Executive Mosaic is honored to announce Roger Krone, chairman and CEO of Leidos, as a 2023 Wash100 Award winner in recognition of his leadership strategy that works to sustain the company’s growth through innovation, major program wins and acquisitions.
Krone, a 45-year GovCon industry veteran, has made all 10 classes of the Wash100 for his profile, staying power and influence in the largest U.S. government programs.
With Krone at the helm, Leidos has seen its annual revenue increase to more than $13 billion and its workforce expand to over 44,000 employees across the globe.
In a podcast, Krone discussed the importance of linking his passions to his career aspirations as a leader.
“I’ve tried to align my career aspirations to the things I’m passionate about, and I’ve done my best to empower my employees to do the same,” Krone said during an episode of “C-Suite Conversations with Scott Miller.”
“At this company, those passions always involve important work driven by technology,” he added.
Leidos continued to expand in 2022 with its acquisition of the Australia-based special mission business of Cobham’s aviation services unit.
The acquired business, which now operates as part of Leidos Australia, owns and runs 14 modified aircraft to deliver civil maritime surveillance and search-and-rescue support to Australia’s federal government.
“Bringing in the Special Mission business will build on our global airborne ISR capabilities while providing new opportunities for growth. Together with Leidos Australia leadership, I look forward to working with this talented team,” said Krone.
In February 2022, Leidos won the 10-year, $11.5 billion Defense Enclave Services contract to help the Defense Information Systems Agency consolidate information technology networks of the Department of Defense’s Fourth Estate organizational entities.
“We are honored that DISA has entrusted our team to establish the modern infrastructure foundation that will deliver critical combat support capabilities to our warfighters,” Krone said at the time.
The company, however, did not immediately start work on the DES contract after a protest was filed with the Government Accountability Office. In June, GAO upheld the IT services contract award to Leidos.
In November, Krone announced at its 2022 third-quarter earnings call that Leidos secured its first task order on the DES contract.
“The $138 million task order will lay the framework and begin to consolidate, integrate and optimize five agencies on a common network architecture through digital modernization and transformation,” he told analysts.
At the same call, Krone also highlighted the company’s selection by Northrop Grumman to build hypersonic defense sensors for the Space Development Agency through a subcontract, which he called a “key win” for its space business.
“Through this award, we’ll develop and build the sensor payload for a proliferated constellation of low Earth orbit satellites for the Tranche 1 Tracking Layer. The Tracking Layer constellation will detect and track advanced hypersonic and ballistic missile threats as part of SDA’s missile defense architecture,” he said.
In an interview with the Washington Business Journal in March 2022, Krone said the company is ramping up its contracted and internal research and development to continue to come up with “differentiated technology in the marketplace.”
He also offered an update on efforts to advance diversity, equity and inclusion within the company.
“One of our stated [environmental, social and governance] goals is to increase representation of women and ethnically diverse employees by 10% by 2030, as compared to our 2021 baseline. We are charting our progress and focused on meeting or exceeding this goal,” Krone said.
Six months after Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, Leidos moved to partner with Project HOPE to establish an ongoing relationship to support the Washington, D.C.-based organization’s medical relief efforts in the Eastern European country.
“The numbers are horrible: tens of millions displaced, 12,000 civilian casualties,” Krone told Virginia Business in an August 2022 interview. “We just felt it was getting the money where it needed to be when it needed to be, and providing the right training and supply.”
Leidos also participated in Space Industry for Ukraine, a coalition of technology and aerospace businesses that raised nearly $1 million by the end of April 2022.
Krone received his first Wash100 recognition in 2014 when he was still with Boeing, where he served as president of the company’s network and space systems business for nearly six years.
In July 2014, Krone joined Leidos as chief executive. Since then, he has led the Reston, Virginia-based tech services contractor’s strategic growth initiatives through mergers and acquisitions and major contract wins while promoting a culture of innovation, empowering employees, offering new opportunities for customers and creating value for shareholders.
Executive Mosaic congratulates Roger Krone and the Leidos organization for his selection to receive this award. Cast a vote now for your favorite GovCon champion at Wash100.com! Site visitors can select 10 executives of their choice for the Popular Vote rankings until Friday, April 28.
