Top 100: New Engility CEO plans for larger footprint

Lynn Dugle took the helm as CEO at Engility in early 2016 while the company was in the final stages of integrating its acquisition of TASC and was expanding to add more civilian agency customers to its portfolio.

But she already understood the situation at Engility because she was no outsider. Dugle had been a member of both the Engility and TASC boards of directors, so she understood the reasons behind the merger and the overall objectives.

“I was very fortunate to be a board member before becoming CEO,” she said. She also brought with her a broad base of experience from her time as a senior executive with Raytheon, where she was president of the company’s intelligence, information and services business.

Dugle’s roles on the boards offered many opportunities to consider strategies for moving ahead.

“As we looked at the strategies, particularly in bringing the two companies together, that made a lot of sense to me as a board member—in needing to scale up [its business] to get a bigger customer footprint, if you will,” she said.

Engility is ranked No. 19 on 2016 on the 2016 Washington Technology Top 100 with $1.325 billion in prime contracts.

Sixty percent—$782 million—of Engility’s prime contracts were with defense agencies, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and the Defense Information Systems Agency.

Along with her knowledge of both companies, Dugle has more than 30 years in the defense, intelligence and telecommunications industries, and more than a decade in senior management at various companies.

Co-chairmen of Engility’s board, Peter Marino and David Savner, recognized what she had to offer.

“Lynn’s decades of operational experience in our industry combined with her in-depth of knowledge of our business will enable her to make immediate contributions to the company,” they said in March when they officially announced her as the new CEO.

Anthony Smeraglinolo was CEO prior to Dugle. He stepped down from the position in March. When Dugle was announced as CEO, John Hynes, Engility’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, was named president and COO.

As CEO, Dugle will focus on three areas: Pay down debt, organic growth and attracting and keeping talent.

The company’s lines of business include technical consulting, program and business support services, engineering and technology lifecycle support, and IT modernization. While defense agencies are its major customers, Engility has contracts with the departments of Justice, Veterans Affairs, and Treasury, among civilian agencies.

Combining Engility and TASC made a collective workforce of more than 10,000 highly skilled employees. To that end, in May, the company appointed Susan Balaguer to be senior vice president and chief human resources officer. Balaguer formerly worked at CACI International as senior vice president of HR operations. She now reports directly to Dugle.

“Her experience and leadership will be especially beneficial as we continue to focus on attracting, developing and retaining the talent that is vital to growing our business,” Dugle said.

In the coming years, Engility plans to bring more capabilities, services and support to its customer agencies, both in the traditional defense market and increasingly on the civilian side. Dugle said the company has become much more stable in the last year.

“That’s not to say we don’t have work to do,” she said.

In April, the company announced it was awarded a $248 million contract to work with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, after the company built its proposal using its employees who work closely with civilian agencies and those who work with defense agencies.

Engility will provide technical consulting and systems engineering, as well as technical assistance, to DTRA’s Research and Development Directorate.

The same month, it received four Intelligence Community contracts valued at $102 million. They are in addition to a $82 million program for classified engineering and intel work for DOD. In the last year, U.S. Agency for International Development awarded Engility several contracts too.

Dugle sees a strong company that is stepping into new territories.

“The basic strategy, I liked a year ago, and I like it now,” she said.