John Heller, PAE CEO, Named to 2020 Wash100 for Advancing PAE’s Initiatives for Defense Engineering Contracts and Acquisitions

Executive Mosaic is honored to present John Heller, CEO of PAE, as an inductee into the 2020 edition of the Wash100 Award for his business ventures, creating new partnerships and influence within the GovCon marketplace. 

This marks Heller’s fifth Wash100 Award. Heller has continued to influence the GovCon sector by leading PAE through multi-billion dollar contracts throughout the year. 

Most notably, Heller has led bids for the company to obtain a ten-year, $82 billion contract from the U.S. Army. PAE was one of four companies selected to compete for military logistics support task orders. 

Heller helped the company win a spot on the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program V (LOGCAP V). PAE competed for $43.9 million in orders for government community services under the program. The company will continue to work on the task orders through  April 2029.

Heller also helped PAE obtain a position on a potential $12.6 billion U.S. Navy contract vehicle for military aircraft support services in Jan. 2019. PAE is one of 19 companies holding positions on the Contracted Maintenance, Modification, Aircrew and Related Services (CMMARS) contract. 

“This is a large-scale, whole-platform support contract that constitutes the overwhelming majority of non-manufacturing aviation support for the Navy over the next 11 years,” said Heller. 

He noted that the company will also invest in sustainable technology platforms and expand its capabilities for customer demands through the CMMARS indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.

Heller also helped orchestrate partnerships for contract awards. PAE entered a joint venture with BWX Technologies to continue to help NASA manage two facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi. The two companies will continue to work under the potential $1.3 billion contract awarded in Feb. 2019. 

NASA awarded the Synergy-Achieving Consolidated Operations and Maintenance contract, which has additional award term options that would extend the period of performance until Feb. 28, 2025. The venture also supported the first demonstration of a single launch vehicle that was built through a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency effort.

Heller has also assisted PAE’s capacity through his strong leadership and business ventures. Most notably, Heller supervised PAE’s acquisition of Gores Holdings III, with approximately $1.55 billion in initial enterprise value.

He helped to advance PAE’s strategic plan and growth efforts through the merger in Nov. 2019. The merger deal is expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2020. The $400 million in cash in the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) trust account and a private placement of $220 million put up by additional investors will be used to fund the transaction.

“This transaction will strengthen our capacity to deliver the most valuable, innovative services to our customers and expand into new national security markets,” said Heller. The merger will help grow the company’s equity and expand its reach. 

Additionally, Heller, alongside fellow Wash100 award recipients Roger Krone and Carey Smith,  has been elected to serve in a key leadership position on the Professional Services Council's (PSC) board of directors throughout 2020. All three executives will work to address the council's goals for promoting competition and fairness in the GovCon marketplace.

Executive Mosaic commends PAE and John Heller for his 2020 Wash100 Award. Heller’s expertise and strong leadership have elevated him to be one of the most significant figures throughout the GovCon sector.  

About Wash100 

The Wash100 Award, now in its seventh year, recognizes the most influential executives in the GovCon industry as selected by the Executive Mosaic team in tandem with online nominations from the GovCon community. Representing the best of the private and public sector, the winners demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement and vision.

Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2020 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2020.