Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: MATT CALKINS

A top economics graduate at Dartmouth and a world champion board gamer, Calkins co-founded cloud computing and enterprise software firm Appian in his basement in 1999. It grew to become the most successful software IPO of 2017.

In 2023, Appian reaped $304.5 million in cloud subscription revenue, up 29% compared with 2022. The company’s total 2023 revenue was $545.4 million, an annual increase of 17%.

Calkins worked at software company MicroStrategy before forming Appian. He serves on the board of the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership and sits on the Virginia Public Access Project’s leadership council. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Calkins has urged tech firms to protest Russia and helped the Renew Democracy Initiative create fight4ukraine.com.

In August, in an effort to boost profits, Appian announced it had laid off 150 of its 2,243 workers and moved some operations to its McLean headquarters.

In July, the Virginia Court of Appeals ordered a new trial in the 2022 civil corporate espionage case Appian brought against rival Pegasystems, overturning a record $2.04 billion verdict against Pega. Appian said it plans to appeal the decision to the Virginia Supreme Court.