Neel Mehta
Mike Kern is vice president of Washington operations and business development at Applied Communication Sciences, which The SI Organization acquired in May 201e.
Kern spoke to ExecutiveBiz in August 2013 on ACS’ transition into the SI, how ACS traces its heritage to Bell Labs and areas the business aims to grow in for the future.
He also offers advice to leaders like himself that have transitioned between the public and private sectors (click here to read the full conversation).
The retired Air Force colonel oversees the business development activities and strategic planning and execution of company operations in the Washington region.
Kern joined Applied Communication Sciences in 2011 after serving in the senior executive service at the Department of Homeland Security, where he directed networks security deployment. In that capacity, he led the development, acquisition, deployment and operations of a national cybersecurity protection system for the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
Kern also served as the deputy director of the management coordination office for the National Command and Coordination Capability, a Defense Department-DHS collaboration. According to the company, the goal of the initiative was to provide collaboration and communications tools to federal, state and local government leaders during emergencies.
Before joining DHS, Mr. Kern served as a network-centric systems engineer for DoD, where he led the integration of several networks and information programs for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. There, he was responsible for end-to-end system engineering for the global information grid spanning the defense and intelligence communities and other government agency networks.
Prior to entering government service, he held several executive positions at Boeing and Lockheed Martin for commercial and military space communication systems.
From 1994 to 2004, he led business development of defense and international satellite communications programs, telecommunications architecture analysis, end-to-end network operations and related classified new business initiatives worth over $3 billion.
He was also responsible for responsible for the bid strategy, technology investments, teaming, market development and customer support to senior leadership in the defense and intelligence communities and other government agencies.
During his 25-year Air Force career, he served in intelligence, operational and acquisition leadership positions. He is a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at the National Defense University.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. in engineering management from the University of Colorado.
