DLT Taps Seasoned VC Exec Lynch For Board

DLT Solutions Tuesday named venture capitalist and entrepreneur Chris Lynch to its board of directors as it moves to sell security and analytics technology to the federal market.

Lynch is a partner at technology-focused venture capital firm FKA and former CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Vertica Systems, a hot big data startup acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2011. Lynch previously was a partner at Atlas Ventures, which earlier this month split off its tech arm as Cambridge, Mass.-based FKA, which stands for Formerly Known as Atlas.

DLT President and CEO Alan Smith said he's excited to work with Smith, who he considers a long-time friend. The two first met when their respective employers (SynOptics Communications for Smith, Wellfleet Communications for Lynch) merged to form Bay Networks in the mid-1990s.

Lynch has a great vision for emerging technologies, something that will benefit DLT long-term, Smith said.

[Related: DLT Solutions' New CEO Outlines His Vision: 'Protect The Legacy, Grow The Business']

"Chris is as good at doing what he does as anyone I’ve run across in the industry. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Chris, [for] his drive, his passion, his vision," Smith said. "My belief in the government’s future needs for technology led me back to Chris. Chris’s ability to help us as it relates to emerging technologies and the future of technology, specifically in our path as it relates to the public sector, I thought would be tremendous value-add, and I was very happy that he was willing to join us as a board member."

Lynch highlighted his relationship with Smith as what intrigued him the most about joining the Herndon, VA-based solution provider's board, but added that the opportunity the company has in front of it makes the new role an exciting gig.

" I think the platform that [Smith] has access to with DLT Solutions is super-exciting to me because I’m trying to push as hard as I can on the adoption of new cybersecurity products and predictive analytics products. I think it’s the single biggest threat to our well-being that exists today," Lynch said. "The fact that DLT Solutions has such a strong presence and implementation capabilities in the [federal market] is highly attractive to me because that is a place where I think they need to be in the forefront of this technology vs. being on the caboose. The fact that we have a platform here for a company that is selling over a billion dollars of products into the federal government today is super-exciting."

Both Lynch and Smith share a vision of DLT's future in cybersecurity, big data and predictive analytics and also see the cloud as a major opportunity for the company in the federal space. Together, the two intend to turn DLT into a leader in the federal space in those key areas by staying ahead of the curve.

"The U.S. Government is the single largest generator and consumer of data," said Lynch. "I think that all of these new big data and predictive analytics techniques have probably the single biggest opportunity to create the new level of efficiency and quality of service delivery to the constituents of the United States. I think big data analytics apply to creating more efficiencies in the government, and better services to the masses, with respect to being proactive in the area of cybersecurity, and being able to protect the citizens of the United States as well as being able to protect the information that the government holds."

PUBLISHED FEB. 24, 2015