Team leaders and team players: that’s an apt description of Newport News-based Marton Technologies, providers of full-spectrum support services for the military, federal government and private sector. From cybersecurity to IT infrastructure, logistics, safety and occupational health and strategic information management, Marton covers all the bases.
The company is able to offer so much because of the highly diverse business backgrounds of its staff. Jacqueline Walton set the standard there. Formerly a GS-13 industrial hygienist with the Navy, she addressed occupational health and safety issues, reducing injury and disease risks among Navy and Marine Corps personnel.
Armed with degrees in environmental and community health from Old Dominion University, Walton was one of a handful of Navy officers that held duel specialties as an industrial hygiene officer and as an environmental health officer. She started Marton in 2005 to offer training in chemical detection services.
The new company qualified as a woman-owned small business, an economically disadvantaged woman-owned small business and a service disabled veteran-owned small business, designations that were essential to its early success.
Like their founder, Marton employees possess a broad range of military, federal government and private sector experience which enables them to provide superior support to the Department of Defense and commercial organizations.
Walton sold the company last year and serves on the board of advisers. Nathaniel Glover was named president and CEO of Marton in July 2016.
Just as it does for its clients, Marton recognizes and resolves its own internal business challenges. When the 2016 acquisition of a large Kansas firm added 300 employees, the company overhauled its human resources division, a change it expects to positively affect the caliber of new hires, Glover said. The same update took place in the accounting department.
One challenge is a constant: finding worthy teammates to partner with on contracts.
“We look for specific qualifications and experiences, well-established companies with proven business backgrounds and financial stability,” Glover said.
Proof the company is growing is its relationship with Cubic Corporation. When Marton Technologies began, Cubic served as an informal business mentor, assisting the younger company in contract bidding and walking them through aspects of business development. These days, Cubic is a teammate, and served as a partner during the Kansas acquisition.
Marton would like to increase its revenue to $100 million in five to eight years. Because the Department of Defense is its largest customer and due to its proximity to Washington, D.C., Hampton Roads will remain its home.
Artile Written by Pamela Nichols at the Virginia Pilot
View orginal article on the Virginia Pilot's website at pilotonline.com
