Christine Thropp
Executive Mosaic is honored to announce Tom Watson, CEO of Serco Group‘s North American business arm, as a recipient of the 2024 Wash100 Award for his leadership in the delivery of professional, technology and management services to U.S. military service branches and federal civilian agencies.
Vote for Watson as one of your favorite awardees at Wash100.com. This year’s popular vote competition runs through April 30, so cast your 10 votes now!
This is the first time that Watson was named among Executive Mosaic’s annual list of 100 elite leaders in the government and government contracting space. In its 11th year, the Wash100 continues to recognize individuals who are anticipated to drive the future of government contracting in addition to demonstrating vision, innovation and career excellence.
“Nearly two years ago, Tom ascended to the Serco Inc. CEO role, and in short order, he has worked to drive growth and technological innovation within the $1.5 billion company. He brings to the chief executive role deep expertise in the defense market — garnered through his previous role leading Serco’s defense business — and a keen understanding of Serco’s customers and priorities. Tom’s reliability and leadership have landed him a spot on our prestigious Wash100 list for the first time,” remarked Jim Garrettson, CEO of Executive Mosaic and founder of the Wash100 Award.
Under Watson’s leadership, Serco Inc. secured a number of contract awards, mostly from the U.S. Navy, in the previous year.
One such award is a spot on a five-year, $536.7 million contract to help the service branch engineer, integrate, test and install command, control, communications, computers and intelligence systems aboard new ships. The company will compete for task orders to support the entire shipboard C4I design and integration life cycle.
Watson said of the award, “Serco stands ready to leverage our three decades of experience to support PMW 760 with integration, testing and installation of C4I equipment on surface vessels.”
Another major Navy contract win for Serco is a potential five-year, $201 million recompete contract with the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific. The Physical Security System-Enterprise Architecture contract covers the provision of anti-terrorism technology support services to naval bases worldwide. Watson said the company has been delivering anti-terrorism, force protection tech services to the Navy since 2003 and the contract award highlights its commitment to the mission.
Other contracts are a five-year, $69 million task order for information technology and programmatic support services and a three-year, $68 million contract for Autonomy and Vehicle Control Systems/Testing and Evaluations.
Aside from the Navy, Serco also supports the Army’s data network installation and logistics sustainment efforts under a potential $63 million contract and the Air Force’s organizational planning, program management and other operations under a potential $84 million award.
“This contract award highlights the intelligence, technical, and mission-ready capability support our team provides to the U.S. Air Forces Central Command,” Watson commented on the Air Force contract.
In addition to the service branches, Serco provides assistance to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as part of a potential $690 million contract. The follow-on award requires the company to continue helping CMS determine the eligibility of consumers to buy health insurance plans through the Federal Health Insurance Exchanges.
The company also grew its C-level ranks with the appointment of Don Styer as chief technology officer and Christine Kalb as chief information officer. “Combined, Don and Christine bring a great compliment of technical and leadership perspectives and industry experience,” remarked Watson.
As for his career move– Watson joined Serco in 2018 as senior vice president of federal services following an over two-decade career at Science Applications International Corp. He then transitioned to the role of SVP of defense services group in 2019 and to CEO post in 2022.
Executive Mosaic congratulates Tom Watson and the Serco team on their selection to receive the 2024 Wash100 Award. Advocate for him and your other favorite awardees at Wash100.com.
