Top 10 Execs To Watch in National Security for the National Capital Region

Mark Escobar, SAIC

Mark Escobar is the senior vice president and general manager of SAIC’s National Security Customer Group, where he supports the intelligence community, Air Force, Combatant Commands and various Defense Department offices and agencies. Before joining SAIC in 1999, Escobar worked for Boeing Information Services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense managing technical support and network operations. He served in the Air Force and Peace Corps early in his career.

Why watch: Escobar’s background in the military, as a civil servant, in the Peace Corps and as a defense contractor places him in a unique position to understand today’s problems from multiple view points.

“All that gives me a perspective in terms of the best way to look at a problem and the best way to handle figuring out what the solution is,” he said. “At SAIC, we’re investing in some great technologies that range from machine learning to data analytics, advances in IT modernization, common operating pictures, new cyber technologies — all those things are critical. My job is to create that culture in my market where we can deploy those solutions to make a big difference and be impactful to our customers.”

Over the past year or so, Escobar has been a key leader in a longstanding and recently renewed contract to oversee enterprise IT for the Central Command as well as more recent new work with the Cyber Command. He also has a prominent role in work that will go into three substantial contracts around space control in Los Angeles and Colorado Springs.

With those contracts and others, Escobar understands the work that goes into embedding cybersecurity into SAIC’s solutions and processes, as well as defending against insider threats.

“Cyber is now integrated into our model-based systems engineering approach, and that’s huge because that’s pretty new in the market, and it’s differentiating for us,” Escobar said. “At SAIC, we look at cyber as a ground base requirement and build it in from the start.”

Public service announcement to the talent out there: SAIC is hiring.

“We’re looking at innovators, folks that really want to contribute to a noble mission in terms of helping our country and our world be more safe, and we want those exceptional folks out there to be part of our team,” Escobar said.