Leveling Up: Mission Technology Solutions

People of earth, the wait is over! We’re excited to launch an all-new season of KBR’s “In Orbit” podcast with an episode about KBR’s evolved Mission Technology Solutions business. Our first guest of 2025 is Erik Biebighauser — vice president of strategic growth, veteran, and Christmas tree farmer — who spoke with us about the dynamic capabilities of KBR Mission Tech which were enhanced by the acquisition of LinQuest in 2024. Erik gets candid about mission technology, service, purpose and the evolving national security landscape in an episode you don’t want to miss!

Transcript

IN ORBIT: A KBR PODCAST

Season 5, Episode 1

Leveling Up: Mission Technology Solutions

INTRODUCTION

John Arnold

Hello! I’m John, and THIS is “In Orbit.”

Welcome one and all to season 5 of the “In Orbit” podcast.

That’s right: four seasons are now under our belt. We’re talking 60 episodes with more than 24,000 downloads, with listeners in 39 countries or territories around the world.

To those of you who’ve been along for the ride since way back in July 2021, we are grateful that you keep coming back for more.

To those of you who are listening in for the first time, welcome! We’re very excited to have you with us.

To all of you, we’re thrilled that you’re with us and staying in our orbit.

In case you don’t know, “In Orbit” is produced by KBR.

And if you don’t know about KBR, allow me to do some due diligence and fill in the blanks.

When you think about the greatest challenges humankind faces today, you probably think about things like national security, cybersecurity, climate change, sustainable and affordable energy, geopolitical conflict, the new space race, and more.

When you think about solving those challenges, you should THINK KBR.

Why? Well, every day, around the clock, the people of KBR deliver game-changing solutions, innovative technology and deep domain expertise to governments and companies across the globe, with the ultimate goal of helping create a safer, more secure and more sustainable world.

To put it plainly — we do things that matter.

And here on the “In Orbit” podcast, we talk about those “things” — those game-changing technologies and other solutions — what they are, how they work, and why they’re important, not just for business, but for people like you and me.

And that’s the point of the podcast. We want to connect, educate, inform and, hopefully, inspire PEOPLE.

So — regardless of whether you work at KBR, this is a podcast for YOU.

And let me tell you, we’ve got a fantastic season opener for you.

I’ll tell you a little about it and then I’ll shut up and we’ll get to the good stuff.

So, last year, KBR, in gamer terms, leveled up, primarily through a reorganization of its global business and the acquisition of LinQuest, which enhanced its digital, national security, space and intelligence capabilities.

This leveling up now positions KBR as a fully integrated tech company with deep domain knowledge, IP and digital innovation for both commercial and government customers around the world.

Well, today, we’re going to talk specifically about what the LinQuest acquisition means for KBR and the leading capabilities of its Mission Technology Solutions business.

And we’re thrilled that joining us for this season 5 premier to talk about it all is Erik Biebighauser, vice president of strategic growth for KBR’s Mission Technology Solutions business.

Erik came to KBR as part of the acquisition of LinQuest, where he served as chief growth officer.

Welcome to the podcast, Erik!

INTERVIEW

Erik Biebighauser

Hey. Thanks a lot, John. It's a pleasure to be here.

John Arnold

Pleasure to have you. Well, as is our custom, before we get started into all the fun stuff, want to do some other fun stuff and get to know you a little bit. So I wonder if you just tell us about yourself, your background, and your career.

Erik Biebighauser

Okay. Will do, John. Again, thanks for having me on. I'm really excited to be part of the KBR family and I'm really thrilled to talk about the acquisition and the integration here today.

As for my background, I grew up in small Midwest farm towns. I was born in Wisconsin. I went to high school in South Dakota. I think back in seventh grade, my family took a road trip and we visited the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and I kind of fell in love with the idea of going to school there. So from that point on that was my goal. And I think I was really motivated by the idea of serving my country and being part of something bigger than myself. So that plan of attending the academy came true. It worked out. And I graduated from the academy in 1996. Then spent the next nine years in the Air Force as an intelligence officer, most of that time in special operations.

