Look Who it Was Random video

Big Small Companies: How Size Matters in Defense Contracting

1,045 views · Published 4 April 2018 · 1:28:25 · Indexed 25 September 2026

Channel: AtlanticCouncil · 2018 · Nonprofits & Activism

Watch on YouTube

A CONVERSATION WITH
Brad Feldmann
President and Chief Executive Officer
Cubic Corporation

Andy Hove
President and Chief Executive Officer 
AM General

Barbara Humpton
President and Chief Executive Officer
Siemens Government Technologies

MODERATED BY
Steven Grundman
Senior Fellow and Director, Emerging Defense Challenges
Atlantic Council
 

Please join the Atlantic Council on Wednesday, April 4th, from 4:30 p.m. -  6:00 p.m. for the next event in our Captains of Industry Series, featuring the chief executives of AM General, Cubic Corporation, and Siemens Government Technologies, who will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of addressing the defense and government-services marketplace from the vantage of companies with smaller scale and more focused scope than is typical of the firms which dominate prime contracting.


The industrial structure of defense has transformed over the past quarter-century. From the array of mostly mid-scale brands made famous in the cold war there has emerged “the barbell”, a structure in which we observe a concentration of large, diversified companies juxtaposed against a diffusion of small and micro-scale specialty subcontractors. In between there lies the focus of this event, a narrow band of “big small companies” with less than $2 billion of defense sales from a tight portfolio of products and services.

Our featured speakers lead two exemplars of this class of defense contractors:

Brad Feldmann is the president and CEO of Cubic, which designs, integrates and operates systems that increase situational awareness for customers in transportation and defense. A former US Air Force officer, Mr. Feldmann was named “Most Admired CEO” in 2017 by the San Diego Business Journal. 
Andy Hove is the president and CEO of AM General, best known as the manufacturer of the HMMWV family of tactical wheeled vehicles. A former US Army officer, Mr. Hove has over twenty-five years of in defense and aerospace manufacturing companies including HDT Global, Mistral Group, Oshkosh Defense, BAE Systems, United Defense, and Vinnell.
Barbara Humpton is the president and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies, which provides the US government technology and services of the Siemens global enterprise for energy, infrastructure, automation and marine platforms. Prior to joining Siemens in 2011, Ms. Humpton had served in leadership roles at Booz Allen Hamilton and Lockheed Martin, and earlier this month was named one of the top twenty-five “GovCon Executives to Watch” by WashingtonExec magazine. 

The Atlantic Council Captains of Industry Seriesis a platform for senior executives in aerospace and defense to address the public interests their companies serve and the public policies that shape these markets. By engaging the perspective of business leaders about issues at the interface of defense ministries and industries, the series is cultivating a constituency for their practical solution.
 
Be sure to join us on Twitter by following @ACScowcroft and using #ACDefense for this event!

More from this channel