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EM’s Weekly Roundup: AECOM Sells Management Services Business to American Securities for $2.4B, Leidos Wins Two Huge Contracts, POC Announces Panelist for Unmanned Systems in the Future Fight, Executive Moves & Weekly Top 10 Stories


John Vollmer

AECOM has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its management services business to affiliates of American Securities and Lindsay Goldberg for $2.4 billion, the company announced on Monday.

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The transaction has been unanimously approved by the company’s board of directors and is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The deal is expected to close in the first half of fiscal 2020.

“This transaction is a testament to our proven execution ability in complex, mission-critical situations globally and the hard work and commitment of our talented employees, said John Vollmer, president of the AECOM MS group and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient. 

The sale of the MS business marks the completion of a robust dual-track process that began with the company’s June 17th separation announcement and includes a contingent purchase price of approximately $150 million.

Leidos Lands $926M Award to Support TSA Checkpoint Screening Equipment 

Roger Krone

Leidos has secured a potential five-year, $926 million contract to maintain equipment used to perform checkpoint screening operations for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). 

The company will continue to provide sustainment, logistics support, develop information technology infrastructure and manage a service response center for the agency under the follow-on contract.

The single-award contract has a base performance period of four months, four one-year option periods and an additional eight-month option. Leidos noted TSA operates over 10,000 passenger screening systems at approximately 450 airports and additional government facilities.

Leidos Receives $150M NIH Software Dev’t Support Contract

Jon Scholl

The National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Office of Extramural Research (OER) has awarded Leidos a potential five-year, $150 million contract to develop software applications, Leidos announced on Oct. 11th. 

The company will continue to design, develop and test apps for Electronic Records Archives (eRA) systems to process agency grants for public health and biomedical research initiatives.

OER systems are installed at more than 38,000 institutions and support both applicants and grantees worldwide. Leidos noted it will apply artificial intelligence and automation approaches in efforts to help OER address  operational efficiency and maintenance challenges.

Mike Madsen Succeeds Tim Mahoney as Honeywell Aerospace Group Head

Mike Madsen

Mike Madsen, former vice president of integrated supply chain operations of Honeywell‘s aerospace business, has been promoted to president and CEO of the same group, Honywell announced on Wednesday. 

He succeeds Tim Mahoney, a 2016 Wash100 Award recipient who has led the unit over the past 10 years and will transition to a new role as senior vice president of enterprise transformation. 

Tim Mahoney

Mahoney will oversee the firm’s digital arm responsible for global digitization and customer service improvement efforts.

In addition, Honeywell also named Jeff Kimbell, formerly a partner in McKinsey & Co.’s transformation practice, as SVP and chief commercial officer. Previously, Kimbell worked at Dell EMC, Silver Lake Partners, Cerberus Capital, Transamerica and Procter & Gamble in a wide range of senior leadership positions. 

Marianne Brown Joins VMware’s Board of Directors

Marianne Brown

Marianne Brown, corporate executive vice president and co-chief operating officer of the global financial solutions segment at Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), has joined VMware‘s board of directors, VMware announced on Oct. 10th. 

The financial services veteran brings her experience from previous roles in finance, technology and operations. Previously, Brown worked as COO of FIS’ institutional and wholesale business and SunGard Financial Systems. 

Her corporate experience also included leadership positions at Omgeo, Securities Industry Automation Corp. and Automatic Data Processing, where she held a 26-year career. 

She is also a board member of Northrop Grumman.

Former Cubic Defense Head Dave Buss Appointed OpenDrives CEO

Dave Buss

Dave Buss, former president of Cubic’s global defense business and a 2017 Wash100 Award winner, has been named CEO of data storage provider OpenDrives. He will oversee the company’s expansion efforts into the defense, security and intelligence sectors in his new role.

Buss is a retired U.S. Navy vice admiral who joined Cubic in 2015 after nearly four decades in the service branch, where he served as commander of the Naval Air Forces. He served as president of Cubic Global Defense between 2016 and 2018.

“I’m excited to lead the company into new markets such as military, security, healthcare and other sectors that will benefit from OpenDrives’ pioneering and innovative storage technology,” said Buss, who will continue to work at Cubic in an advisory capacity.

Potomac Officers Club Announces Scott Wierzbanowski as Panelist for Unmanned Systems in the Future Fight on Nov. 19th

Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten

On November 19th, Potomac Officers Club (POC) will host the Unmanned Systems in the Future Fight at the 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church, Va. Click here to register for the forum. 

Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten of the U.S. Air Force will be featured as the forum’s keynote speak with Chris Pehrson of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems serving as the expert panel’s moderator. 

POC has announced that Scott Wierzbanowski, program manager of Experimental Spaceplane and Gremlins for Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), will serve as a panelist during the forum. 

Scott Wierzbanowski

Wierzbanowski joined DARPA in Nov. 2016 as a program manager in the Tactical Technology Office. Prior to joining DARPA, he was the executive director for space and advanced technologies at ManTech International where he steered growth into organizations such as DARPA, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

He also served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force as a test pilot, program manager in advanced weapon programs and international affairs specialist. He was a command pilot with more than 2,000 hours, primarily in the F-16 Fighting Falcon and AT-38 Talon, including 50 combat hours in Operations Northern Watch and Provide Comfort. 

During Potomac Officers Club’s Unmanned Systems in the Future Fight, leaders across the services will discuss the future battlespace and the critical role unmanned systems will play. 

Potential keynote and panel topics include:

  • What will the battlespace look like? 
  • What systems and capabilities will be necessary in the future “family of systems”? 
  • How are technologies such as AI, 5G, and edge computing powering the future of unmanned systems? 
  • How the services are working together? 
  • What has been achieved so far? 
  • What works and what doesn’t? (Case studies) 
  • What are or will be major challenges. How can industry help?

Register for POC’s Unmanned Systems in the Future Fight on Nov. 19th right here.

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