The Air Force was a great start to my career. I met my wife at my first assignment where we were both stationed. Both of our kids were born down at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. And so we have a lot of fond memories from our time in the Air Force. After 9/11, 2001, I embarked on multiple deployments, which was a rewarding time to be part of that period in our country's history. But after about four years of deploying a fair bit, we made the choice as a family to resign from the Air Force, resign from active duty and kind of prioritize family with two young kids.

So I made the transition at that point in 2005 to the business world and didn't know much about business. Hard to believe that was almost 20 years ago now. But I joined General Mills as a marketing guy for the next four years. So I moved around in that company learning a thing or two about business and enjoyed that. But I really missed the sense of purpose and mission in that job and in that role. And ultimately that led me to take a job with a small company here in the national capitol region serving an intelligence agency where I had some friends who worked for that company.

And so for the next eight years I worked in an operation center for our customer, which was heavily mission focused on real time operations around the world. And it was the most rewarding work I've ever done. But it was also shift work and after eight years of work and shift work, weekends and holidays and all that, it does wear on you over time.

And about the time I was kind of wearing down the shift work thing, an old friend of mine came along and said, "Hey, I started this company called The Perduco Group, and I need a little help here in the DC area growing this business." And that guy was Steve Chambal, who I had first met back at the academy when we were both cadets. And I said, "Yeah, sure, let's try another career change here and I'm on board." So I joined Perduco back in 2017 and we grew that business, then got acquired by LinQuest in 2019. And then of course LinQuest has now been acquired by KBR just last year in 2024. So the last seven, almost eight years, I've been part of this business that is now part of KBR, and I'm, again, excited about it.

One other sort of tidbit on the personal side, I happen to also be a Christmas tree farmer back about 12 and a half years ago. My wife and I decided to buy a little farmland in Clark County, Virginia, and we started planting Christmas tree seedlings with the idea that someday they would pay us back a little bit if we could ever grow them to size. And we've now just wrapped up our second year of selling Christmas trees as a choose and cut farm. So that's my weekend job, that's my side hustle if you will. And it's been a lot of fun to see it come to fruition. We now live at the farm and our kids who are now in their mid-20s are part of the enterprise. And so it's become a family affair.

So that's a little bit about me. My career certainly hasn't followed an established path. I'm a bit of an independent spirit, I guess you'd say. And it's been fun to choose new adventures. But I'm grateful for life and I believe things kind of work out for a reason, and I love being part of a team with a purpose. And again, I'm just excited to be part of this KBR team.

John Arnold

Well, first of all, thank you for your service. Second of all —

Erik Biebighauser

Well, thank you. It was an honor.

John Arnold

That's outstanding. Second of all, it's awesome to have you as our first guest of the season because after the LinQuest acquisition one of the things that I really want to do in this podcast, and that I hope it comes across, is educate not only our employees at KBR, but also the listening world at large because we have people all over the world listening, to get to know these new segments of our business. And so we're very happy and honored to have you our first member of that LinQuest acquisition integration on the podcast today.

Second of all, as a Christmas tree farmer, I guess you're still sort of a chief growth officer, so that's kind of great.

Erik Biebighauser

Yeah, I think you're absolutely right.

John Arnold

And thirdly, you've hit on something that has become a theme and something that KBR, I think, takes a lot of pride in. And that is offering opportunities for people who have served in uniform in the past to continue doing so in a different capacity in a civilian career. So that's exciting that you're still finding that sense of purpose and that you were doing that prior to joining KBR, but now you have that ability to do so as well now.

Erik Biebighauser

Yeah, that really resonates, John.

John Arnold

So for listeners who might not be familiar, we've mentioned it a couple of times, would you tell us about LinQuest and its capabilities and the clients that you all were serving, that you still serve?

