Most of his adult life, Mody seems to have been blessed with good timing. The 34-year-old is CEO of Signal Corporation, a company in Fairfax that designs, installs, and maintains computer networks for government agencies. The desktop-publishing company he started in 1987 with his wife, Lori, has grown to 1,100 employees and a projected $150 million in sales this year.

"Desktop publishing created the need to link computers together, thus creating networks, and networks became very popular in the late '80s," Mody explains. "We were well positioned because we had the experience of creating these networks."

He also distinguished his firm by meeting personally with every client every quarter.

"It was an era in the procurement process where companies didn't spend as much time face to face," Mody says. "I started doing that early. If a client has any issues, I'm there to fix them." Because of it, he says, he's never lost a contract.

It helps that Roger Mody has a presence. He's six-foot-three--and he's stylish, with his goatee and custom suits. He has a hearty laugh and a big smile.

"Roger has always comported himself as a successful person, even when we were working out of a townhouse in Fairfax," says Mike Dolton, a friend and a Signal vice president. "He will walk into a room and all eyes will focus on him. It's always been that way."

Roger Mody was born and raised in Washington, to parents who immigrated from India. Roger's father, a freelance photographer, died when Roger was 12, leaving behind large medical bills. His mother took on three jobs. Roger lied about his age and got work washing dishes in a restaurant and delivering the Washington Post.

After his father's death, the Redskins were a constant in Roger's life, a sort of an escape. One of Mody's most cherished possessions is a photograph–taken by his dad–of seven-year-old Roger sitting on the lap of Chris Hanburger, one of the great Skins linebackers.