Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: STU SHEA

CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT, CEO, PERATON, RESTON

Published August 30, 2023 by Virginia Business

A fixture in the national security industry, Shea has led the expansion of a 6-year-old private company into a major defense contractor through a series of acquisitions, including the 2021 purchase of Northrop Grumman’s federal IT and mission support services business.

The growing company recently moved its headquarters from Herndon to Reston, which serves as a hub for 5,000 of the company’s 19,000 employees. In December, Peraton won a $2.25 billion contract from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.

As a young software engineer, Shea tapped his expertise in geography and geology to design some of the earliest computer mapping systems for the CIA, the National Security Agency and the U.S. Air Force.

He is the founder of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, a member of the board of directors of the National Intelligence University Foundation and a member of the board of trustees of Riverside Research.

PERSONAL MOTTO: Never stop learning.

HOW I CHOSE MY CAREER: I kept raising my hand. I took a job where I didn’t like the customer business, and knew nothing about them, but it put me on the path I’m on today.

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