ExecutiveGov
April 17, 2025
Christy Wilder, chief security officer, Peraton sat down with ExecutiveGov to share advice on public-private transition.
“The biggest challenge was probably understanding where I could be of most value to my company and industry. I talked to many people who had made the move … and most everyone had struggled with how they fit into the new environment and if they would be successful.
I believe the intent of most everyone is to bring value to the team. The problem is how to translate the value you once brought to government to industry. There are a lot of differences between government and industry … different lexicons, different levels of support, different expectations on providing feedback, etc. When new to industry, these differences make it challenging to understand how things are going and if you’re bringing value to the team and making a difference.
I think what made me successful was that I wasn’t fearful to ask to be part of meetings, seek out feedback, work across functions and operations that I wasn’t familiar with, and learn new processes. Also, I learned to be OK with not receiving immediate feedback all the time and trust that I was bringing value to the team, especially if things were going as planned.”
