Enlightenment-backed EverWatch names John Hillen CEO

National security IT company EverWatch has hired longtime government market veteran and former Sotera Defense Solutions CEO John Hillen as chief executive nearly four months after its founding by investment firm Enlightenment Capital.

Hillen is one of three major leadership appointments the Chevy Chase, Maryland-based company announced in a release. Fred Funk, a co-founder of KeyW Corp. and three-decade market veteran, was named chief growth officer; while former General Dynamics IT Chief Financial Officer Diane Nguyen was appointed CFO for EverWatch.

One of Enlightenment Capital's goals in rolling together four other portfolio companies into what is now EverWatch was to create a formidable middle-tier player with intellectual property that competes in the defense and intelligence markets.

“Looking at the technology solutions sector as both a corporate leader and a former government official, it is clear to me that our government needs fully capable mid-sized companies helping them with their most critical missions," Hillen said in the EverWatch release.

As CEO of Sotera, Hillen led that company through its initial public offering in 2009 and acquisition two years later by private equity firm Ares Management. The two-time Fed 100 winner more recently has been chairman of the board of advisers for the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, where he was also an executive-in-residence at GMU's business school.

Prior to EverWatch, Funk was a division president at ASRC Federal. The IPO for KeyW took place 26 months after he founded that company alongside the late Len Moodispaw.

EverWatch focuses on signals and open source collection, software, big data analytics and other software solutions to support national security agencies.