Erik Biebighauser

Sure. Yeah, you bet. Yeah. So LinQuest as a name is actually, it should be referred to in the past tense, I suppose, because we have now officially retired the brand and dissolved LinQuest as a company. We've actually fully integrated that business into KBR in what must be record time, about four months. And really that integration success has been because of the integration playbook that KBR has had and the team within KBR that's put in tremendous effort to get our people integrated and get our organizations integrated. And so it's been a pleasure to be part of that journey.

But we're grateful that we've moved quickly because there's always pain in integration and in this case, the two businesses and cultures are so well aligned that we figured let's just get on with this and get through it so we can begin reaping the rewards, if you will, of being fully integrated. But of course, the business still exists and thrives, and our people are at the heart of that.

So LinQuest had about little over 1500 employees at the time of the acquisition and our capabilities really fall in three main areas. The first is, we call it digital engineering and integration. And we think of this as designing enterprise level architectures for really complex systems of systems. And I know that's a lot of words and some buzzwords in there too. But fundamentally, we are integrating technologies. We're doing that integration in digital environments, using digital models, using data that is integrated, using digital tools that we develop and innovate and doing testing of those systems in digital environments. So there's tremendous efficiencies that are gained by integrating systems of systems in a digital sense as opposed to building physical systems and trying to figure out how they're going to operate. So that's been a cornerstone of the LinQuest business.

The second area of capability is advanced data analytics. And we think of this as developing and applying analytic solutions that enable complex mission decisions. And we do this by leveraging a variety of different algorithms. Some of them are novel and invented by our team. Those algorithms and advanced methodologies include artificial intelligence, which of course is a buzzword that is prevalent in the market today. But essentially, we are applying analytic techniques, advanced methods to derive insight from data to enable our customers to make better decisions. And at its core, that's what that capability is all about.

And then the third capability area from the LinQuest business is what we call electronic warfare systems. That piece of the business actually develops designs, manufactures, integrates and deploys fairly advanced systems that operate in the electromagnetic spectrum for responding to threats, A lot of space-based electronic warfare capabilities that reside within those systems and in that business. Then that's kind a quick overview of our capabilities from a customer perspective, the legacy LinQuest business is about 50% focused on the Space Force. And one of our biggest areas where we have been working for decades now is the military satellite communications enterprise within the Space Force. That's about a $42 billion enterprise. And we are the systems engineering and integration lead in support of the government and managing that entire portfolio of systems.

We also support space operations for a variety of customers within the Space Force. About a quarter of our business is focused on the Air Force. So some of the premier programs we are supporting there include the Department of the Air Force's Battle Network, they call it, which is being developed and implemented by the program executive office for Command Control Communications & Battle Management, C3BM. Of course, there's a lot of acronyms, obviously, with their government customers, but we're part of the C3BM effort. We're also part of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, CCA effort, which is essentially an autonomous aircraft working in harmony with our manned aircraft. And we are part of the digital test and integration effort in support of that. And then about the remaining 25% of our business is a mix of support to the army, the combatant commands, and the intelligence community.

John Arnold

Thanks so much for walking us through that. That is super helpful for me as a marketing professional at KBR, to know more about exactly what those capabilities, how they align with what KBR was already doing well and how it strengthens KBR's portfolio. You mentioned just a moment ago that LinQuest joined the KBR family this past year, and that there were a lot of cultural alignment. What are some of those dynamics? Because it's huge and it helps streamline a big integration like that. Would you mind mentioning or talking about some of those cultural factors that made LinQuest a good fit for KBR?

Erik Biebighauser

Sure. Yeah, I don't mind at all, John. This is one of those points I've talked about repeatedly since we were acquired and even as we were going through the acquisition process. When we entered the process to sell LinQuest as a company, it generated a lot of interest from the market. Well, when we boiled it down to face-to-face meetings with potential buyers, we had about 10 entities interested in buying LinQuest. Those included large publicly traded companies, they included private equity firms, they included mid-sized companies who were looking to grow rapidly. And so we had a lot of meetings and a lot of discussions with potential buyers. And the very first meeting with KBR, which included Stuart Bradie, our CEO, and other members of the senior leadership team, stood out to me as a participant in all these meetings with potential buyers. KBR stood out because of the words that Stuart Bradie used in his opening remarks.

