Direct Technology and Launch Consulting Team Up to Form New Entity

Direct Technology, a Roseville-based provider of IT and professional services to state and local government agencies for more than 25 years, has joined its Government Solutions arm with Launch Consulting. The two entities had operated as sister companies under equity firm TA Group Holdings.

In its new incarnation, the newly formed arm is known as Launch Government and will be led by veteran technologist Davood Ghods and former U.S. Defense Department consultant Kyle Keyser.

“Launch Consulting is thrilled to add Direct Technology’s Government Solutions Group to their roster of experts in digital transformation,” the company said in a news release. “Originally sister companies under equity firm TA Group Holdings, Launch and Direct Technology have a long history of incorporating each other’s expertise to create powerful, agile solutions that translate between the public and private sectors and create a better human experience for all.”

Ghods, a technology veteran of the public and private sectors, had been chief of the Office of Technology Services with the California Department of Technology before joining Direct Technology in 2016.

Keyser had been Direct Technology’s senior Vice President for Government Sector before being named vice president of Launch Government.

“Direct Technology and Launch have worked together on multiple projects over the years, trading public sector knowledge and amazing technical talent,” Keyser said in the news release. “With so many government teams looking to create digital, customer-centric experiences, it seems like the perfect time to officially combine forces.”

“From developing a statewide emergency call tracking system (which now processes over 40% of all emergency calls nationwide), to building mission-critical state healthcare and welfare solutions, to improving access to public services via digital accessibility program management, this team has been in lockstep with developing and innovative technology in government,” the company said.

Launch has expertise in data visualization and AI, a key asset for the team’s current and upcoming projects. Its public-sector clients include the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, the California Department of Health Care Services, the California Department of General Services, and the city of Concord in the East Bay Area.

Direct Technology kept its partners and customers engaged through its seven-part Exponential Government series and Ghods’ podcast, Davood for Thought, in which he converses with technology figures from the private and public sectors.