Meet Daniel Courtney, Strategic Business Development Specialist at The Building People and an integral member of our Growth Team.
Learn more about Daniel’s background and role below:
What is your professional background?
I started my federal contracting career as a business systems analyst working on the Army Corps of Engineers’ real estate (REMIS) and rental facilities (RFMIS) management information systems. From there, I moved to National Defense University, where I helped automate student data analytics products and wrote my first white papers…helping clients quantify the cost of inefficient workflows. Since then, I’ve supported a major IT managed services contract in a NIST 800-171 environment for a 1,300-person tenant and developed analytics products for the Corps’ military construction portfolio.
What is your role at The Building People?
I’m a Strategic Business Development Specialist.
Can you tell us about the work you do at The Building People?
I do all things growth. I develop capture strategies, write RFIs, sources sought, proposals, and white papers. I look for ways to optimize how we work.
What do you like most about working in your role?
The constant problem-solving. Whether it’s writing mission-critical justification papers to help keep contracts alive or finding creative ways to use government APIs to make smarter decisions faster…there’s always something interesting to work on. I’m a tinkerer by nature, and this role gives me plenty to tinker with.
What is a fun fact about you people might not know?
In fifth grade, my head was so big they had to send me to a professional football equipment supplier to get a helmet. Even local high schools and colleges didn’t have one that fit. So yeah…literal big head, but I try not to let it go to my ego.
How do you define success?
Cutting a new government contract…half-joking. Success isn’t just about revenue…it’s also about finding better, faster ways to get work done. But real success? That’s found at home, with your family and the people who matter. That’s what all the work is really for.
If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
Go to space. I’d even take a Katy Perry or Lauren Sanchez-style tourist ride, but being an astronaut would be the dream. There’s still a seven-year-old boy in me who thinks that’s the coolest thing ever.
Do you have a favorite quote that resonates with you?
“If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?” – Cormac McCarthy. It’s a critique of blind adherence to the existing systems and rigid thinking. If it’s broken, don’t follow it…fix it.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
I was told to read “Algorithms to Live By.” Once you realize how much of our world runs on algorithms, you start thinking differently…more from first principles, less from habit. That shift really changed how I approach day-to-day life.
What is the accomplishment you are proudest of to date?
Automating a high-visibility report that used to take hours of manual effort…including from a PhD-level government employee…and streamlining it down to minutes. That report went to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and knowing I made it faster and easier to produce was incredibly rewarding.
