Leveraging the past

Retired Army officer built cybersecurity firm on experience

Published April 30, 2020 by Sydney Lake

GCubed CEO Vernon Green. Photo by Stephen Gosling

Vernon Green served 20 years, five months and 18 days in the Army, retiring in 2014 as a chief warrant officer after three deployments to Iraq and one to Kuwait. Today he heads his own information technology and cybersecurity business responsible for 10 major government projects. And he hires veterans like himself.

During his time in the service, Green was the officer in charge of the U.S. Army Information Technology Agency’s Executive Communications Team at the Pentagon, providing data and voice communications support to the Army’s top leadership. Leveraging his experience, Green founded GCubed Inc. in 2014 and landed his first contract with the Department of Defense’s Web Center of Excellence.

After proving its capabilities, GCubed won the $2.63 million contract again in September 2019.

“I was the program manager for that contract originally when it came out in 2014,” says Green, CEO of GCubed. “Then, the contract went away. Someone else won it after that year in 2015. We kept track of it. But I got a call one day and basically said, ‘Hey, the current customer is not doing a good job. We’d like you to throw your hat in to see if you can provide these services.’ And so we did. We submitted a proposal and then we won the contract.”

GCubed now has 38 employees at its Stafford County headquarters. Of those, 28% are veterans, and the company is certified through Virginia Values Veterans, a state initiative to train companies in how to hire, attract and retain veterans.

“As always, the best candidate gets the job, but what I will say is that veterans bring a unique skill set to the work environment,” Green says. “They’re committed toward a mission instead of time, and I know the values that they bring to the table from their military service.”

GCubed also is listed No. 29 on the 2019 Vet100 list of the 100 fastest-growing companies owned by military veterans, No. 386 on the 2019 Inc. 5000 list and is No. 72 on the 2020 Financial Times list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies.

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