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Leaders Cohort Event with Mehul Sanghani, CEO, Octo Cons...
Apr 20, 2022
11:30 AM - 02:00 PM (America/New_York)
Tower Club - Fairfax Room, 8000 Towers Crescent Drive, Suite 1700
Vienna,USA

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April 20th - Leaders Cohort Luncheon Meeting

“Learn how you can share your success as you grow your business! The April Leaders Cohort provides practical experiences from GovCon leaders that have developed a business from small, medium to large while giving back to the community. TiE DC Charter member Jay Challa, Managing Director, Shivar Consultants moderates a Q&A session with Mehul Sanghani, CEO & Founder, Octo and Craig Chason, Partner, Corporate/M&A, Pillsbury. Our speakers will share their philanthropic activities to give back to the community while providing insights into expanding a company through organic growth as well as mergers and acquisitions.”

Craig E. Chason, Partner, Corporate/M&A, Pillsbury

Craig Chason, leader of Pillsbury’s Northern Virginia Office Corporate practice, advises principally in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, governance, and corporate finance for clients in the government IT, defense, intelligence and aerospace sectors. His M&A practice includes advising a broad range of private and public companies and private equity groups in buy-side and sell-side engagements, consolidation strategies, auction sales, divestitures and financings.

Craig represents companies in strategic transactions across various industry sectors, including aerospace, defense and government services, health care/biotech, media, software/IT, energy and critical infrastructure.

Craig regularly serves as lead corporate counsel in some of the most significant M&A transactions within the government contracting sector. Recent representative transactions include: Universal Consulting Services in its sale to Federal Advisory Partners; CollabraLink Technologies in its sale to Washington Harbour; IndraSoft in its sale to ASGN Inc.; The Buffalo Group’s sale to Jacobs; Sevatec’s combination with Octo Consulting Group; Knight Point System’s sale to Perspecta; Smartronix’s recapitalization by OceanSound; NETE’s sale to NTT Data; Octo Consulting Group’s sale to Arlington Capital and Ace Info Solutions’ sale to Dovel

Mehul Sanghani, Chief Executive Officer, Founder, Octo

Mehul Sanghani is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Octo. Since launching the firm alone at age 30, he has grown Octo around the foundational belief that advancing customer missions matters most. Leading IT strategy and business transformation initiatives for corporations and Federal Government agencies, Mehul has guided Octo through tremendous growth, all while expanding capabilities and solutions that enable customers to solve complex problems and meet critical missions that impact the nation and the world.

Because Mehul believes in the power of supporting the community and growing professionals capable of serving the Federal Government and the public, Mehul and Octo have been recognized for philanthropic efforts. In April 2020, Mehul and his wife Hema made a historic $10 million gift to their alma mater Virginia Tech; $1.5M of the gift was allocated to establish The Market at Virginia Tech, a first-of-its-kind food pantry to combat student food insecurity. The gift also endows the groundbreaking Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence & Data Analytics at Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Innovation Campus. The center focuses on next-generation research, policy, and technology and received national recognition, as well as funding from DARPA and IARPA. The Sanghani family’s contribution also supplies scholarships for “Sanghani Scholars,” minorities and other underrepresented students in need who are pursuing graduate education in the field of Artificial Intelligence. With direction from Mehul, Octo itself maintains a thriving Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. The company has been a four-time finalist for the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce Corporate Citizenship Awards for philanthropy and was recognized by the Washington Business Journal as a Corporate Philanthropist of the Year for metro D.C.

Under his leadership, Octo has won several awards for innovation and has regularly been named a top workplace. Octo was recognized as the #23 fastest-growing private business in the country by Inc. Magazine, received an Inc. Hire Power Award for job growth and creation, won a Vanguard Award from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce as the #1 fastest growing business in the Commonwealth of Virginia, was ranked the #2 business on a Washington Technology Magazine Fast 50 list of fastest-growing Federal Contractors, won a Fairfax Chamber of Commerce award for GovCon Contractor of the Year and has taken home dozens of other prestigious industry awards. Mehul, who has received his own share of awards personally, has worked hard to cultivate a unique corporate culture that has achieved widespread recognition. Octo was featured in Washingtonian Magazine’s “50 Best Workplaces” and was ranked the #11 best workplace in the Commonwealth by Virginia Business Magazine. The firm has been recognized by the Washington Post and Washington Business Journal’s as a top workplace six times combined.

Mehul earned three bachelor’s degrees from his alma mater: Industrial Systems Engineering, Finance, and Psychology. Appointed by former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, he serves on Virginia Tech’s Board of Trustees/Visitors. Mehul also serves on the board for the Pamplin School of Business at Virginia Tech and is a Board Member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council.



Audience: TiE DC Charter Members

Please note:

  • In-person luncheon event for TiE DC Charter Members only. 
  • In order to safeguard the health of our members and their families, TiE DC strongly recommends that only fully vaccinated members attend this in-person event.  In making this suggestion, the executive leadership team reviewed recommendations from the CDC and other local health officials. 
  • We expect seating to be limited, so please only register if your schedule permits you to attend.  Please email at your earliest if you are no longer available to attend. Thank you. 
  • Must be pre-registered.  

  1. ​Tower Club - Fairfax Room,
    8000 Towers Crescent Drive, Suite 1700,
    Vienna, VA, USA


Organiser : Andrea de Souza

For event registration changes, please contact:

Annabel Bendz
TiE DC Executive Director
[email protected]


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Leaders Cohort Event with Mehul Sanghani, CEO, Octo Consulting Group and Craig E. Chason, Partner, Pillsbury

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