McDonald Bradley chairwoman steps down

Sharon McDonald, chairwoman of integrator McDonald Bradley Inc., Herndon Va., has stepped down, the company announced July 2.

President Kenneth Bartee will add the title of chairman.

McDonald will keep a seat on the board of directors. The change happened June 24, and the company will start alerting clients today.

According to Bartee, McDonald wanted to retire, having reached the level of financial stability she sought.

Since it is an employee-owned company, McDonald Bradley will repurchase the majority of shares now owned by McDonald.

Management team members will have control of the voting stock as well as most of the shares of the non-voting stock, Bartee said.

Some of the shares will be set aside in the company's treasury for future use. McDonald will retain a minority stake in the company.

McDonald started McDonald Bradley in 1985. The company has developed specialties in visualization, independent verification and validation and Web integration services. It now employs 200 people and expects revenue of $30 million for 2003. Revenue for 2002 was $20 million.

The company will continue to focus on these areas, Bartee said. Customers include the county of Fairfax, Va., the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Information Systems Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office and the Housing and Urban Development Department.

Bartee said he is hoping that the changeover will further motivate the management team, as well as assure employees that the company has no immediate plans to be acquired.

"They receive the message that we're not for sale. I believe we've chosen a different path than most management teams are choosing today," Bartee said, referring to the flurry of acquisitions that have taken place in the government space lately.

With McDonald stepping down, the company will no longer be defined as a woman-owned business, a status that, along with that as a small business, the company has distanced itself from, Bartee said. He noted the company's win of the Defense Department's Net-Centric Enterprise Services, a $7.8 million contract for advanced Web-based technologies awarded in March.

"We received that based on technology and capability, and not on any kind of set-aside," Bartee said. "You always hate to see something to go away that could potentially bring you some business. But we've been planning for some time to grow out of those categories."