When QuesTek launched its ICMD® Materials Design and Engineering Platform in 2023, it kicked off a transition with tremendous potential and considerable challenges. Evolving a service-based business into one that makes its considerable know-how available through a SaaS platform while still maintaining its project-based work is no small feat. CFO Brian Registe has played a critical role in guiding the company through this transition. His achievements recently earned him a spot on Crain’s Chicago’s list of Notable Black Leaders and his success in streamlining QuesTek’s operations helped earn the company Deltek’s MVP Government Contracting Award. The CFO Thought Leader podcast recently invited Brian to talk with host Jack Sweeney about his journey as a CFO, his work for QuesTek and the potential he sees for ICMD®. Below are some highlights.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you listen to podcasts.
On his military history
In many ways, I came up the non-traditional way. I spent a number of years in the U.S. Army. […] My field of expertise in the Army was finance and accounting and procurement. Those were my specialties. So, I spent eight years, traveled throughout the U.S., did a tour in South Korea, and really enjoyed that part of my early career. And again, the business side of the military, the business side of government accounting really helped me become a CFO, become that leader. I would say my time in the military really molded my leadership skill, my leadership acumen. So, for me, maybe, it was a natural transition to standing apart and becoming that leader.
On why he came to work at QuesTek
QuesTek is probably one of the most fascinating companies that I have had the opportunity to work with. Its nexus to the military really attracted me to this position, and the work that we’ve done in the defense space and we continue to do in the defense space. […] We help industry and government design new technology using physics as the basis for our work. We develop new novel materials and […] the development of those materials saves companies time and cost. […] QuesTek continues to be that pioneer leader. We do full-cycle novel design in production, certification and flight operation in proprietary materials. […] Our technology has helped advance what we would see around the iPhone, the Apple Watch and space. We are very proud of our work that we’ve done with SpaceX as an example. And we continue to work with industries across Europe, across Asia, and here in the US.
On the value he brings to the operation
I bring a lot of [financial planning and analysis] experience to the team. I have a very strong team. […] When I got to QuesTek, the [board of directors] challenge to myself and our CEO was really to commercialize our know-how and bring a market presence, grow this from a [research and development] perspective. As you know, scientists love shiny objects, and they will invest a lot of time, and it’s their baby. We needed to monetize this, and that’s what we’re doing.
On Questek’s transition into a SaaS provider
We’ve built this very unique organization over the last 25 years with our own internally generated capital. More recently we have become more digitally focused, and we’ve rolled out our own SaaS offering. So what we’ve done, we’ve taken the last 25 years of know-how and technology and really packaged that into a software we call ICMD®. That came out in July of 2023, so really still in the infancy of getting that into the marketplace. It’s a software product. What we want to do is really democratize material science. We will continue to do that project-based work that we’ve done for companies like SpaceX, but we really want to get the technology in the hands of multiple commercial partners.
On the value of ICMD®
We really believe that our digital asset in the software is extremely valuable. […] We definitely see a significant upside in the SaaS offering, and we’ve invested a significant amount of our own money over the last three years in developing that software.
Who QuesTek’s sales team is talking to about ICMD®
They start off at the engineering level, the people that are accustomed to material science. That’s who our sales team generally tends to interact with, but it has to go beyond that. It has to go beyond that to the leadership, to the executive who […] understands the value proposition in reducing time to get a product to market, reducing costs in the development of a new alloy.
Listen to the entire conversation here: