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Albemarle Economic Development Commission “Meet the CEOs” Series:
Meet vectorCSP CAO Jeanne Cumby

Apr 15, 2008 - Jeanne Cumby calls herself a "compulsive entrepreneur." Since graduating from the University of Georgia in 1983, the Atlanta native has started six successful businesses, including PageCraft, a multimedia design and printing firm, and Eden Street Software, a company that created online visual tours of historic districts for such cities as Charleston, S.C., Savannah and New Orleans.

When weighing options for her latest venture, a business associate suggested Cumby take a good look at Elizabeth City.

Centrally located in northeastern North Carolina, the waterfront city had two things to propel her new business: the world's largest Coast Guard base and an ample population of skilled, retired military engineers.

It has proven to be a good fit.

Since opening in 2002, vectorCSP has built a network of professional employees, expert consultants and industry and academic partnerships to help run its high-end engineering and logistics solutions business.

The company is unique. It offers both technical consulting expertise, giving the government access to top-notch people, and organizational applications, said Cumby, the managing partner. "The second part is more analytical, helping the government learn how to become more efficient."

For the latter, her husband Patrick, vectorCSP's director of performance systems, developed the Pathfinder Workforce Performance Modeling software, which has become a powerful tool for federal agencies.

"Most people don't have a snapshot of their organization," said Cumby, who describes the program as a roadmap to restructuring an organization so that it complies with the complex performance measurement standards the Government requires.

In 2007, vectorCSP reported nearly $8 million in revenue, thanks to contracts with such clients as the U.S. Coast Guard and the Department of Agriculture.

Collectively, these factors garnered the attention of Inc., magazine. The national business monthly ranked vectorCSP 74th among the nation's 500 fastest-growing private companies in 2007. It's listed as no. 5 in the "Government Services" sector, with three-year growth approaching 2000 percent.

"If you want to find out which companies are going to change the world, look at the Inc. 500," said Inc. Editor Jane Berentson.

She said vectorCSP is one of "the most innovative, dynamic, fast-growth companies in the nation, coming up with solutions to some of our most intractable ills, creating systems that let us conduct business faster and easier."

Cumby says employees make the difference.

The business has a payroll of 52 who have been combat pilots, managed aviation depots and developed and delivered training to NASA astronauts.

Half of the company's employees have relocated to work at vectorCSP. A number of staff had been stationed with the U.S. Coast Guard in Elizabeth City before and wanted to come back, Cumby said.

Located less than an hour's drive from Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Elizabeth City is appealing in that "it's small enough, but yet it's close to all the things you want in a big city," added Cumby. "There's great potential here. It's a growth market."

Plus, vectorCSP "is just a great company to work for," Cumby said. "We care immensely about our employees. We have good benefits, and we're responsive to their needs, growth, training and education."

In turn, its employees are responsive to needs in the community.

Just recently, vectorCSP invited Pasquotank County school teachers to provide a wish list of items they'd like to add to their classrooms. Cumby's employees pored over the items and selected, purchased and delivered 45 of the requests.

This giving nature is typical of those who live in Elizabeth City, a community where neighbors look out for neighbors.

"They're awesome employees," said Cumby. "Every company has a culture. Our culture is to give back, and we hire to that mentality. We have a whole flock of kind, generous, caring people."