And they went something like this that he said, "Look, we KBR are very interested in LinQuest, but if this deal works out, the most important thing will be that we take care of our people and that we have a place for the people of LinQuest and that there is a fit inside KBR. That's what we care most about. We already know your business. We know that it's strong. Really, the question remains, how do we take care of LinQuest people?" And so that struck me. I found that remarkable and every interaction we had after that first meeting with KBR leadership, I think has emphasized a few points that are absolutely aligned with the culture of LinQuest. There's a mission-first focus, and you alluded to that a few moments ago. That's powerful. And it's very much aligned. It's sort of a mission-first, people always kind of approach, which a lot of companies will give that face time or they'll say the words, but they don't really live it. And I see that KBR actually lives those ideals.

There's also, within the KBR culture, an emphasis on team. And KBR is a team of teams. I think that's powerful. And as I may have alluded to, the leadership of KBR I think has a humility that I admire. It's a humble leadership, and I especially admire that. Inside the special operations community, in the military, there's an ethos that's referred to as quiet professionalism. And the whole idea there really is, "Hey, this isn't about you. This is about the mission. It's about doing your job. Take the mission seriously. Try not to take yourself too seriously." And so I think that the humble leadership I've seen in KBR R is very much aligned with that same ethos, and I admire it.

I'll offer one more kind of anecdote on mission because I think there's a lot of companies out there in our industry and in our market who say, mission and we're here to support the mission, and that's all true. But mission to me is pretty personal. I'll just relate an anecdote from back in 2001. So on September 11th, 2001, I was stationed at Hurlburt Field down in Florida. I was part of a special operation squadron at that time. I was 27 years old, our son had just turned three, and my wife was pregnant with our daughter to be born within a couple of months. And of course the attacks occurred on 911, and I was part of a unit that immediately prepared to deploy.

And so we made those preparations, but as one of the last things that we had to take care of before we deployed, my boss insisted that we all write a letter to our families in case we didn't come home. And I am sorry for lack of composure here, but yeah, this always hits me when I try to relate this. So I wrote the letter and I put it in a sealed a envelope, and I gave it to my boss and we deployed...

John Arnold:

That's okay.

Erik Biebighauser

... and I was fortunate to come home.

John Arnold

Take all the time you need.

Erik Biebighauser

... So I was fortunate to come home, and when I got back home, my boss gave me the unopened envelope with the letter in it, and I still have that letter. It's in a box of letters. It's still unopened, but the act of writing that letter and getting it back is powerful to me. So all of that, really, just to emphasize the point, the mission of our military service members is deeply personal to me. And KBR is filled with people who feel the same way about the missions they support. So mission is more than word here, and I'm grateful to be part of that kind of a team.

John Arnold

First of all, thank you so much for sharing that story. That's incredible, and it really puts into perspective. I think a lot of times that, like you were saying, words get used and meaning sort of gets lost. And to know that for you and for so many others at KBR, that really, really means something personally on a deep, deep level, is inspiring and also instills a sense of hope. And I appreciate you more than I can say, sharing that story, but also want to convey to you how much that makes me excited about my job in 

putting that message out there and what we're doing at KBR and supporting that vision. So again, thanks for sharing that, that's an incredible story.

We've already talked a little bit about, just to switch gears a little bit, you were talking about the breakdown of LinQuest's capabilities. These are very important areas, to put it lightly, strategically for the United States military and its allies, especially as battle fronts move to different arenas completely. And space is becoming contested in some really, really interesting and wild ways, as it's happening with near peer adversaries, being able to put things in space, push satellites or redirect things in space, it's a really interesting time. It's not conventional warfare or war fighting in the way that we have thought about it for the past 50 or 60 years. So I'm wondering if you could break down, just in your perspective, how LinQuest capabilities improve and complement what KBR was already doing well in mission technology solutions?

