GovCon, Investment Leaders Present Defense Tech & Government Market Insights at Raymond James Conference

Executives from government contracting and private equity firms met Thursday at the Raymond James 2022 Defense & Government Conference to share their perspectives on the federal market’s current environment and investors’ appetite for GovCon business.

More than 700 attendees heard from some of the most influential individuals across the GovCon, investor and PE communities to gain market insight during the full-day event at the Washington Nationals Park.

David Petraeus, a retired Army general who serves as a partner at KKR and chairman of the KKR Global Institute, gave a keynote address to discuss the geopolitical landscape and its impact on the defense industrial base.

The event’s first half featured three GovCon industry veterans and Wash100 Award winners — moderated by RJ Managing Director Andy McEnroe — in a panel discussion of the changing federal landscape.

John Mengucci, president and CEO of CACI; John Heller, CEO of Amentum; and Carey Smith, chairwoman, president and CEO of Parsons, overviewed the general trends in GovCon merger-and-acquisition activity as well as their outlooks for the defense tech segment.

A separate panel of executives from four investment firms focused on defense systems and government services joined RJ Managing Director Sam Maness in a discussion for the event’s second half.

Private equity-backed transactions in the GovCon space were a key topic among John Allen of Bluestone Investment Partners, Jeff Kelly of OceanSound Partners, Jeff Wu of Veritas Capital and Jack Kerrigan of Razor’s Edge Ventures.

The conference also included presentations from industry players Aeyon, Jacobs, Gunnison Consulting Group, Sigma Defense and V2X — the new company formed out of the merger between Vectrus and Vertex,

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