Andy Reed
“Peraton: We are one team, one mission, with one focus on the future.”
EM: Congratulations are in order. Could you tell our readers about what the new company Peraton does and how the name change from Harris IT will affect your business strategy?
Stu Shea: We’re very thoughtful about things like our mission, our vision, our values and reflect that in our name and what our go-forward position is as a company. We’ve established a mission ‘to protect and promote freedom around the world.’ I think that is a mission statement that people can wrap their heads around, they can participate, it’s emotional for them–it’s something that invokes a sense of pride. When we thought about the name of the company, we wanted to reflect that same concept in the name. You look at ‘Peraton‘ as a name–I like to describe it as “thoroughly imperative to the mission”; “per,” which means thoroughly or very; and a riff on the word “operation,” which invokes that dedication that we have in supporting the customer’s mission–associates with ‘imperative,’ which underscores the essential nature of our services, missions within the agencies that we serve or support.
We as a company are thoroughly imperative to the mission to protect and promote freedom around the world.
EM: Can you tell us what you are looking forward to? Any challenges on the horizon?
Stu Shea: I describe this company as a 125-year-old startup. If you go back to the history to all the parts that made it up, it goes back a long way. In many ways, we are a brand new start-up company. What we’re excited about and look forward to, is our focus on realizing that vision and having the company become a platform for growth. When we talk about growth–we really want to be the company that customers rely on to solve their most daunting challenges, to create solutions, to support the most vital missions and manage their most valued assets. So when you talk about a customer and whether they have a problem that they have to solve, or a mission that they have to sustain, or something they have to protect like a network or system-we want to be seen as the go-to company for the things that matter the most to them.
It’s a rather bold mission but if we look at where we are today at day one, what we are excited about is how far along on that journey we can get. What we’re looking for is to get the word out; we want to have the visibility as an organization. We’re proud of what we do: We want to show people who are, what we’re about, and are excited as we are about the future.
EM: What markets do you see Peraton entering in the next month/3 months?
Stu Shea: The way I would describe it is that we’re already in markets–I think what we need to do is focus on making sure that people understand where we serve: space, intelligence, cyber/SIGINT, homeland security, defense and communications. Each of those are areas where historically we’ve been involved. I don’t see [Peraton] walking away from any market in the future, nor do I see us hitting an inflection point going in a different direction because we’re involved in solid markets of growth…the places where we have real capabilities. The real question is if we can double down and put more energy behind them.
EM:Â Now that you have a new name is there any difference in your focus/priorities?
Stu Shea: I would like to say that nothing has changed–in reality, everything has changed. Historically, this company was made up of pieces of former companies and was not well-integrated (as a company). We did not have a consolidated set of systems or missions, values or vision. So what we’ve done is consolidate ourselves as a team, focusing on working together and not reflecting back on the history too much–but beginning to look forward–then having the statement out there as: we’re no longer describing ourselves as the former Harris IT government services, or Exelis. We now have a name we can wrap our heads around and say: “We are one team, one mission, with one focus on the future.” I think the big shift is that we’re operating as a team now, with a common set of ideals and objectives.
EM: If you had to say anything to your competitors, what would that be?
Stu Shea: We are here to stay. We are the new energy, with new passion and a new commitment to being a great partner in the missions that we serve. At the end of the day my job is to grow this company. I will do that by winning business–the only way to do that is to (if it is not a new program) is to take that away from somebody else. I really am trying to focus on taking this company forward. We are the new leaders. We have a new vision. We have a new name–but we’re not new. Our attitude, our energy, our passion and our commitment is new. “We’ve unleashed the Kraken,” so to speak. We have an organization that has a lot of history…but we are really focused on the future. We are out running hard with all these tools we have just built–the name, the values, the leadership, the vision. We are a force to be reckoned with and our competition should know that.
“We are here to stay. We are the new energy, with new passion and a new commitment to being a great partner in the missions that we serve…â€
This story was originally published on August 4, 2017.
