A longtime veteran of the GovCon space, John Steckel has worked in the industry for over 22 years at companies like BAE Systems, Raytheon, Vencore and Perspecta. About six years ago, he joined AMERICAN SYSTEMS as vice president of business development.
Over the next few years, his job responsibilities grew to include both mergers and acquisitions and legislative affairs. About 18 months ago, he was appointed president and CEO, succeeding Peter Smith, who had been in those roles for over nine years.
Now, he’s steering AMERICAN SYSTEMS forward as the company marks its 50th anniversary.
“We were founded by Tom Curran back in 1975, and we were originally called American Communications Corporation focusing on communication infrastructure,” Steckel said. “In 1976, an individual named Woody Ramsey joined the company and, together, Tom and Woody created what is in essence today’s AMERICAN SYSTEMS.”
The company delivers IT and engineering solutions to complex, national-priority programs. It has always been privately held, and along the way, the owners implemented a novel business model.
In 1990, Tom and Woody sold one-third of the company to the employees, and in 1997, they sold the rest of the company to the employees.
“We’ve been 100 percent employee-owned with an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) ever since,” Steckel said.
Today, AMERICAN SYSTEMS is one of the oldest and largest ESOPs in the industry.
“Being an ESOP company fosters what I feel is a very unique philosophy and that’s reflected in how we support our customers and each other,” Steckel said.
The ownership model drives the company’s approach. “Fundamentally, since our employees are also the owners of the company, we all feel we are accountable for not only delivering upon our customers’ expectations, but also delivering upon the expectations we have for each other,” Steckel said. “And that’s very powerful.”
As the annual employee allocations are 100% company funded, employee-owners benefit directly from company success in their ESOP retirement accounts.
“As employee-owners of AMERICAN SYSTEMS, we are all accountable for delivering upon customer expectations that, in turn, will deliver opportunity for all of us as both employees and as owners,” Steckel said.
From an employee perspective, “that opportunity is realized in new business growth: That manifests as working with new customers, new technologies, new programs,” he said. “And that opens the door for increased individual responsibility, career growth, you name it.”
From the owner side of the equation, “that opportunity is realized through increased company share value, and that increases the value of each of our employee-owners’ ESOP accounts,” Steckel said. “And that’s a great retirement benefit for everyone.”
As the company goes into its 50th year, Steckel expresses a clear and consistent vision for what comes next.
“We continue to evolve the company as a high-end engineering service company focused on delivering mission-essential and information engineering solutions for our nation’s priority programs,” he said. “We’ve been very successful in that and will continue along that path into the foreseeable future. We’ve garnered a strong reputation as a contractor and employer of choice over the past 50 years, and we intend to build on that legacy. We are 50 years strong and only getting stronger.”
Much of this work is personal for Steckel. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a master’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill, he served in the Navy for 21 years, including nine years on active duty and 12 years as a reservist.
Before joining the GovCon industry, he worked for over 10 years in the commercial business world at FedEx, PepsiCo and several small businesses in the New England area.
“One thing I’ve learned about myself over the years is that I am happier, more productive, and more successful working and living in environments driven by some sort of mission, whether that was in the military or in various private-sector roles,” he said.
At AMERICAN SYSTEMS, he continues that mission-focused approach. The company provides “a very unique environment and culture where we are not only driven by helping our customers be successful in their missions but also driven to making our ESOP successful,” he said.
“The dual mission focus is incredibly supportive and, together, makes AMERICAN SYSTEMS one of my most interesting and meaningful places to work,” he added. “It’s all about selflessly supporting our customers and each other — it just resonates with who I’ve become over the years.”