to let pressure and stress get to me or step up, find my voice and apply myself. I found my voice indeed and became involved with leadership and executive teams within a short amount of time. Working with a team half way across the world wasn’t as bad as it seems when you see it as a growth opportunity more than a hindrance.

Within the first 4 months, I became a full-time employee with a much larger scope of responsibility expanding passed Proposal writing and pre-sales to Service Delivery and Account Management. Since my journey began, our team secured 12 Master Contracts covering IT professional services, staffing and cloud based services across the country for State, City, County and Educational agencies. From a delivery perspective, since January of 2019, I've led our team to securing a little over $ 3.5 Million in Purchase Orders for the City and County of San Francisco, including three projects for the San Francisco International Airport.

Furthermore, we are excited about servicing other accounts such as the County of Santa Clara, County of San Mateo, the State of Louisiana, Los Angeles Unified School District, LA Department of Transportation and the City of Long Beach. I am very happy to say I have been appointed as the dedicated Account Manager to the Bay Area - City and County of San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara. With that, I am extremely proud to have made such a substantial impact within this organization, it has truly been a once in a lifetime experience.