Erik Biebighauser

Yeah, that's a great question, John. Until last year, when we entered this phase of dialogue with KBR even before the acquisition, my perception of KBR was largely formed from my experiences 20-plus years ago when KBR was the company that ran the dining facility on the bases where I deployed.

John Arnold

Right.

Erik Biebighauser

And so, I thought of KBR as the construction company or the military base operations company. And I've learned, really just last year as we embarked on this integration, that KBR has undergone a very strategic transformation for about the past seven years under the leadership of our CEO and other strategic thinkers in the company. So they built upon these heritage businesses to become a mission technology company, which is why I love the new name of our business segment, Mission Technology Solutions, every single one of those words has significant meaning about our capabilities, what we're about, and how we deliver value for our customers.

So as KBR has undergone this transformation, there have been multiple technology-centric acquisitions over the past several years, LinQuest is just the latest of those. But it's exciting to contribute the legacy LinQuest capabilities to this stable of capabilities that KBR has now accumulated and integrated. But I think fundamentally, LinQuest contributes not only some technology expertise that we've talked about, but also mission expertise. And it's the combination of those two elements, the expertise in the mission, plus the expertise in the technologies, that enable us to apply those technologies to be operationally relevant to the mission. And I've heard others say, in our industry and in our market, things like technology alone is not really innovation, it's the application of new technologies in unique novel ways to actually be relevant to the mission at hand, that's where true innovation lies. And I think that's where KBR has tremendous potential, and I think LinQuest as a company contributes to that, as KBR has already been on that path and on that transformational journey now for a number of years.

John Arnold

I'm scribbling down notes as you're talking, but I think that that's an extremely valuable point for people to really take to heart, that it's the application of tech that makes it relevant, not just creating tech for tech's sake, or in a lot of instances, having AI or machine learning, for example, just to say, "We've got this thing," but if there's not a practical benefit for it, then why use it?

Erik Biebighauser

That's right. And John, if I could expand on that.

John Arnold

Absolutely.

Erik Biebighauser

We run into this all the time in our industry as we work with our customers and we're focused on solving complex mission challenges, repeatedly and over the years, many times, we have encountered companies who have a new technical widget, a new technology or a new application or a new piece of software that they just want to sell to the government, and if only the government could see the value in this thing, wouldn't it be wonderful? Typically, those business models break down in our industry because people can't figure out how to apply them to the mission, they don't know the mission well enough to make it operationally relevant. And so, we are someplace in the middle as a business model and as a company to enable that.

John Arnold

Absolutely. Well, then that leads perfectly into the next question, what are some ways that being able to ideate, develop, deploy, those kinds of innovations, how will that enhanced portfolio benefit KBR customers now and in the future?

Erik Biebighauser

Yeah, great question, and I'll frame it this way. Within our national defense priorities today, there is a significant security need, and our senior leaders talk about it all the time. We must either deter or win a war with China, or maybe even Russia, but certainly we are talking about peer adversaries and the potential for war that is higher than it has probably been in quite some time, and that is sobering, especially when you consider the state of our national defense capabilities in comparison to a potential adversary like China.

So we need to, first and foremost, deter war, and if necessary, win it, and there's several key challenges that we face in meeting that need, and again, these are all things that are publicly talked about at length. For example, one thing we need is a resilient space capability portfolio, capabilities that reside in space are vulnerable, and we need those capabilities to be protected and resilient. That's where our digital engineering and integration capabilities come in and are being used today.

Another area of need of advancement is in autonomous systems, and I mentioned that previously too, but the integration of autonomy into our forces isn't a simple thing. It's not about just the technology, it's about how does that technology operate with our manned craft, with our other systems? How does it exchange data? How do we push decisions with the right data and the right analysis of that data to the right levels across the battlefield so that action can be taken quickly? There's supply chain challenges, supply chain resilience and optimization, that comes from analytics, it comes from logistics network capabilities.

