The IES is proud to bestow its 6th Annual Lifetime Achievement Award to immixGroup leaders Art Richer, Steve Charles and Jeff Copeland. The awards will be presented at the award event on June 3 at the Marriott Fairview Park in Falls Church, VA. As is the IES tradition, 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award winner Mark Weber will present the award to the immixGroup team. Previous recipients Bruce Klein, Anne Altman, Jay Nussbaum and Rob Guerra have been invited to attend the event.
The immixGroup has experienced tremendous success since its founding in 1997. Co-founders Steve Charles and Jeff Copeland launched the company as an outsourced provider of contract management services for commercial software publishers. Their deep IT sales expertise, business professionalism, and knowledge of the government acquisition process earned them a strong reputation within the industry.
In 1998, they hired Art Richer to expand the size and scope of the business. Together, they saw an opportunity to build a truly unique value proposition: a multi-faceted firm that could help technology companies grow their public sector business. Over the next 17 years, they transformed immixGroup to align with the changing needs of their primary constituency: the federal IT sales community.
Those transformations saw the small contract management consulting firm evolve its business model multiple times to become a $1.1 billion public sector distributor. They supported hundreds of manufacturers and thousands of sales professionals with a comprehensive platform of services that accelerated the sales cycle while mitigating risk. In the process, they redefined the concept of value-added distribution by introducing capabilities that were tailored to the unique complexities of the public sector market: market intelligence, marketing, lead generation, channel development, and an unmatched government business infrastructure.
This evolution culminated in the 2015 acquisition of immixGroup by Arrow Electronics, creating the industry’s largest and most diverse public sector Value-Added Distributor. Today, immixGroup (an Arrow company) supports the sales efforts of more than 350 enterprise technology companies and a network of over 900 channel partners.
About the 2016 Recipients
Art Richer currently serves as Vice President at Arrow Electronics where he oversees the reverse integration of Arrow’s federal business into immixGroup. Prior to the acquisition, Art served as CEO/President of immixGroup where he was responsible for managing and developing the business through the relentless pursuit of value delivery to demand creators within technology manufacturers and their partners. Art held federal sales leadership positions at V-ONE, Sterling Commerce, and Sterling Software before joining immixGroup in 1998. He is a two-time regional finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Mr. Richer earned a B.S. in Computer Science from the State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome.
Steve Charles has helped hundreds of technology manufacturers succeed in the government marketplace. His breadth and depth of expertise on every dimension of the government technology ecosystem provide technology manufacturers with a strategy and clear focus for the greatest success. Mr. Charles is adept at mapping technology product lifecycles and revenue models with appropriate channel and contract vehicle strategies in light of current procurement law, regulations and policy.
Mr. Charles is actively involved in government-industry associations including TechAmerica, ACT-IAC, Coalition for Government Procurement, and the National Contract Management Association. He meets regularly with leaders in government and industry to increase understanding and positive action.
Mr. Charles co-authored The Inside Guide to the Federal IT Market, a how-to book for technology companies selling to the government. He is regularly quoted by media outlets such as Federal News Radio, Computer Reseller News, Washington Technology, and Washington Business Journal and frequently posts blogs to Government Sales Insider.
Prior to founding immixGroup, Mr. Charles served as vice president of contract management with Selbre & Associates. He received a B.A. in Communications & Business, Magna Cum Laude from Temple University and has completed extensive coursework in government procurement at American University, George Washington University, University of Virginia, and the National Contract Management Association.
Jeff Copeland retired as Executive Chairman and co-founder of immixGroup upon the acquisition by Arrow and currently serves as Advisory Board Member for the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University. Jeff served for more than a decade as immixGroup’s Chairman, CEO, and President, where he leveraged his 35 years of sales and business executive experience to drive the explosive growth of the company. Jeff held sales leadership roles at Sterling Commerce, Sterling Software, and Texas Instruments before starting immixGroup in 1997.
Under their joint leadership, immixGroup has been recognized numerous time for sales, management, and channel excellence by CRN, The Washington Post, Inc.500, Washington Technology, SmartCEO, Washington Business Journal, FCW, IES, and Government Executive.
Art, Steve, and Jeff all live in the DC Metro area, remain active in various volunteer board positions, and are “accomplished” executive fly fishermen.
