Finalist
Business Services & Staffing
Linda Moorehead isn’t one to panic. After all, when you’re handling logistics for the International Space Station you need a steady hand and a cool demeanor because many things can go wrong and the client counting on you to fix them is in orbit around the Earth.
So it should come as no surprise that in January 2003 when Moorehead learned that her employer, BLACKHAWK Management Corp., was $1.5 million in the red and on the verge of collapse, she didn’t start polishing her resume and prepare for a job search.
Instead, the then-human resources director decided to buy the company and take over as its CEO.
Despite its financial troubles, Moorehead knew the organization had a good core concept — providing engineering, information technology, logistics and maintenance, and program management services to organizations such as the Department of Defense and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The business model just needed a little tweaking.
As new owner and CEO, Moorehead quickly introduced numerous changes aimed at turning the company around. She empowered vice presidents in the field to take a more active role in marketing. She brought together her managers and other employees and took an assessment of everyone’s strengths. She stressed a focus on the customer, and she began to think about how to expand BLACKHAWK’s business prospects beyond traditional military sites and into other areas of its employees’ expertise.
The moves paid off, and it didn’t take long for Moorehead to move the company from the red and back into the black. She also turned the company into a family business, bringing her husband and two sons into the company.
Today, six years after she purchased the business, BLACKHAWK employs more than 250 people and operates nine locations across the U.S. and in Iraq and Afghanistan.
How to reach: BLACKHAWK Management Corp., (281) 286-5751 or www.blackhawkmgmt.com