Perhaps the biggest overarching challenge here as we think about all these things is this idea of system of systems integration. And I think fundamentally, in order to deter or win a war with China, we've got to figure out how to integrate lots of complex high-tech systems, and that's not easy. We haven't put in place all the right architectures to enable that integration, and so we've got to build those architectures and we've got to integrate, perhaps one mission at a time, the systems that need to work together. So thinking of the benefit to our customers in terms of system-of-systems integration I think is an area where KBR has a lot to offer.

The only other idea I'll throw out here to piggyback on a previous comment in terms of what is the benefit to our customers of what we can do, it's the capabilities, it's the technology, it's the technical knowhow, it's the mission knowhow to make those technologies relevant, but then there's also this idea of the right business model to be a partner to our government customers. And so, we alluded to it earlier, historically, there have been two categories in government contracting, you are either an original equipment manufacturer, an OEM, or you are a staff augmentation company, so you're basically providing people who augment government functions. And that's been the norm for a long time, and as a company, you could choose one business model or the other, but you couldn't do both, because there were conflicts of interest.

And I think there's recognition today, even on the government side, that what the government needs to tackle some of these really technologically complex challenges is a business model that fits in between those things, where a company, or a whole market of companies really, brings the technological knowhow, but also isn't locked into a specific product that is trying to sell to the government, so therefore, the government can access technology expertise to address the challenges, but not be locked into a 

proprietary, and I think that's the model that KBR fits into. And I think it's a powerful model for our government customers.

John Arnold

Describing that model, that sounds intuitive, what that means from a business growth perspective, because that's an attractive proposition for government customers. As most people know around the world, there's a new old administration in town as of yesterday. So from a business growth perspective, what are you and your teams looking for during this time of transition with the new administration?

Erik Biebighauser

Yeah, that's a fair question, John. I know there's a lot of uncertainties perhaps as there always are, but maybe a few more right now than usual. And I think a lot of folks are a bit focused on those uncertainties. But change to me has always been exciting and so I'm excited about this time of change. Also, I think fundamentally in the midst of all these dynamics, we just need to focus on the fundamentals of growth and of being relevant to our customers. And those fundamentals really, again, come back to understanding the mission needs and being creative in how we apply our capabilities to solve those needs. And if we do that well, if we maintain relevance to our customers' operational missions, then it really doesn't matter what changes occur in the government or in the administration, we will remain relevant and we will continue to grow. So I think this renewed emphasis maybe on government efficiency and operational relevance really is good for us as a business because in our business model, we are directly aligned with those kinds of outcomes.

John Arnold

Outstanding. I'm sidetracking, and I'll delete this from the final recording, but do we need to go into detail then about strategy for continuing to grow and evolve KBR MTS business? Or do you think that you've sort of already addressed that? Do you want to go into some more detail on it?

Erik Biebighauser

Yeah, I think we've fundamentally addressed it. I was just going to repeat the emphasis on the fundamentals, creatively applying the capabilities. We got a 38,000 person technology company and we can be and we are creative in how we apply those capabilities to solve mission needs. But otherwise, I think we've hit it.

John Arnold

Okay. All right. Well then I will skip over to section or question eight and we will buy even a little bit more time for you today. So I'll get a three countdown and then start that. 3, 2, 1.

A lot of people may not be aware because it's fresh, it just has happened earlier this month as a matter of fact. But KBR has officially launched a global awareness campaign. And if any of our listeners have been in the greater metropolitan Washington DC area, particularly at the Pentagon Station, you would've seen some of that new campaign creative.

But the language of that campaign centers around the idea that KBR does things that matter and that when customers or potential employees think about doing work that helps address the great challenges of our time, they should think about KBR. I would love to hear, just as a business growth person, I would love to hear your pitch to someone who's thinking about perhaps a career change, why they should consider KBR.

Erik Biebighauser

Yeah, we do things that matter. That's a really powerful idea and it's true. And it reminds me of a line from the movie Pearl Harbor, which came out in 2001 and maybe the movie didn't get the best reviews critically, but Ben Affleck's character in a scene in the movie has just arrived in England where he volunteered to serve with the Royal Air Force to defend Britain.

