Leadership Team

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Leadership Team

Shawn Purvis

President and CEO of QinetiQ US

Shawn Purvis serves as President and CEO of QinetiQ US, part of QinetiQ Group PLC. As CEO of QinetiQ US, Shawn is responsible for the complete operations of the business while transforming QinetiQ US into a world class provider of innovative defense and security solutions.

Over the course of Shawn’s 25+ years of P&L responsibilities, she has led billion-dollar organizations in the areas of defense, intelligence and cyber security technical solutions in support of the warfighter and intelligence customers both domestic and global, achieving organic revenue growth and margin improvement year over year. Her experience also includes the functional integration of a multi-billion-dollar acquisition.

Shawn’s extensive experience includes strategic, financial, engineering, operations and customer focused leadership positions within Lockheed Martin, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and Northrop Grumman.

Shawn holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Information Systems and was named as one of the Top 25 Executives to Watch in 2020/2021 by Washington Exec and WASH100 winner in 2021 and 2022. Shawn is a member of QinetiQ’s Global Leadership Team led by Steve Wadey, QinetiQ’s Group CEO and a member of the QinetiQ US Board.

Eugene Chang

Chief Strategy Officer

Eugene Chang

Chief Strategy Officer

Eugene Chang serves as Chief Strategy Officer for QinetiQ US and is responsible for partnering with the senior leadership to develop, articulate, and execute an integrated business strategy for QinetiQ US while providing strategic leadership to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships, and investment activities.

Eugene has over 15 years of experience in strategy in the Aerospace and Defense market and previously served as the Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions for Airbus Americas, where he led the strategy and mergers and acquisitions functions in the US for Airbus. He has also served as a management consultant at Booz and Company in the Commercial Aerospace and Defense practice. In these roles, Eugene has been responsible for designing, leading, and executing organic and inorganic growth strategies and various operational improvement and integration initiatives.

Eugene has a Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Georgetown University.

Ronald LeClere

Chief Financial Officer

Ronald LeClere

Chief Financial Officer

Ronald LeClere serves as Chief Financial Officer for QinetiQ US. In this role he leverages his experience interpreting financial performance and presenting insights to assist company leadership with operational decisions as well as providing detailed financial analysis, reporting, forecasting, budgeting, and business case analysis.

Ronald brings over 25 years of executive experience in financial planning and analysis (FP&A) and risk management for large government contractors. He led FP&A for a multi-billion-dollar organization at GDIT, where he improved forecasting accuracy and financial reporting, improved indirect rates management, and identified operational efficiencies to reduce costs.

Prior to joining QinetiQ, Ronald served as the Vice President of Finance for SAIC, where he led the SAIC/Halfaker post-merger integration of financial systems and processes. As the CFO at Halfaker, Ronald led all company financial operations and functions associated with the execution of the company’s strategic and annual operating plans.

Ronald holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Metropolitan State College of Denver, CO, and an M.B.A and a Master of Science in Finance from Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, CO.

Daniela Walrath

Chief People Officer

Daniela Walrath

Chief People Officer

Daniela Walrath serves as Chief People Officer for QinetiQ US, where she is responsible for streamlining core business operations while delivering exceptional organizational results.

Daniela has more than 20 years of experience in Human Resources with large organizations such as Acuity International, Northrup Grumman, CSRA, and Lockheed Martin. She has expertise across a multitude of operational functions including human capital, compensation, change management, organizational design, mergers and acquisitions, and leadership development. Daniela has led several HR organizations in initiatives including compensation, benefits, performance management, HR business partner support, employee and labor relations, talent management and succession planning, talent acquisition, and workforce strategies.

Daniela holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Human Resources, and Labor Relations from the University of Maryland and is a member of the Society of Human Resources and the National Association of Professional Women.

Bill King

General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer

Bill King

General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer

Bill King serves as General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer for QinetiQ US, where he is responsible for managing all legal affairs of the organization, including litigation, investigations, and ordinary-course advice and counsel, as well as overseeing the company’s ethics and regulatory compliance efforts.

Bill has more than 20 years of legal experience, including as in-house counsel with large organizations such as IBM, Acuity International, and NISC Holdings. He has served as general counsel, corporate ethics and compliance officer, and legal advisor to executive teams, boards, and management. Bill brings with him significant experience in government contracting, both as an attorney and consultant. In his most recent role, Bill led the legal department at Acuity International, where he managed functional integration and provided mission-oriented legal advice to guide business leaders through practical, legally sound strategies to manage risk and thrive in challenging environments around the globe.

