David Breen is the Vice President of Human Resources of General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), where he is responsible for providing a full range of human resources services. He joined the company in 2004.
Prior to his current position, Breen served as the Vice President for Human Resources at General Dynamics United Kingdom, Ltd. He also served in leadership roles at General Dynamics, including six years at General Dynamics Corporate Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia, first as Manager of Human Resources and then Director of Compensation, where he played a key role in the design, development and administration of incentive and equity compensation plans. Breen first joined General Dynamics in 1985 at Electric Boat, where he participated in a broad spectrum of human resources initiatives.
Breen received a bachelor’s degree in industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. He also holds a master’s degree in business administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
WashingtonExec spoke with Breen about his career in human resources, his current role at GDIT, the company’s large segment of military veteran employees, and his thoughts on engaging and managing employees in virtual work environments.
WashingtonExec: Can you talk a little bit about your current role and what it currently entails?
David Breen: I serve as Vice President of Human Resources for General Dynamics Information Technology, a large service provider and subsidiary of General Dynamics. I lead a staff of human resources professionals at our headquarters. I have been in this role since 2004 and I’ve worked for General Dynamics virtually my entire career, almost 30 years now in human resources. I’ve worked across different sectors within General Dynamics, initially the Marine sector, which focuses on ship building, design, engineering and construction. I spent several years at the General Dynamics Corporate Headquarters, and served in a similar capacity at General Dynamics United Kingdom. I joined General Dynamics Network Systems in 2004, later consolidated into General Dynamics Information Technology in 2006.
“I think General Dynamics has been very adept at looking ahead and seeing how the market is changing. The company has also given employees the appropriate autonomy and the authority to make things happen and get things done.”
WashingtonExec: What is it about General Dynamics IT that has made you stay at the organization since almost the very beginning of your career?
David Breen: With respect to General Dynamics and General Dynamics IT, I think it has been the pace of change and the company’s ability to re-invent itself to address the new realities in the marketplace. I think General Dynamics has been very adept at looking ahead and seeing how the market is changing. The company has also given employees the appropriate autonomy and the authority to make things happen and get things done. It’s always been a very interesting environment from that perspective.
“To aid veterans in their transition, we offer a host of online learning opportunities to supplement and support the transition out of the military environment into private industry.”
WashingtonExec: Why is hiring veterans important to General Dynamics IT?
David Breen: I think you have to fundamentally look at what the hiring process is all about. First and foremost, like any other employer, General Dynamics IT wants to hire the most qualified candidate for the job. In our work environment specifically, in many cases that person happens to be a veteran. We have a corporate culture that’s focused on achieving our customer’s core missions and a very significant part of our business is supporting the uniformed services. Veterans bring a number of traits and characteristics that translate very well into those businesses.
In addition, we’ve become particularly adept at seeing how veterans’ skill sets can translate into other parts of our businesses. We serve an array of markets – defense, civilian market space, health, intelligence and commercial wireless – I think our company has been good at seeing where those skill sets can support these and other market sectors. We have a diverse base of customers and a diverse employee population. We encourage diversity of thought across that population and veterans play a significant role in that.
Today, veterans make up one of the largest single demographic groups within the General Dynamics IT workforce. One of the most difficult aspects of individuals coming from the military environment into the commercial environment is translating their skill set. Our company thinks it is vital to make sure that our recruiters understand the language of the military to ensure the company is capturing talent that otherwise might be missed by other employers. To aid veterans in their transition, we offer a host of online learning opportunities to supplement and support the transition out of the military environment into private industry. We provide formal and informal mentorships, and recognize that many veterans have ongoing responsibilities in their National Guard service or reserve service, as well as call-ups.
We offer compensation and benefit plans that fill the gap between how they are compensated for their military service and how they would have been compensated had they been working for General Dynamics during their call-up. Essentially, it is a return-to-service with no loss in pay or benefits, and the benefits extend for the duration of their deployment.
WashingtonExec: How do you maintain engagement with your remote employees?
David Breen: General Dynamics IT has employees located throughout the U.S. and internationally – we are located in about 24 different countries. It is an ongoing, every day challenge that we face. We use technology to connect with employees onsite or outside the U.S., but it’s also very important that the leadership of those businesses get out to those locations as often as possible, and make their presence known.
In addition, we also have a strong online presence using various forms of social media to communicate with our employees and qualified candidates.
“I think of telecommuting as similar to your diet as an employer – everything in moderation.”
WashingtonExec: How does telecommuting affect your employee engagement? Do you see this as an advantage? What do you see as the challenges?
David Breen: Very often employees are not going to be located at a large site at the beginning of an onboarding process. General Dynamics engages employees very early in the onboarding process through an electronic onboarding system. We like to say that we can onboard employees 24/7, 365 days of the year and anywhere in the world – this is part of our mission focus.
I think of telecommuting as similar to your diet as an employer – everything in moderation. Telecommuting has, in some respects by some employers, been oversold as being a panacea to solve certain issues. It is part of your toolbox as an employer. It’s not the be all and end all, but it is something you can use effectively, and we do use it effectively for a number of different reasons. We believe it is important to match the flexibility that telecommuting provides with the needs of a diverse workforce. It doesn’t replace every form of collaboration and face-to-face interaction, but in certain projects on certain teams, it can be instrumental.
Telecommuting needs to be aligned with the customer’s mission, and understanding what the customer’s requirements are is one of the challenges and hurdles. Data security and IT security in a telecommuting environment has to be assessed and assured.
