Peraton’s a large firm that has a lot of mission areas. What particular mission brought you to Peraton?
Peraton solves the most daunting challenges and supports missions of consequence for customers at home and abroad. The driving force behind Peraton’s work is to protect and promote freedom around the world. Freedom comes in many forms: opportunities for economic mobility, advocating for racial justice and equity, promoting community resilience, or solving mission critical challenges for essential government agencies that support the backbone of our nation. Because our leaders believe in furthering these freedoms, and we support grassroots efforts for our employees as part of those freedoms, I appreciate working for Peraton. It is this intentional support that makes our company stand out from our competitors.
How have the challenges of the past two and a half years- the pandemic, racial justice and equity, the role of civic society- inspired Peraton to be more active in the realm of corporate social responsibility?
Although we can trace our roots back more than a century, Peraton in its current form is a relatively new company. Core to our establishment was the desire to make our nation more secure and recognize that the definition of “national security” has changed dramatically because of the pandemic and myriad other threats we’re now facing. To address these effectively, we deliberately seek to bring the talent of diverse perspectives and experiences to collaborate—this makes us a stronger company. Our customers and our nation have seen the positive impact from our inclusive community of professionals.
Additionally, over the last 2.5 years, we formalized our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion organization at the enterprise level and appointed our first chief DE&I officer. The DE&I team is focused on creating and normalizing business-enabling functions, including the coordination of five employee resource groups. These groups provide inclusive, understanding spaces where our employees can bring their authentic selves to the forefront and allies lend support for multiple initiatives, including mentoring, veteran transition support, and community engagement.
Why is Peraton sponsoring the Community Foundation’s Raise the Region Gala?
Peraton, like the Community Foundation, makes a difference in our communities. We invest in and support organizations that are passionate about their missions. We care about community giving, and we want to spread Peraton’s, and our employees’ passion for helping others. Our employees primarily drive our corporate citizenship and engagement activities, which bring Peraton employees together, and help reinforce our ties between our employees and our mission. Peraton’s support for the Raise the Region Gala makes sense. When we help, the Foundation can respond to important regional need that are also aligned with our core values, such as military, education, and innovation and helps Peraton connect in other ways with our community.
How do you see Peraton helping build a Northern Virginia that works for more people?
Home to our corporate headquarters, with more than 5,000 of our employees located in the DC metro area, Northern Virginia is the heart of Peraton. Whether it’s solving missions of consequence or investing in the communities where we work and live, Peraton is committed to being part of something bigger. Our employees highlight this commitment; Recent Peraton corporate efforts include sponsoring the Tephra ICA Festival in Reston, marching and celebrating in the DC Pride Parade and greeting honor flights. We reflect our regional cultures and support actions of consequence that matter to our people. As the only Virginia contractor to win the 2022 US Best Managed Company award, Peraton frames its social responsibility through three lenses – heroes, future, and wellness – which means sponsoring the Raise the Region Gala is a perfect fit. Peraton is also very proud to be represented as part of the Community Foundation and Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s Northern Virginia Champions for Accountability initiative.
Why do you feel it's important for organizations like Peraton to help Raise the Region?
Peraton has a century of deep ties in the community, through our heritage companies. We pride ourselves on building rapport and leading in our industry and the communities in which we live and work. When we engage our employees and communities through our grassroots efforts and corporate initiatives, we’re making a difference where it’s needed. We value the importance of showing up to connect, invest, and engage with organizations like the Community Foundation. Because you make a lasting impact in our region, we make a lasting impact. That’s what we believe.
Questions?
