Executive Spotlight With Amentum EVP, Ronald Hahn: Branding Amentum

Ronald Hahn, executive vice president of strategic growth at Amentum, recently spoke with ExecutiveBiz about the company’s launch and branding, and how it has led to greater growth and access to new markets.

Following AECOM’s sale of its management services business to private equity in Feb. 2020, the newly independent company has become more responsive and diverse, expanding access to new technologies and capabilities.

“Amentum has had some really impressive successes but we’re always looking for opportunities to innovate and leverage advanced technologies in new and unique ways.”

ExecutiveBiz: How did AECOM Management Services successfully transition to Amentum? What tools did you integrate into the branding process?

“I think our most important branding tool was our employees. We put a lot of focus on them and getting their input was a priority as we built the new brand. With more than 20,000 employees they proved to be invaluable given today’s digital/social media environment.  At the beginning of February, we held launch activities throughout the company in dozens of locations around the globe; it was truly amazing to see the creativity, enthusiasm and optimism of employees and how they have embraced the new brand! This of course has had an immediate effect with our clients and partners who have in turn also really embraced the new brand.

I think our clients and partners recognize that Amentum has the same capability and is even more agile … it was an amazingly smooth transition.”

ExecutiveBiz: What makes Amentum different from AECOM Management Services and why was it established? What are its new capabilities?

“I think the single biggest difference is that as Amentum we are totally focused on our government and commercial clients; our capabilities don’t get diluted within the construct of large design and construction company like AECOM.  That is immediately apparent when you go to the Amentum website. As Amentum you truly see immediately the capabilities that we bring to the table — as a tier-one, large-scale government contractor.

We’ve also made investments in the brand name that have also been beneficial. We’ve done some advertising on cable news networks, radio as well as digital ads with key trade publications; I think those efforts have also really had a positive effect. Finally, we are investing in thought leadership, media outreach and building our presence on social media.”

ExecutiveBiz: How has Amentum’s culture changed since the launch?

“Actually, I don’t think Amentum’s culture has changed much during its evolution from AECOM Management Services. One of the aspects of our heritage that we have carried through the transition is a strong, “safety first” focus. In fact, one of the first briefings we gave during our launch day activities was a new Amentum safety brief. Safety of our employees is paramount and will remain a top priority for Amentum.

Our focus on our people also hasn’t changed, which is why we felt it was so important to solicit employee input throughout the transition. What is different is what comes next: we have a great opportunity to make Amentum into the place everyone wants to work. How do we do this?  By focusing on the things that matter most to our people: our experience, passion and purpose.”

ExecutiveBiz: What are Amentum’s future plans? What are the new markets and services the company is looking to enter into?

“We’re combining new capabilities to meet our client’s needs, which I think is really important. We have such a diverse portfolio, which is one of our biggest advantages that we have at Amentum, giving us new capabilities and therefore allowing us tremendous flexibility to customize and bundle services for our various government clients.

We’re seeing our range support services contracts evolve into a more integrated network between the physical and virtual worlds. We’re now developing other capabilities within the company to grow our markets in the virtual world.

Amentum has also begun work with synthetic training environments. We believe we will emerge as a leader in this market and be a forefront corporation when we add our technical background with range support services.

Finally, we’ve seen immediate success in winning new nuclear and environmental contracts, where we are already the market leader in the nuclear clean-up business. Amentum has had some really nice successes in this market, but we’re always looking for opportunities to innovate and leverage advanced technologies in new and unique ways for short and long-term growth.”