Peraton names leaders for after Perspecta deal closes

Ahead of the close of its combination of Perspecta, Peraton has unveiled the executive team that will lead the future combined company.

We’ve previously reported that Stu Shea, Peraton CEO, will continue on as CEO of the company. Perspecta CEO Mac Curtis has announced his intent to retire.

The team Shea announced in a company-wide memo -- released in this Securities and Exchange Commission filing -- includes a mix of a Peraton and Perspecta executives, with a couple folks from the recent acquisition of Northrop Grumman’s IT services business.

Corporate leaders include:

• Jeremy Wensinger: chief operating officer, heritage Peraton
• John Kavanaugh: chief financial officer, heritage Perspecta
• Mike King: chief growth officer, heritage Peraton
• Jim Winner: general counsel, heritage Peraton, by way of Northrop
• Barry Barlow: acting chief information officer, heritage Perspecta
• Bill Luebke: controller, heritage Perspecta
• Phil Eck: deputy controller, heritage Peraton
• Matt McQueen: chief engagement and communications officer, heritage Peraton
• Szu Yang: chief contracts officer, heritage Peraton
• Mike Londregan: chief security officer, heritage Perspecta
• Chris Valentino: chief strategy officer, heritage Peraton, by way of Northrop
• Henry Miller: treasurer, heritage Perspecta
• Darin Cabral: sector/business finance, heritage Perspecta
• Scott Carruthers: vice president, internal audit, Perspecta
• Laila Salguero: acting chief human resources officer, and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, heritage Peraton
• Jim Schifalaqua: chief information security officer, heritage Peraton

Shea’s announcement of the leadership of the operations side of the business gives good insight into how the business will be organized once the new Peraton launches.

• Space & Intelligence sector: led by Dr. Roger Mason, currently president, Peraton’s Space & Intelligence sector.

• Cyber Mission sector: led by Tom Afferton, currently president, Peraton’s Cyber Mission sector and former vice president, Defense & Security Business Unit, Northrop Grumman.

• Defense Solutions sector: led by Jeff Bohling, currently senior vice president and general manager, Perspecta’s Defense group.

• Citizen Security & Public Services sector: led by Rocky Thurston, currently senior vice president and general manager, Perspecta’s Civilian, State & Local group.

• Global Health & Financial Solutions sector: led by Tarik Reyes, currently president, Peraton’s Civil & Health sector, and former vice president, Civil and Health Business Unit, Northrop Grumman.

• Peraton Labs, led by Dr. Petros Mouchtaris, currently president and general manager, Perspecta Labs.

• SRI, led by Jeremy Fremin, currently president, SRI. SRI is the former Strategic Resources International that Peraton acquired in 2018.

• Navy & Marine Corps business group, led by retired Vice Admiral Ted Branch, currently senior vice president and general manager, Perspecta’s Navy & Marine Corps business group.

• System Engineering sector, led by Damian DiPippa, currently senior vice president and general manager, Perspecta’s Intelligence group.

Both of those groups add up to 12 senior leaders from Perspecta, 10 from Peraton and four from Northrop. That’s probably a good mix when considering that "Old Peraton" was smaller than the two companies it acquired.

Only two of the nine operational leaders are from Peraton, five are from Perspecta and two are from Northrop.

The corporate level sees seven from Perspecta, five from Peraton and two from Northrop.

I wanted to break down the mix because having representation from all of the major heritage components of "New Peraton" will be instrumental in the new culture that will form.

You need someone who understands that Perspecta brings people who started their careers at EDS, only to be subsumed by Hewlett-Packard, then split off to HP Enterprise, to then be melded into DXC Technology and then merged into Perspecta. All of that happened in the span of 10 years.

The leadership team needs people who understand that whiplash and how that impacts employees.

All that said: the changes aren’t over for Peraton. As with any major integration, more changes are coming and to be expected. It took Leidos nearly two years to fully integrate the Lockheed Martin IT services business.

Perspecta shareholders will vote May 5 on the acquisition by Peraton's owner Veritas Capital. The final close remains expected before the end of June.