Mark Gerencser, senior vice president at McLean, Va.-based Booz Allen Hamilton, insists that “serving clients really is my passion,” although you couldn’t be faulted, judging from his résumé, if you thought that sitting in committee meetings was his true calling.

A 24-year Booz Allen veteran, he is a member of the firm’s Leadership Team, has served on Booz Allen’s Board of Directors, and is a member of both the Personnel Committee and the Ethics Committee, in addition to leading a number of high-level summits and multi-organizational advisory and oversight panels.

Still, he admits, “I don’t get to roll up my sleeves much these days.” Yet, recently he found himself working with a private sector client on a pension reform issue and got deeply involved in the details of the problem and the metrics. This shouldn’t be surprising; much of Gerencser’s work revolves around the big issues where government and the private sector overlap, like when it comes to pensions. “I like to solve large, vexing problems,” Gerencser says.

An engineer by training, Gerencser tackles the big questions by applying an engineer’s thinking to the problem. For example, in the aftermath of 9/11, the CEO of Booz Allen asked Gerencser what the attack meant to the firm’s commercial clients. The result was a practice Gerencser created around enterprise resilience.

Today, Gerencser spends most of his time “thinking about the future,” he says, pondering the implications of the day’s big issues on Booz Allen clients. That’s the fun part of the job, and sometimes he even gets to dig into the execution details. The least favorite parts of his job, he admits, are the administrative tasks, which he tries to offload to his staff.

Outside of work, Gerencser “tries never to miss an opportunity to do things with my two boys.” To keep up with their interests, Gerencser traded his skis for a snowboard and has even taken up martial arts.

Gerencser was instrumental in convincing Booz Allen to take a major role in the annual Aspen Ideas Festival, which takes place over the Fourth of July holiday. Although the festival clearly is Gerencser’s baby at Booz Allen, he has never spoken at the event. In fact, he has never attended because the date interferes with time he reserves each year for the family vacation. So you can thank Gerencser, in large part, for the Aspen Ideas Festival; just don’t expect to see him there.