Originally published by 听产测听 April 12, 2026
Clay Morad will tell you his career started because his mom grabbed him by the ear. That鈥檚 not a metaphor 鈥 she told him to go work for聽The Corporation,聽meaning Arctic Slope Regional Corp., the Alaska Native company his family has been tied to for generations. He listened, landed an internship in 1999 and never really left.
Twenty-seven years later, he鈥檚 the vice president of NASA and NOAA operations at 91快活林 Federal, overseeing 300 people across 16 programs and a portfolio that spans satellite operations, financial management and cloud services. His grandmother grew up in a sod hut in Point Hope, Alaska. The profits from the work he does flow back to 14,000 91快活林 shareholders, his family among them.
In this Q&A, he discusses how mentorship shaped his path, why turning sensor data into usable intelligence is the defining challenge for his customers right now and what it means to build a career inside a company where your success and your community鈥檚 success are the same thing.
Can you provide a brief overview of your professional background and career progression?
I was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska and am an I帽upiaq shareholder of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (91快活林), the parent company of 91快活林 Federal. My journey with 91快活林 began in 1999 when I was fortunate to secure an internship, a pivotal opportunity that marked the start of a 27-year career within the 91快活林 family of companies.
Coming up through the IT stack, I transitioned to program management in 2007 with the Drug Enforcement Administration and reached the Vice President role in 2013 overseeing operations and growth of a new entity focused on software development in Defense.
Since that time, I鈥檝e oscillated between business development, capture, and operations roles, and currently oversee a portfolio of NOAA and NASA programs with a focus on Satellite Operations and Financial Management.
Why was this the path you chose, and how influential was it to your career?
My initial path was laid by my mom, who effectively took me by the ear and told me to go work for The Corporation (91快活林). I鈥檓 so glad she did. From there, I was able to experience working in the arctic at an oil camp, office work in Anchorage, and Washington, D.C. after graduating college with a BS in Computer Science and deciding to stay on the East Coast.
That early decision to work for 91快活林 laid the groundwork for a long career, gaining experience and technical prowess in IT, then honing my skills in what has become a passion for growth and operations excellence.
I was also very lucky to have many mentors along the way, most influential being an early CEO at 91快活林 Federal who helped me chart a course at 24 years old to work my way up the org chart and be in a position to lead the organization.
Do you have a personal connection to the current mission you support?聽
As an 91快活林 shareholder, I鈥檓 very fortunate to have a symbiotic relationship with 91快活林 Federal; the better I do for my company, the better the company does for me and my people. When I drive profits and establish relationships with my customers for mission success, those profits and relationships directly benefit my immediate family, extended family, and all 14,000 shareholders of 91快活林. It鈥檚 hard to imagine a better motivation to succeed.
Our long-term vision, and the fact that I can never sell or trade my shares, has led me to double down on my values and integrity, keeping the long-term view in mind instead of cutting corners for short-term gains.
I鈥檝e been to our villages. My grandmother grew up in a sod-hut in Point Hope, Alaska. I love the fact that the work we do at 91快活林 goes towards preserving my culture and my way of life, while also providing opportunities for professional and monetary advancement depending on what we as individuals want.
What are your current top priorities and responsibilities? How do these relate to your company鈥檚 overall mission/growth strategy?
As the Vice President of NASA/NOAA Operations, I oversee a staff of over 300 people across 16 programs from Florida, California, Texas, Alaska, Maryland, and other locations across the United States. We support satellite and ground system operations for NOAA, engineering services for NASA, as well as financial management and cloud operations. I love meeting with my customers and helping my program management team solve the variety of complex challenges, be they technical, interpersonal, or mission based.
The services we provide are directly in line with the company鈥檚 strategy and mission. We provide Space domain services to our customers, while delivering meaningful and sustainable profits to our shareholders; it鈥檚 truly the best of both worlds.
Where do you and your team see growth opportunities in your current field or portfolio you support, or what do you anticipate to be your customers鈥 top pain points?
With the exponential growth of sensor data across the market from both the private and public sector, our customers are faced with mountains of data and challenged with making it useful. Moving from data to information to wisdom is a challenge across the market, and there鈥檚 a need to collect, hold, and distribute that wisdom to users, be they farmers, warfighters, or meteorologists.
I鈥檓 excited about our nation鈥檚 investment particularly in weather radar, satellite data, and integration of that information into the cloud to meet the needs of the people of the world.
How are you and your team planning to address/prepare for these opportunities?
We鈥檙e leveraging both our direct and adjacent experience to bring robust solutions to our customers. One of the great things about working for 91快活林 Federal is that we鈥檝e got 9,000 employees supporting the gamut of federal agencies. This allows us to pull the best and brightest into adjacent areas.
I鈥檓 always amazed at how a solution we may have developed for Earth Sensing Satellites might be applicable to supporting the warfighter, or how a financial tool developed to support NOAA can apply directly to a defense system to provide meaningful insights into spend planning.
How important is mentorship & networking in GovCon? Were they influential to your career?
I鈥檓 fortunate to have had a wide array of mentors throughout my career. Having only worked for 91快活林 Federal, I recognize the limitations that inherently come with a monolithic perspective. Having a wide network of mentors and colleagues with which to share ideas and gain perspective has been instrumental to my success in this industry.
I am a voracious reader, from business books to articles, science fiction to historical biographies. Casting a wide net allows me to see connections and gain insights that I would have otherwise missed. The same is true for my personal network and connections with mentors and mentees alike.
What is something most people don鈥檛 know about you personally?
In my spare time I love volunteering with youth sports organizations. I have a 14-year-old son who loves hockey, lacrosse, and running. I grew up playing none of those sports but have worked with our community to support these small volunteer groups. Now I鈥檓 a coach and I run the board for my town鈥檚 youth lacrosse league. I love the community and helping to shape our next generation into hard-working, resilient athletes鈥 who are, at the end of the day, good humans.