UnFiltered
On Tuesday, we announced that Greenbriar Equity Group has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Spectrum Control from AEA Investors. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and until it closes, AEA remains our owner and we operate exactly as we do today. I want to spend a few minutes on what this means for the two groups of people who matter most in a moment like this: our customers and our employees.
I have been on the other side of announcements like this more than once. ITT became Exelis, Exelis became Harris, and I ran an electronic warfare business through all of it. I know the first question is never about the press release. The first question is what this means for me, my program, my part, my job. So I am going to answer those questions as directly as I can.
“Greenbriar saw the company we have been building over the last four years and decided that is the team they want to back.”
A partner who understands the market
When you think about what a supplier in this industry needs from an owner, it is not complicated. You need someone who understands that a defense program runs 10, 15, 20 years, that a qualified part does not get swapped out because a spreadsheet says so, and that the customer’s schedule is the only schedule that matters. Greenbriar has spent decades investing in aerospace and defense businesses. They know how the primes buy, they know what a long-cycle program looks like from the inside, and they did their homework on us. That last part matters to me. They are not buying a catalog. They saw the company we have been building over the last four years and decided that is the team they want to back.
I spent the first half of my career as the customer, writing requirements and sitting in source selections at Grumman and ITT. The people I evaluated suppliers alongside are the people I sell to now, which means I know exactly what they look for when a supplier changes hands. They look for whether the team stays, whether the investment continues, and whether product quality will remain prioritized in support of our customers. I would not have supported this agreement if I thought any of those core tenants of our business were at risk.
The support to keep building
Four years ago, when I got here, turnover was running around 30 percent. The most recent quarter was 5 percent. That is not a vanity number. When you are qualifying a supplier, turnover is the figure that tells you whether the person who built your last lot will be there to build the next one. We released 6 times more new products in 2025 than we did in 2022. We put new equipment in Fairview, new equipment in Philadelphia, new equipment in Marlboro, new equipment in Ann Arbor, new equipment in Mexico, new equipment in Great Yarmouth. None of that happened by accident, and none of it was cheap. AEA backed every one of those decisions, and I am really grateful for the partnership we have had with them.
I will also concede that we are not finished. Some of our processes are still catching up to the size of the company we have become. A new owner does not make that work go away; it gives us the runway to finish it. Greenbriar intends to support continued investment in engineering, in new product development, and in manufacturing, which means the things our customers have been asking us to do more of are the things we will keep doing going forward. The test a customer applies to a supplier in this environment is simple: can you innovate, adapt, and deliver on the schedule the program actually needs? That test does not change with ownership, and our answer to it does not either.
“This is the part I want to be really clear about. I am staying. The leadership team is staying. Your program manager, your sales engineer, your quality contact, your buyer, the people on the floor in every one of our sites: all of them are doing the same jobs tomorrow that they did yesterday.”
The team stays in place
This is the part I want to be really clear about. I am staying. The leadership team is staying. Your program manager, your sales engineer, your quality contact, your buyer, the people on the floor in every one of our sites: all of them are doing the same jobs tomorrow that they did yesterday. No changes to jobs, facilities, benefits, or how we work with customers are being announced today. Purchase orders, delivery commitments, quality agreements, and contacts all stand.
I know from experience that the most expensive thing an ownership change can do is distract a company from its customers. When people spend their days wondering what is coming instead of doing the work; focus can drift, and customers will notice, which means the value everyone was trying to protect starts to erode. So, my instruction to our team is the same as it was last week: take care of the customer in front of you. The transaction will take care of itself.
For our employees, there will be questions I cannot answer yet, that will be finalized as the transaction closes. I would rather tell you that than guess. We will keep you updated as the process moves, and if you hear something that does not match what I have said here, ask your manager or ask me.
Why it matters
I think about purpose a lot, and I think most of the people who work here do too. A Spectrum Control filter, a power module, an RF front end does not end up on a shelf. It ends up on an aircraft, a ship, a ground vehicle, or a satellite, in the hands of someone who has to trust that it works the first time and every time after that. The people who operate those platforms are somebody’s son, somebody’s daughter, somebody’s parent, and they do not get to choose their supplier. We choose for them, every day, in how carefully we do our work.
That is what our employees have here: something worth believing in. When I got here, I said the measure of this company would be whether the people who wear the uniform are safer because we exist. Ownership has changed before. It goes back to Great Yarmouth building for the defense of free nations in the Second World War, and it has passed through a lot of names since. What has not changed is the reason to show up. Going forward, Greenbriar becomes part of that story. The work still belongs to the people who do it, and the work still matters.