Executive Profile

Stu Shea, Chairman, President & CEO of Peraton, Receives 2021 Wash100 Award for Leading Company Expansion Efforts Through Acquisition Deals, Contract Wins

Executive Mosaic is pleased to introduce Stu Shea, chairman, president and CEO of Peraton, as an inductee into the 2021 Wash100 for his leadership in company expansion efforts through acquisitions and contract awards from government and military customers for technology development, maintenance and support work.

This marks Shea’s fifth Wash100 Award. His most recent Wash100 recognition was in 2020 when he led Peraton’s efforts in advancing U.S. space capabilities and national security as well as the company’s continued work with NASA.

Most notably, Veritas Capital, the private-equity owner of Peraton, signed two cash deals to acquire Northrop Grumman’s federal information technology and mission support services business for $3.4 billion in late 2020 and government IT contractor Perspecta for $7.1 billion in early 2021.

Shea said the first transaction would “expand our presence in both the federal civil and health marketplaces while continuing to add to our capabilities in the mission-critical IT domain.”

The deal for Persepcta would add “highly skilled talent and differentiated technology expertise across a broad range of customers in the government markets which will complement our offerings and enhance our ability to drive innovation.”

New York-based Veritas expects to complete both acquisitions in the first half of the current calendar year with an intent to combine Peraton with the Northrop unit and Perspecta. In Feb. 2020, Peraton aligned the company around four business sectors and appointed new executives to its leadership team.

The four business sectors are Space & Intelligence, led by Roger Mason, previously president of Space, Intelligence & Cyber at Peraton; Cyber Mission, headed by Tom Afferton, former vice president of Defense & Intelligence at Northrop Grumman; Global Defense & Security, led by John Coleman, former president of Defense & Homeland Security at Peraton; and Civil & Health, headed by Tarik Reyes, previously vice president of Civil & Health at Northrop Grumman.

“As Peraton expands we will be faced with a complex range of new opportunities and challenges across our functions and businesses,” said Shea. “I am confident that our new leaders will be integral to Peraton’s success providing highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies to essential government agencies.”

Aside from these acquisition-driven expansion efforts, Peraton has also booked multiple contracts from government agencies and military service branches for operation, maintenance and support services.

The company won a five-year, $277.5 million recompete contract in February 2020 to continue operations and logistics support for the Customs and Border Protection’s tethered aerostat radar system used to catch smuggling activities.

Other U.S. government customers have also tapped Peraton for systems development and mission capability integration support under multiple contracts worth potentially $188 million combined. The company said in August the clients are responsible for high-consequence national missions across multiple warfighting domains.

In the past year, Peraton worked to continuously provide maintenance, professional and support services to the military sector.

Under a potential $218.6 million blanket purchase agreement awarded in March 2020, the company will provide the U.S. Africa Command with satellite communications services through a 24×7 network operations center, where a team of satellite service engineers will employ multiple commercial satellite systems and emerging technology platforms to support AFRICOM and its mission partners.

In October 2020, Peraton received a potential $102 million follow-on Navy contract to build Fleet Ballistic Missile reentry body systems. The award covers technical engineering services including operational, programmatic and system safety support, and assessment of system performance and vulnerability.

Peraton’s most recent contract win is a spot on the Air Force’s $950 million Advanced Battle Management System contract, through which the company will compete for task orders to develop technologies for the Department of Defense’s Joint All Domain Command and Control concept.

Shea took the reins at Peraton in June 2017 shortly after Veritas closed the investment firm’s $690 million acquisition of the former government services division at Harris Corp.

He held an eight-year career at Science Applications International Corp., where Shea played a key role in the separation of SAIC and Leidos into two separate publicly traded companies.

The former Leidos president and chief operating officer also helped establish the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation.

Executive Mosaic congratulates Peraton and Stu Shea for his 2021 Wash100 Award. His vision, leadership and drive to expand the company and its presence in the government contracting sector has cemented him as an executive who could be a significant influence in 2021.

About The Wash100

This year represents our eighth annual Wash100 Award selection. The Wash100 is the premier group of private and public sector leaders selected by Executive Mosaic’s organizational and editorial leadership as the most influential leaders in the GovCon sector. These leaders demonstrate skills in leadership, innovation, achievement and vision.

Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2021 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 2021.