Mark Abel grew up in the Washington, D.C., area watching government from close range.
His father worked as an economist for the federal government, giving Abel an early appreciation for public service and the role effective government plays in people’s lives. Later, as a summer intern at the Food and Drug Administration, he gained firsthand exposure to the complexity of federal operations and the impact agencies can have on the citizens they serve.
“It makes me proud to serve the public good, having a hand in helping our government work better,” Abel said. “Of course, it also kept me close to home and family, which was a plus.”
That early interest in government evolved into a career spanning business development, capture management, strategic planning and consulting. Today, Abel serves as vice president of capture and strategy at Maximus, where he helps bridge the gap between customer missions and company capabilities.
His work focuses on bringing together the right people, technologies and ideas to build solutions that offer customers a clear path toward improving government operations and the services they provide, he said.
Research, Growth and Achievement
Abel’s first job after college was as a marketing analyst supporting small businesses in the federal market. The role required him to study agency priorities, analyze customer needs and demonstrate how company offerings aligned with mission requirements.
The experience became a foundation for everything that followed.
“That taught me how to wear multiple hats and to be fully invested in supporting the business,” he said.
His research skills eventually opened opportunities in business development, capture management, and strategic planning. Along the way, mentors helped shape his career, including one manager who later recruited him to join a much larger company.
“It was enlightening to see the scale that teams of people could achieve, and how people in large firms specialized and became experts in one particular discipline,” Abel said. “I gravitated toward growth and strategy, where I have focused the remainder of my career.”
Building a Business
Years later, Abel struck out on his own.
He founded Castlemar Consulting, where for more than a decade he advised companies on business development, capture strategy, proposal support, and go-to-market planning. His clients ranged from some of the nation’s largest federal technology contractors to emerging businesses looking to establish themselves in the market.
“It was quite rewarding working with a variety of companies from top 20 federal technology contractors to small start-up businesses,” he said.
Running his own company also taught lessons that extended beyond federal contracting. With freedom, he grew in confidence as a leader who knew how to manage his time, trust his instincts and not shy away from taking a point of view.
“When you own your own business, you are the boss,” Abel said. “It is the ultimate in accountability.”
One of Castlemar’s clients was Maximus, where Abel supported large capture efforts by helping develop solutions tailored to achieve customer objectives.
In that role, he collaborated internally and with partners to create solutions that met real needs and offered the customer a clear path toward achieving mission goals, he said. Eventually, the relationship led him to join the company full time.
“Maximus really cares about their employees and their clients, treating people right while serving the mission,” Abel said. “The respect, caring and collaboration across the team creates a positive work environment.”
Helping Government Navigate Change
Abel believes today’s federal contracting environment is changing more rapidly than at any point in his career.
From the proposed Federal Acquisition Regulation reforms to budget pressures, evolving Small Business Administration policies, alternative contracting approaches and growing adoption of AI and cloud technologies, agencies are navigating significant transformation, he said.
His work centers on helping customers adapt to those changes through long-term strategic planning and large-scale modernization initiatives. That includes introducing
agentic AI to improve service delivery while helping agencies prepare their data and redesign workflows before automating processes.
“One area of focus is improving not only technology but also the underlying workflows,” Abel said. “Poor processes amplify inefficiencies when automated.”
Rather than simply deploying new technology, Abel said Maximus works with agencies to rethink how work gets done before implementing modern solutions.
“Maximus has helped customers focus on these improvements to process and outcomes,” he said. “This makes us well suited to help the government deploy modern technologies while also improving process effectiveness.”
The company’s work spans more than 300 federal, state, and local government agencies while supporting billions of citizen interactions annually.
Why Collaboration Matters
Throughout his career, Abel has viewed government and industry as partners working toward the same mission.
“An active partnership between government and industry is critical to the smooth functioning of the culture and ecosystem that supports our nation,” he said. “It is essential that the stakeholders work together to identify and meet the challenges of the day.”
He remains active in ACT-IAC and other industry associations which he said help create opportunities for collaboration between government and industry leaders. Abel currently leads an ACT-IAC working group conducting research to help a federal agency transform human resources support across government.
He also believes the industry’s future depends on experienced professionals investing in those just entering the field.
“Federal contracting is an apprenticeship business,” Abel said. “We learn from those that go before us and we in turn pass it on to those that follow.”
Up Close
Outside of work, Abel and his family enjoy traveling and exploring history both in the United States and abroad.
“Often we are studying the past — how people lived, stepping back in time to learn and grow,” he said. “Knowing the past is critical to understanding our future.”
He often returns to one of Winston Churchill’s best-known observations that those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.