And he just arrives and he's eager to get in his airplane and go fight. And his British commander says to him something like, "Are all you Yanks anxious to die?" And his response is, "Not anxious to die, sir. Just anxious to matter." And this idea of doing something that matters, I think, is pretty fundamental to all of us just as people. I think everybody wants to matter in some way, and there are many ways to find meaning in life, but it can be hard to find it in a job sometimes.

And I've been there, I've been in a job where I didn't feel the sense of purpose. And so to someone thinking about joining KBR or looking for the right role, KBR is a great place to grow. It's a great place to be part of something bigger than yourself. KBR is a great company. It's full of amazing people who embrace teamwork. I've been a bit blown away since I've been part of this team at how willing people are to go out of the way to help somebody else on the team and they just sort of jump right in, even if it means more work for them or longer hours. And so I think KBR is a great place for anybody who wants to be part of something special to do work that matters and to grow.

John Arnold

How about to a potential customer, client? What does the pitch to them look like for KBR doing work that matters?

Erik Biebighauser

Yeah, I think to customers, our message usually is something like, "Your mission is our mission." In many cases, we've been in your shoes. And so our expertise in the mission is what enables us to apply technologies that our operationally relevant. We kind of touched on that idea, but I think we are partners in executing the mission and we have a lot to offer in terms of aligning technology and technological capabilities to build solutions that will make a difference for the mission.

John Arnold

I'm sold.

Erik Biebighauser

You're easy.

John Arnold

Well, before I let you go, is there anything you'd like to add?

Erik Biebighauser

I think we've covered it all, John. I'm excited to be part of the KBR team. It's been an honor to go through this process of joining KBR as part of the LinQuest team, and I'm grateful for the opportunities that lie ahead. I'm really excited about the opportunities ahead. I think KBR is a bit of a dark horse right now, and the potential to tell the story of KBR is extremely powerful. So anyway, thanks for having me on and I look forward to working with you and the rest of the KBR team here in the years ahead.

John Arnold

Likewise. On a personal note, I just want to thank you for the reminder that it's about perspective. When you think about doing things that matter, that it is seldom in probably a corporate America or otherwise job that you get to feel like you're contributing to something bigger than yourself. And so yeah, on an existential level that could be big for people, but doing things that matter, there's a lot of power behind that statement and we are tackling a lot of different things and I don't want to ... At the risk of sounding too much like a KBR commercial, it's inspiring to speak with you today to officially welcome you and the rest of your folks from LinQuest to the KBR family. And thanks so much for being with us to kick off the season five opener.

Erik Biebighauser

Thanks so much, John.

CONCLUSION

John Arnold

Not a bad way to start off the new season, right?

We want to send our most sincere thanks to Erik Biebighauser for his time and his candor.

You can tell that he’s passionate about the mission at KBR, and that’s the attitude that you experience over and over again when you meet our people.

AND not for nothing, but if you’re in the Clark County Virginia area next holiday season, be sure to go say hey to Erik and pick up a Christmas tree!

Special thanks to my colleague Kimberly Schwandt, director of Marketing and Communications for KBR Mission Technology Solutions, for her help in setting up this episode.

If you’re interested in learning more about KBR’s capabilities or about possibly joining our global team, you can head to either KBR.com or Think.KBR.com.

If you liked what you heard today, let me invite you to go back and check out our back catalog. As I said in the open, there are 60 episodes for you to peruse on a variety of topics.

Also, if you want to contact us about a potential episode or just to say hi, you can email us at inorbit@kbr.com.

To close our season premier, allow me to thank you once again, dear listeners.

The world’s a little topsy-turvy right now. To say there’s a lot going on would be an understatement.

We want you to know that we appreciate you for taking some time out of what I’m sure is a busy day, checking in with us, and keeping us in YOUR orbit.

Until next time, be kind and take care.