Michael Shrader: Aiding small tech manufacturers

A 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle would intimidate most people, but for Michael Shrader, assembling one is probably an hour's worth of fun.

Shrader, vice president of the innovative and intelligence solutions team at Carahsoft, instinctively understands how things fit together. His colleagues say he has an almost preternatural ability to understand what federal IT users are looking for and find technology to fill that need.

Shrader manages Carahsoft's efforts to help small, emerging technology manufacturers do business with the government. He supervises a portfolio of more than 50 companies that provide cutting-edge solutions to intelligence, Defense Department and civilian government agencies.

"Mike has the ability to look at something very quickly and discern if it is real or legitimate or whether something should be pursued or not," said Al Di Leonardo, president and CEO of HumanGeo, a company that provides analysts to the intelligence community.

Under Shrader's direction, emerging technology companies get a boost in their efforts to crack into federal business. They are added to Carahsoft's General Services Administration schedule with no upfront fees, granted access to the company's other contract vehicles and given dedicated resources to showcase their technology to government users.

As a result of Shrader's work, the intelligence community is using an intelligence analysis framework from Thetus that provides the building blocks for the agencies to more effectively and securely develop and connect their mission architectures.