Prior to his business career, Bill served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, retiring from the Reserve after more than two decades of service. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech (B.A., English) and the Seattle University School of Law. He is a member of the DC Bar Association and a Virginia Bar Corporate Counsel registrant.

David Harrison

Vice President, Business Operations

David Harrison

Vice President, Business Operations

David Harrison serves as the Vice President of Business Operations. In this role he leads functional business operations - Information Technology, Security, Cyber, Environnmental Health & Safety, and Real Estate & Facilities.

David is a strategic Technology Executive with subject matter expertise in digital transformation, enterprise capability delivery, and enterprise service excellence. With more than 15 years of experience in leading functional organizations and programs, his delivers capabilities aligned to business needs to elevate organizational performance. In his most recent work with Northrop Grumman, David led large-scale digital initiatives / portfolios, and IT operational organizations that consistently delivered predictable business results.

David earned his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Delaware with a concentration in international business. He holds a certificate in project management from University of California, Irvine, a certificate in facility management from George Mason University, and a certificate in Executive Strategy from Chicago Booth.

Leticia Ballard

Head of Marketing and Communications

Leticia Ballard

Head of Marketing and Communications

Leticia Ballard serves as Head of Marketing and Communications for QinetiQ US and is responsible for leading and managing the depiction, reflection and resonance of the QinetiQ US brand to key stakeholders - internally and externally - through influential and impactful storytelling, media engagements, event marketing, digital content development and thought leadership initiatives.

Throughout her career at organizations like Mediavine, Northrop Grumman, and Sirius XM Radio, Leticia developed a reputation as skilled storyteller who is passionate about engaging with people, clients and the market to drive business strategies and successful outcomes. In her most recent role as director of communications at Mediavine, Leticia served as a strategic partner helping cross-functional teams to manage communications initiatives and messaging internally and externally, ensuring consistent storytelling and brand positioning for the organization to its employees, customers, partners and key influencers within the industry.

While at Northrop Grumman, Leticia served in various marketing and communications leadership roles including director of communications. Her work included developing global communications strategies across a multitude of portfolios to elevate core capabilities to be better positioned to win and maintain existing business. She also led merger and acquisition communications, launched new products, brands and subsidiaries while communicating within various countries, languages and cultures to tell the world about their core capabilities using multiple and varying strategic communications channels.

Leticia earned a bachelor’s degree in communications management from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and a master’s degree in international business administration from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. She also completed the Business Strategy Development Executive Program at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

LeNaye Willis-Lloyd

Senior Vice President, Contract Operations

LeNaye Willis-Lloyd

Senior Vice President, Contract Operations

LeNaye Willis-Lloyd is the Senior Vice President of Contract Operations at QinetiQ US. She has over 20 years of contracts and procurement experience, and knows the assets of a government contractor are their agreements and contracts. As a senior contracts leader, LeNaye serves as equal parts business advisor and innovative problem solver to deliver the most successful business outcomes.

As Senior Vice President of Contract Operations, LeNaye provides executive leadership for all contract functions at QinetiQ US, including leading an in-house team of contracts professionals, contract administration, and procurement. LeNaye leads a wide range of complex strategic solutions for both programmatic matters and corporate initiatives as well as provides expert advice and counsel in contractual and procurement related areas.

Prior to joining QinetiQ LeNaye was Vice President of Contracts at C2 Technologies. In this role she was charged with oversight of company related issues related to contracts, subcontracts, and procurement. LeNaye was formerly a director at LMI where she worked on projects with high-strategic corporate impact, including mergers and acquisitions, post-acquisition integration, and international and commercial contracting. Earlier in her career, LeNaye served in program associate roles at international professional services firms, Abt Associates and RONCO Consulting, where she honed her project management and procurement skills on overseas projects for U.S. Department of State, USAID, and the World Bank.

LeNaye holds a Bachelors of Arts in history from University of California, Los Angeles, and a Masters of Arts in history from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Christopher Forrest

Executive Vice President, Advanced Robotics & Mission Systems

Christopher Forrest

Executive Vice President, Advanced Robotics & Mission Systems

Christopher Forrest is the Executive Vice President of Advanced Robotics and Mission Systems for QinetiQ US. In this role, Chris is responsible for the general management of the business unit including setting the organization’s strategic direction and overseeing operations, product management, global support and business development.

