D.C. startup taps former LexisNexis executive to lead U.S. government business

A D.C. startup that helps companies and government agencies spot risk in their supply chains has hired a former LexisNexis executive to oversee its fast-growing government sector.

Steve Nguyen, who also held leadership posts at California software development firm Genesys and Florida cloud services provider Citrix, joins Sayari as the general manager of the company's U.S. government business unit. He'll oversee the sales, customer success, solutions engineering and services teams, all of which are actively hiring for open roles, for the 9-year-old startup.

It's news that builds on Sayari's ambitious hiring plans for 2024, fueled partially by the $228 million in fresh capital it landed in January from San Francisco private equity firm TPG. The startup currently employs about 140 people and is aiming to have about 200 employees on its payroll by year's end. In September, Sayari added Kevin Higgins, a former CIA chief of staff, to its team of advisers

Founded in 2015 by CEO Farley Mesko and Chief Operating Officer Benjamin Power, Sayari aids governmental entities and large corporations in identifying fraudulent risk factors or national security threats in supply chains. DC Inno named the company as one of its Inno on Fire award winners in 2020.

"Sayari’s platform is used by many of the most critical U.S. government agencies because of its ability to provide answers to the questions that they are asking," Nguyen said in a statement. "I’m excited and proud to join Sayari as we provide meaningful visibility into critical supply chain operations."

Nguyen spent more than a decade as a vice president of sales and government for the special services unit of LexisNexis, a global provider of information and analytics in the legal, regulatory and business sectors. He most recently served as senior vice president for the public sector group at Genesys and before that held a similar role at Citrix.