Potomac Officers Club

Founder Profile

Jim Garrettson is an active entrepreneur, who is currently putting his 20+ years of corporate experience to work as he builds multiple start-ups into solid, sustainable organizations. After the internet bust, telecom meltdown and 9-11 disrupted the executive fabric of the Potomac region, Garrettson recognized that the community lacked an executive organization that “truly” promoted relationship building, entrepreneurship, and collaboration between C-level executives. A well-known veteran in the Washington business community, Garrettson used his contacts to form The Potomac Officers Club in January 2002. The POC demonstrated unique ability to secure headline speakers for its events.

With strong board and community support, the POC has been growing steadily under his leadership. With its original mission to create a board of trade that fosters business growth in the Greater Washington area, the club has grown to 1000+ active members. Because the local business community represented the convergence of technology and government contracting, Garrettson again recognized opportunity and focused on the senior executive community of the Government Contracting (GovCon) space. The club is unique because it exclusively caters to the needs of the senior executives.

Garrettson’s entrepreneurial spirit continued to evolve as he guided the evolution of an array of media properties including ExecutiveBiz, GovConWire, GovConExecutive, TheNewNewIntenet, JobExchangeNetwork, GovConExec Magazine and ExecutiveGov. Connecting executives of consequence into a fabric of self-directed and like-minded communities is a vision that drives Garrettson in the ongoing development of his goal of serving the executive community.

In addition to The Potomac Officers Club, Garrettson remains involved in telecom, his first industry of attraction, where he launched and still runs TownHall Teleconferencing (ww.thtweb.com).

Prior to founding the above-mentioned organizations, Garrettson held the position of EVP of Sales and Marketing at Net2000, a competitive local exchange carrier. Before that, Garrettson served as SVP of North American Sales with Cidera, a start up in the Internet content distribution space, where he helped expand their satellite-based, edge network throughout North America. Before Cidera, Garrettson held the positions of President at Teleglobe Business Solutions and SVP of Sales at Qwest Communications. He has also held executive positions at LCI International and MCI.

A graduate of the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business, Jim serves on the Science Advisory Board of George Mason University, is a Board Member of the prestigious Tower Club and supports the good works of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The American Red Cross, Fight for Children and many other organizations through the support provided by his extensive network of media properties.

Garrettson and his wife, Sudi, reside in Vienna, VA with their five children.