William McCormick
Joe Boeckx, executive vice president of Tenax Aerospace, recently spoke with ExecutiveBiz for the publication’s latest Executive Spotlight interview to discuss his experience moving from his military service career into government contracting (GovCon) and the defense sector.
In addition, Boeckx also discussed Tenax’s organic growth in the aerospace industry, the impact of JADC2 and digital transformation work for military service branches, and more.
“To provide maximum opportunity for growth, Tenax must continue to establish trusted relationships with our government customers and show them viable and affordable opportunities to employ modified aircraft across the full spectrum of their missions.”
You can read the full Executive Spotlight interview with Joe Boeckx below:
ExecutiveBiz: What was your experience like coming from your military service to move into government contracting and the defense intelligence sector? What advice would you give to anyone looking to follow the same path?
“My transition was relatively smooth. I had 13 years of combined military and civilian service and then I moved into government contracting. I say smooth because I left the government and entered the industry doing very similar functions. I left the Intelligence Community and entered industry supporting the Intelligence Community.
The familiar environment made the transition very comfortable. I was fortunate to find a high demand from the government for outsourcing many critical functions to industry. I benefited from being in the right place, at the right time, with the right skills, and properly networked with colleagues who had made the transition before me. I was lucky to have friends who worked at BAE Systems at the time and they helped me get started with that organization.
I spent a total of seven years at BAE Systems and it turned out to be a great company to learn the foundational business skills that carry with me even today. I think many individuals leaving military and government service today will find similar circumstances.
My advice would be to enter industry with a high degree of confidence in what you bring from military and government service. Additionally, leverage your network. Others have gone before you and are eager to assist you in your transition.”
ExecutiveBiz: What can you tell us about Tenax’s organic growth to turn into the company with one of the largest fleets of special mission aircrafts on contract with the U.S. Government?
“Tenax growth has stemmed from good upfront business development, solid program execution, and a willingness to take risks on behalf of our government customers that others might not be equipped to do, either financially or operationally. We have demonstrated the agility and ability to move faster than the competition to create meaningful and affordable solutions.
That mentality has paid off very well for us in terms of our overall profile and how many aircraft we currently employ. The act of generating a new demand and showing your customers that you have a solution that they’ve yet to think of gives you a significant leg up in the conversation early in the capture cycle. Leveraging our business development professionals with strong ties to government customers and deep connections with industry peer groups, allows Tenax to gain early insight from the customer and be seen as a partner in their search for solutions.
Additionally, Tenax receives strategic insight from our robust board of directors and advisors, resulting in a distinct advantage in the competitive environment of today. Of course, you can’t overstate the importance of superb program execution and how that builds credibility and trust with customers to give Tenax a chance at the next opportunity.
Our operations teams have generated over 20 years of excellent past performance that enable us to credibly compete for future opportunities. You can’t have one of the largest special mission aviation fleets if you aren’t demonstrating a high degree of operational excellence, and Tenax has delivered consistently.”
ExecutiveBiz: What can you tell us about the digital transformation and additional work the company is doing to help the U.S. Army and other service branches adapt to the rapid changes the federal sector is undergoing in terms of multi-domain operations and JADC2?
“Tenax delivers special mission modified aircraft that provide open architecture and multi-INT solutions able to receive the ever-evolving universe of complex sensor arrays and transport massive sets of data securely from platform to the ground.
We have well established partnerships with some of the largest system integrators with cutting edge capabilities. Our role in the JADC2 environment is having domain awareness of all technology associated with this concept and to ensure that our platforms are open architecture capable and scalable to wherever the technology may evolve.
All of our solutions take into account that open architecture solutions need a platform that is modular, agile and scalable. Tenax must remain keenly aware of the best in breed systems and ensure that our platforms are able to change with the rapidly evolving technological environment. We must be scalable as technology continues to change.”
ExecutiveBiz: With a new calendar year underway, what would you say are the company’s top priorities and goals to drive growth and Tenax’s capabilities and your customers into the next year?
“To provide maximum opportunity for growth, Tenax must continue to establish trusted relationships with our government customers and show them viable and affordable opportunities to employ modified aircraft across the full spectrum of their missions.
We’re going to continue to partner broadly with large systems integrators to stay abreast of the technological changes that our platforms need and to ensure we maintain the ability to change with the speed of innovation.
Tenax will continue to pursue new opportunities in the mid to high altitude jet market and lean forward with investments in scalability and interoperability. We’ll take some of those best practices and continue to expand our support to firefighting and other emergency responders. Our support to firefighting is a significant portion of our portfolio and something we’re very excited about expanding in the coming year.”
