BATTLESPACE Editor Julian Nettlefold connects with Eric Kaled – President of SPX Communication Technologies and Genfare at SPX Technologies – as candidate for BATTLESPACE Businessman of the Year 2024.
Tell us a bit about SPX Technologies and your role within the business.
SPX Technologies is a global specialist in building innovative next-generation technologies that ensure a smarter, more secure future for all. Since joining SPX in 2019, my role has evolved, and I am now President of SPX Communication Technologies – formed by TCI and Enterprise Control Systems – and the transportation company Genfare, as part of SPX Technologies detection and measurement platform.
With over 10,000 employees globally, I lead a team committed to making easy-to-use high-tech solutions that solve some of the world’s biggest challenges today. I’m proud to be on the company’s executive council for diversity and inclusion and a facilitator of the sponsorship of our executive leadership programme. I’m also part of our executive software council for engineering development, focused on innovation, and an executive leadership member for enterprise-wide activities and influence.
How did your career start?
Since my early college days in engineering, I’ve been excited about innovation and solving problems creatively, which is what I believe technology is all about. Regardless of the industry, I’ve always been a firm believer that you can innovate and solve problems, whether they’re purely technological or involve applications such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), or the Internet of Things (IoT).
After graduating, my work experience has been quite diverse. I’ve been fortunate to work in over 20 countries, within many disciplines and at different levels. Before joining SPX Technologies, I held executive leadership roles across CraneCo, including payment, merchandising and process flow technologies for the chemical, refining, and power industries. I spent over two decades at the intersection of growth, optimisation, and business acquisition, stewarding businesses and cultivating leaders in publicly traded B2B companies spanning fintech, retail, mobile, gaming, transportation, and industrial manufacturing. These experiences have ultimately allowed me to grow to where I am today at SPX Technologies.
How is SPX Technologies supporting modern battlespace operations?
Defence teams and governments rely heavily on real-time spectrum monitoring and data transmission that help protect entire communities within and outside national borders. At SPX Communication Technologies we specialise in Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum technologies which enables them to do this faster and more accurately than ever.
Our primary goal is to use our RF technology to deliver innovation and progress. It’s been three years since TCI and Enterprise Control Systems (ECS) joined forces and combined decades of expertise in RF countermeasures, encrypted data links systems, and leading RF detection and location systems, creating the global infrastructure we know today as SPX Communication Technologies. Since then, we’ve made some significant changes in our company structure, and rapidly expanded business operations, culminating in multi-million contract wins for the first jointly developed BLACKTALON counter unmanned aerial systems (counter-UAS) solution. BLACKTALON is proven in active conflict and is currently deployed across the globe.
Can you go into a little more detail on BLACKTALON?
BLACKTALON is a scalable solution that detects, tracks, and defeats UAS engaged in hostile activity or surveillance by nuisance drone enthusiasts, insurgents, state actors, or hostile militaries. It provides comprehensive situational awareness and mitigation as a standalone or networked capability, a multi-layered counter-UAS, or a component of a Ground-Based Air Defence (GBAD) system.
BLACKTALON’s cutting-edge technology provides defence and security teams with the necessary capabilities to maintain airspace dominance and protect critical assets from the evolving UAS landscape. What’s more, we’re currently working on taking this even further with advanced customisation features which we look forward to sharing in the coming months.
How are you helping defence teams stay one step ahead?
First and foremost, we listen to our customers. Their perspective is essential to informing our business strategy, particularly when it comes to product development and innovation. The SPX Communication Technologies team regularly meets with customers from across the world to learn about their challenges, how their requirements are evolving, and to ensure we understand their problems from their point of view.
We also review and assess global challenges and trends, which allows us to be ready to adapt and evolve as the world and our end-users require. Additionally, in order to best support customers, we’ve built a strong network of global in-country partners. Having these local representatives across nations allows us to keep up with local issues, identify specific needs and deliver the right products even faster – even in the places that are hard to reach due to geopolitical and social tensions.
The most recent example of this is SPX Communication Technologies’ extended partnership with Depicon, a Belgium-based business development company that has been granted exclusive rights to offer our Tactical Data Link portfolio to aerospace and defence organisations in the Benelux region.
Ultimately, in order to address challenges with the appropriate solution we’re combining our proven technology with local expertise to provide the appropriate solution.
Can you share your immediate goals for SPX Technologies?
A key goal is to hit our performance targets for both business divisions – SPX Communication Technologies and Genfare – and continue building on our biggest accomplishments to date: embracing our culture and diversity as an organisation, celebrating successes and supporting others to continue making a positive impact on the world around us.
As we continue to scale our operations, our employees will be presented with a unique opportunity to grow in their individual careers and be a part of a larger corporate framework, engaging with different types of business models. As solution manufacturers – and to continue supporting customers and partners across the globe – we must also focus on staying one step ahead. We deliver the latest advancements in radars, RF detection, electro-optical / Infra-Red imagery and jammers in a multi-sensory approach to ensure a smarter, more secure future for all.
Is there anything you would change about your professional journey?
I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve been fortunate to have done business in more than 20 countries, and managed teams across sites in the UK, Switzerland, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Mexico, Australia, Canada and the US. My career has seen me navigate multiple industries, technologies and functional leads, which have ultimately allowed me to grow to where I am today.
What are the most valuable pieces of advice you’ve received during your career?
A valuable piece of advice from early on in my career was on the importance of being perceptive and flexible about other people’s styles. Today, as an advocate of corporate diversity and inclusion, one of the aspects I still find most challenging is embracing new approaches and ways of working. Being mindful of and open to enabling different styles throughout all levels of the organisation positively impacts culture, leadership, overall communication and, ultimately, growth.
The second is that business success truly depends on people, and the ability to hire talent that will make the company successful. While many leaders highlight the importance of employees, it’s crucial to back up that principle. Investing time in the selection, interview and onboarding processes for new hires allows new talent to understand and evaluate how they will make a positive impact. Essentially, if you believe people are the key to making your company and team successful, then you must prioritise your own time in building a unifying culture and direction, aligning with individuals and making sure you are also taking the advice you’re giving others.
What are your career ambitions and have you reached them yet?
At this stage, one of the main ambitions for my career is to continue to mature and grow with each year and new experience. Historically, my mindset was to strive for a specific role or a position, but today the aspiration is to make a bigger, broader impact on the world and on people. Positive experiences, with individuals or with a team, are energising. Whether it’s during our company “Town Hall” meetings, looking at a specific problem to solve, or another business to acquire, it’s about that positive impact we can collectively make on people, teams and individuals. Beyond any title, this is my concentration for improvement.
What does it mean to be a candidate for BATTLESPACE Businessperson of the Year 2024?
It’s an honour to be nominated for such recognition. It’s a testament not only to my own professional journey but also to the work of the entire team at SPX Technologies, including our 10,000 members, who work together to deliver exceptional products and services that meet the needs of an ever changing world.