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It’s one thing to take over as head of a $7.1B engineering and IT weapon systems company. It’s entirely something else when the CEO steps into the role just days before one of the deadliest and most intense conflicts in the Middle East breaks out.
Toni Townes-Whitley joined Virginia-based SAIC (SAIC) as CEO on October 2, 2023. Five days later, Hamas attacked Israel in the most deadly assault the US ally has seen in its history. Since then, Townes-Whitley has been not only looking to cement her place and style of leadership at the 55-year-old company, she has been focusing on shifting the company’s efforts to a more robust, technology-driven approach to supporting US allies in the throes of military conflict, notably Israel and Ukraine.
With 75 % of SAIC’s business coming from partnerships with the Department of Defense, Townes-Whitley, a Microsoft (MSFT) ethical AI veteran, a daughter of a decorated, three-star general, is passionate about not only supporting and protecting the US and its allies from bad actors, but in being part of a longer-lasting peace effort using technology to create what she calls, “deterrent power.” SAIC plays a big role in not only defense but using data in the intelligence space to improve security such as facial recognition systems at airports and border crossings as well as to deter conflict around the world, according to Townes-Whitley.
As oil prices have been falling, shares of Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC, have risen 30% since the Middle East conflict began and investors are paying attention. Our Rochelle Akufo got to know CEO Tony Towns-Whitley as part of Yahoo Finance's Lead This Way series. And Rochelle joins me now. Rochelle.
Hey, good to see you, Josh. So, yes, I got some great access to SAIC CEO Tony Towns-Whitley for this upcoming episode of Lead This Way. Now, Towns-Whitley brings decades of leadership experience in tech and artificial intelligence, including as a former Microsoft executive, to this $7 billion company. So, think of SAIC as the science and engineering that really gets integrated into military, national security, and government missions, making them more efficient and, most importantly, more secure. Here's a sneak peek.
When you first came into the role of CEO here, the Israel-Hamas conflict kicked off. Already there was ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. What does that do for the transition picture as a CEO coming in?
Well, when you walk when you walk into a company like SAIC, that's right in the core of national defense, first thing is to meet this and support your customer. It's the first place your mind goes. So, as soon as that conflict was was communicated, SAIC had teams on the ground supporting customers that were providing capabilities there. Some of that operates in very open and and understandable ways. So think about the decision analytics. You're in the middle of a global conflict. What data is flowing? How can that data be shared, not only with the US forces, but multiple coalition forces? One of the things we specialize in is what we call multi-level security. It sounds very techy and cool. What it really means is the ability to integrate data and provide data at every classification level.
Now, 75% of SAIC's work is in national security and defense with the rest being in the civilian space. And I got to experience some of the latest real use cases of operational AI that SAIC is testing before they're rolled out to the public. So be sure to watch the full episode because it really is a a full experience when it comes to the work that SAIC does, especially with AI. So looking forward to that.
Awesome. Rochelle, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
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Yahoo Finance sat down with Townes-Whitley at SAIC’s headquarters in Virginia and its biometric testing facility in Maryland to discuss her experiences, skills and key decisions that have shaped her leadership of one of the largest US defense companies.
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