L3 hires former Navy acquisition chief Stackley

L3 Technologies has hired former Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley as corporate vice president of strategic advanced programs and technology.

He will work to help L3 develop growth plans that align its technology investments with strategy, pursuit planning, and mergers and acquisitions. L3 said Monday Stackley will report to Heidi Wood, senior vice president for corporate strategy and technology.

Stackley held the role of assistant Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition between 2008 and 2017. In that role, he oversaw the development, procurement and lifecycle support of Navy acquisition efforts and associated research-and-development activities.

In January 2017, he became acting Navy secretary and led the branch’s functions through the transition to the Trump administration.

New York City-based L3 has been an active player on the acquisition scene in the past two years. The defense contractor has acquired six companies in that time, including three in the unmanned underwater domain.

That trio of undersea deals included the April buy of drone maker OceanServer and subsequent deals for energy technology company Open Water Power and sensor payload system manufacturer Adaptive Methods.