Jane Edwards
Tom Watson, senior vice president of defense services business group at Serco Group‘s North American subsidiary, has been selected to succeed the retiring Dave Dacquino as CEO, effective Sept. 1.
Dacquino, a two-time Wash100 awardee who has been serving as Serco Inc.’s chairman and CEO since 2017, will continue to serve as chair of the board of directors of the U.S. business arm, the company said Tuesday.
“With Tom Watson as CEO, we are placing the business in the hands of a thoughtful, goal oriented, ambitious leader. Someone I know will carry out Serco’s values as well as our strategic priorities to grow, evolve, and to always look after our people,” Dacquino, who has been with the company since 2015, told ExecutiveBiz.
“I am deeply proud that we could offer this opportunity to one of our own, someone we have seen demonstrate commitment, care, and success,” he added.
Watson joined Serco Inc. in April 2018 and has, since then, been overseeing the defense group focused on supporting the Department of Defense and intelligence agency customers across hardware integration, shipboard modernization, logistics and base modernization and facilities management, among other areas.
He spent 22 years at Science Applications International Corp., where he served as SVP and general manager of the company’s Navy and Marine Corps business unit. He also worked at RCI, which was acquired by Serco, and delivered engineering and technical support to Navy intelligence and information systems.
Watson also served in the Navy as an electronics technician for six years.
Serco Group CEO Rupert Soames said Watson has done a great job leading the company’s North American defense business and has been instrumental in the acquisition of management consultancy Whitney, Bradley & Brown and Alion Science and Technology’s naval systems business unit.
