New BAE leader sets sights on growth

His first objective is to maintain and build on the strong foundation laid by his predecessor, Bill Shernit, who retired in August.

"Keeping a high performance culture, that's really No. 1 for me," he said.

That means making sure customers are satisfied, but also that employees are challenged and have opportunities to grow.

The IT business for BAE Systems of Rockville, Md., was created through a series of nearly 10 acquisitions; the company restructured a year and a half ago to pull all of the IT pieces together into a single division.

Fulfilling the promise of that restructuring by pursuing larger enterprise projects is another goal.

"A 30,000, 40,000 or even 50,000-seat user environment is not beyond us," he said.

The combined IT units have just under $1 billion in annual revenue, providing services such as systems development, mission support and infrastructure support. Agencies in the defense, intelligence and homeland security fields are BAE's largest customers.

"We want to work in those areas that have a significant national mission," he said.