Executive Mosaic is pleased to recognize Byron Bright, president of KBR’s government solutions business, as a recipient of the 2022 Wash100 Award, which is annually presented to the top 100 most influential figures across the government contracting sector for their influence in the federal landscape.
Bright is recognized with his third consecutive Wash100 Award for his leadership in driving KBR’s military technology engineering, development, support and sustainment efforts in areas such as space, cyber and data analytics, through a roster of continuous federal contract wins over the last year.
To cast your vote for Byron Bright as one of your favorite GovCon executives, visit Wash100.com, where you can also read more about the history of the prestigious award and its previous winners.
Byron Bright began his career at KBR in 2010 as vice president of business development, government and logistics. Since then, he has risen through the ranks and multiple senior-level positions to his current post at the helm of the company’s government solutions segment, in which he is responsible for the strategic leadership of KBR’s $4.5 billion-per-year business.
Bright notably led the government solutions segment through its business unit rebrand in February 2021, following its $800 million all cash acquisition of Centauri – a provider of space platforms, directed energy and other services to federal Defense Department and Intelligence Community customers – in the third quarter of 2020.
“The fastest growing areas of our business were our science and space unit, and our defense and intelligence unit,” Bright told Washington Technology, commenting on KBR’s business focus areas on the heels of the Centauri acquisition.
“Our focus on military space, cyber and data analytics, digital engineering and applying a lot of these tools, we see all of those things as remaining strong with our customers,” he added.
Through the company’s emerging and existing focus areas, KBR has continued to cultivate its close relationships with U.S. defense agencies and military branches with new and recompete contracts.
Over the last year, KBR continued its support of the U.S. Air Force through multiple contracts, including a $91.8 million task order for engineering services to support the research and development of aircraft technologies, as well as a $194.3 million task order to help the Air Force analyze the and verify the integrity of microelectronic devices.
Along this line of microelectronic work, Bright cited a reduction in access to vital semiconductor market technologies that are available to the Department of Defense as a national security concern, but he noted that the issue may help strengthen public-private partnerships in this area.
“These reductions will continue to push the DoD towards increased reliance on commercial electronics providers, which drives the need for effective trust and assurance techniques,” he explained.
“To address this issue, KBR’s multidisciplinary team of industry experts and academic teammates will provide AFRL with research support to advance the trustworthiness of these critical national security components,” said Bright.
For the Army, KBR’s subsidiary, Kord Technologies, demonstrated a laser weapon prototype during a combat shoot-off as part of the Army’s Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense program.
Bright lauded KBR’s “soldier-centered design” process and said the successful execution of the DE M-SHORAD system represented a key step in delivering directed energy capabilities to military operators, in line with the Army’s air and missile defense modernization strategy.
“This marks the beginning of the next chapter of technologically advanced weaponry, proving that highly mobile, lethal laser weapons are here to stay,” Bright said. “We understand the urgency to get these systems rapidly and reliably deployed.”
KBR’s efforts to rapidly deploy these systems are reflected in the Houston, Texas-based company’s recent expansion in Huntsville, Alabama. Bright said this move will help the company continue its mission of equipping warfighters on the front lines across new frontiers.
He said of the new location, “As our capabilities in aerospace engineering, asset management and spaceflight operations continue to evolve and grow, maintaining offices in close proximity to both existing and future customers is the right thing to do.”
KBR’s achievements in support of the space domain over the past year include the company’s win of a recompete contract to provide health and medical services to European Space Agency astronauts and a win for KBR’s joint venture with Aerodyne of a $531 million contract to perform systems engineering work for NASA’s Maryland-based Goddard Space Flight Center.
Additionally, KBR’s humanitarian efforts include work in the third quarter of fiscal year 2021 to support the Defense Department’s Operation Welcome Allies, which facilitated the rapid development of temporary infrastructures at military bases to accommodate displaced Afghans.
Work under multiple task orders from the U.S. Marine Corps through the OWA program alone resulted in KBR’s growth of $400 million in revenue during the third quarter of 2021.
Executive Mosaic congratulates Bryon Bright and the KBR team on their induction into the 2022 edition of the coveted Wash100 Award. Bright’s 2022 award recognizes his past and current achievements while anticipating his potential influence in the GovCon sector in the years to come.