Chris is a senior executive with progressive, broad-based experience in commercial aerospace and defense business development, strategic planning, international operations, and corporate finance. He has diverse functional expertise with proven ability to quickly analyze key business drivers and develop strategies to grow the business in multiple, complex markets.

Prior to QinetiQ, Chris held various leadership positions in Collins Aerospace, Rockwell Collins ARINC Europe, Middle East & Africa EMEA, and ARINC Research Corporation. These leadership roles covered U.S. DOD system integration solutions as well as information and communication technology products to the aviation industry, and airspace management for autonomous vehicles.

Chris has a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Business Administration from Towson University and an MBA in International Finance from Loyola College. He is a member of the ACI World IT Standing Committee and the World Trade Center Institute.

Steve Iwicki

Executive Vice President, Defense Technologies & Solutions

Steve Iwicki

Executive Vice President, Defense Technologies & Solutions

Steve Iwicki serves as Executive Vice President, Defense Technologies & Solutions. He brings more than 17 years of industry experience to the role, and has driven program execution, profitability, and revenue growth in organizations such as Leidos, General Dynamics Information Technology, SOS International, and Octo. Before joining QinetiQ, Steve served as Chief Operating Officer for VivSoft Technologies. He has managed business units as large as $350 million in annual revenue across U.S. and global footprints with more than 1,500 employees and subcontractors focused primarily on C5ISR products and services.

In 2005, Steve retired after serving a twenty-year career as a U.S. Army Intelligence Officer. His Army assignments spanned tactical and strategic intelligence positions including Director, Army Intelligence Transformation within the Army G2; Senior Intelligence Officer (SIO), White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP); and operational/combat experience in DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Haiti, Somalia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Steve’s industry portfolios actively supported operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, and other CENTCOM, EUCOM, and PACOM countries, and he personally completed 13 separate deployments/visits to both Iraq and Afghanistan on behalf of supported U.S. customers.

Steve also serves as a member of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Advisory Panel (AP). He was appointed the Board of Directors of the National Military Intelligence Foundation, a 501c(3), in 2016 and currently serves as the President of the Foundation.

Steve received a bachelor's degree in Decision Sciences and Computers from Rider University and a master's degree in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University.

Rich Price

Senior Vice President, National Security and Intelligence

Rich Price

Senior Vice President, National Security and Intelligence

As senior vice president for National Security and Intelligence, Richard Price is a people-centric leader who brings an ideal combination of miliary and intelligence community experience to QinetiQ US and its partners around the globe.

Prior to joining QinetiQ, Price was the Senior Vice President for Cyber and Intelligence Solutions at Jacobs where he oversaw an $800 million business unit of more than 3,000 employees supporting national defense, intelligence community and commercial industry customers with cloud, cyber, data and digital solutions. His military experience includes serving as a Battalion Commander and as an Executive Assistant to the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Brigade Commander of DISA and the Force Development Directorate Chief, Army G8.

Price earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from South Carolina State University. He also has a Master of Science in Management from Troy University and a Master of Arts in Military Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College.

Jonathan Riksen

Senior Vice President, National & Global Security Solutions

Jonathan Riksen

Senior Vice President, National & Global Security Solutions

Jonathan Riksen serves as Senior Vice President of the Homeland, Law Enforcement, and Civilian (HLC) business unit for QinetiQ US. In this role he oversees financial management, delivery excellence, and provides strategic direction for HLC. He is also responsible for developing, coaching, and retaining the division’s high-performing staff.

Jonathan has managed large P&Ls which oversee a diverse range of customer missions, from infrastructure and application modernization to intelligence and surveillance innovation. He excels at building enterprise strategies to support scaling mission capability. Jonathan’s primary focus has been Federal clients such as the Department of Homeland Security components and Federal Law Enforcement agencies, and he is a leader in the areas of customer strategy, technology innovation, hybrid cloud, automation, and analytics. Prior to joining QinetiQ, his focus was building and executing enterprise strategies for Avantus Federal and prior to that oversaw portions of IBM’s National Security portfolio.

Jonathan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from Roanoke College and an MBA from George Mason University.