Steve Rehard has negotiated and executed programs with commercial, U.S. Government, Dept. of Defense, and foreign government / military customers, forming trusted relationships with stakeholders to ensure that work is performed and completed as planned. Steve focuses on operational performance and new product development initiative, and develops and leads programs across functions to improve the customer experience (CX) and financial performance.
Throughout his career, Steve has targeted challenging assignments that have not been initially well-defined or structured. Such assignments require vision, flexibility, “out-of-box” thinking, the ability to plan, execute, and persevere, to lead teams to successful outcomes.
Steve spent 20 years with Honeywell Defense Systems (later called ATK Integrated Systems), working on Contract Management, Business Development and Program Management. He has written and led proposals for U.S. Government, allied government, and commercial customers, and supported the USAF Big Safari Program Office, managing programs where schedule performance had priority over cost. With a solid reputation in executing aerospace an defense international business, Steve negotiated and was awarded contracts directly with 12 international governments. In many cases, Steve served as program manager to execute the contracts he negotiated.
Steve has also worked at ACR Electronics, where he implemented a gate process to better manage company resources and internal investment decision-making. And he led the Operations department at NAL Research Corporation, where his efforts drove record manufacturing deliveries and revenues while supporting the planned transition of the founding owner from the company.
Steve is the COO of Aveopt, Inc. (a communications company) and he serves on the Board of Directors for the Tower Forum (Broward County, FL); he has also served as Vice Chair on the Board of the South Florida Manufacturer’s Association (SFMA). Steve holds a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics degree from the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN), and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN).