QinetiQ hires Northrop vet to lead US subsidiary

Shawn Purvis, CEO of QinetiQ Group's U.S. subsidiary

Shawn Purvis, CEO of QinetiQ Group's U.S. subsidiary COURTESY OF QINETIQ

QinetiQ Group's U.S. arm wants to double in size to $600 million-annual revenue by its 2026 fiscal year and has named a new CEO to lead that pursuit.

British defense technology company QinetiQ Group has hired a new leader for its U.S. subsidiary that is pushing to double in size.

Shawn Purvis will join the business known as QinetiQ US on Feb. 16 as CEO after nearly 10 years at Northrop Grumman including in her current role as president of enterprise services.

Purvis will report directly to QinetiQ Group CEO Steve Wadey as part of the parent company’s global leadership team, QinetiQ said Monday. She will also be on the subsidiary’s board of directors.

A 25-year defense market veteran, Purvis joins the QinetiQ enterprise nearly three months after former U.S. president Mary Williams resigned for personal reasons. Williams remains a strategic adviser to the QinetiQ leadership team.

When adjusting for currency exchange rate fluctuations, revenue in the U.S. business of around $282 million represented nearly 17 percent of QinetiQ Group’s overall sales mix in its most recent fiscal year ended March 31, 2021.

But the parent company has set much bigger goals for growth in the U.S. market. QinetiQ US is pushing to hit the $600 million-revenue mark by its 2026 fiscal year through both organic and acquisitive growth.

The subsidiary made its intentions known on that front two years ago with the acquisition of Manufacturing Techniques Inc., a sensor technology maker also known as MTEQ. That transaction roughly doubled the size of QinetiQ’s U.S. operation at the time.

QinetiQ US counted 638 employees in the parent company’s most recent annual report. That represents about 9 percent of QinetiQ Group’s global workforce.

Prior to that, QinetiQ Group significantly scaled back the U.S. business with the sale of its services business to one of the companies that eventually helped form what was Perspecta. QinetiQ held onto the product business that includes robotic systems and wearable devices.

In the wake of acquiring MTEQ, QinetiQ’s U.S. business restructured with both a new board of directors and signed proxy agreement with the Defense Department so the subsidiary could compete for and perform on classified contracts given its foreign ownership structure.

EverWatch CEO John Hillen chairs the QinetiQ U.S. board that also includes former CSRA chief executive Larry Prior, other industry veterans Pamela Drew and Tom Mills, Steve Wadey and the parent company’s chief financial officer David Smith.

QinetiQ Group was formed in 2001 through the privatization of what was formerly the U.K defense ministry’s Evaluation and Research Agency, whose mission was equivalent to that of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the U.S.

Currently at Northrop, Purvis is responsible for all IT functions and resources in support of the company’s own digital transformation effort within itself.

She is a former chief information officer for the company and held executive roles at Science Applications International Corp. before joining Northrop in 2012.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.