Greg Caufman, a Virginia Tech alumnus and Peraton’s Director of Blacksburg Operations, discusses the company’s growth at the research park with Loren Robertson, Marketing & Events Coordinator at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center.
Peraton is a next generation national security company serving as a valued partner to essential government agencies across the intelligence, space, cyber, defense, civilian, health, and state and local markets. Peraton acquired Northrop Grumman’s integrated mission support and IT solutions business in February and then Perspecta in May of 2021, growing its employee base from 3,500 to nearly 20,000 just this year alone. Since moving into the research park in 2013, Peraton’s 50 Blacksburg employees serve as an engineering center, talent pipeline, and innovation hub for the company.
Being adjacent to Virginia Tech provided the perfect opportunity for Peraton to partner with the university and develop a robust co-op program. The program brings talented students from the College of Engineering each semester. Caufman emphasized that a big factor in the move to the park was Virginia Tech’s strong engineering program and the opportunity to support internal development and joint research. Greg and the Peraton team value investing in southwest Virginia and the ability to access a wide, diverse talent pipeline. People who may not want to live in Northern Virginia or Maryland, where the bulk of their business occurs, can instead reside in Blacksburg or the surrounding community. The community not only offers outdoor beauty, lower cost of living, quality of life, but access to bold thinking creatives, developers, scientists, and entrepreneurs that help companies thrive and grow.
Moving forward, Peraton is working to grow its Blacksburg presence to support new skillsets and greater demand across Peraton’s core competencies of cyber, digital, cloud, operations and engineering. The company’s goal is to expand its relationship with Virginia Tech by recruiting students from additional majors and engaging in joint research. Peraton is looking at the potential to replicate the success it has had here working with Virginia Tech to other universities. According to Caufman, Peraton appreciates the close working relationship with the VTCRC and the flexibility it has offered.
Links of interest: https://www.peraton.com/
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