August 4, 2022
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Command Holdings
August 4, 2022
The original article is available here.
A Native American tribe in the Northeast is acquiring one of Tampa Bay’s largest women-owned companies.
Command Holdings, the investment arm of the Connecticut-based Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, struck the deal to purchase WWC Global, one of the largest defense contractors in Tampa Bay, for an undisclosed amount.
WWC Global CEO Lauren Weiner said the deal is “definitely different.”
“A number of tribal entities have made acquisitions, but this is not typical,” Weiner told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “Particularly because we are the centerpiece of the new entity.”
WWC Global will provide the infrastructure for Command Holdings to build upon, she said.
“We bring not just our contracts or our past performance or our revenue, but everything you need to build a viable, best-in-class firm from the outset, instead of organically,” she said. “We look at this as the next iteration of WWC’s growth with a new set of tools and teammates.”
Founded in 2004, WWC Global is a federal contracting firm whose clients include the Department of Defense, the State Department, Department of Energy, the Agency for International Development, and Department of Homeland Security.
The firm has nearly $100 million in annual revenue and over 350 employees in more than 30 contract locations. Over 60% of the firm’s employees are military spouses or veterans. As a Command Holdings subsidiary, WWC Global will maintain its Tampa presence and plans to add to its head count.
WWC Global made history in 2018 when U.S. Special Operations Command awarded the firm a $200 million contract, the largest contract to a women-owned small business in its history.
Weiner and her co-founder, Donna Huneycutt, who also served as WWC Global’s president and COO, along with Chief People Officer Heidi Snell, will join Command Holdings’ executive team, Weiner said.
Cultural alignment played a significant role in the deal, she said.
“The Pequot tribe is incredibly business savvy,” she said. “We recently visited and got to see the inner workings of the tribe, both the business and governance sides, and were really impressed. That’s what attracted us so much to Command Holdings; they were clearly best in class.”
Weiner said Command Holdings is a driving force for the Pequot tribe’s “seven generation strategy,” or its diversification into new business ventures that can sustain the long-term longevity and financial independence of the tribe.
The Foxwoods Resort Casino has long been an economic engine for the Pequot tribe but suffered from shutdowns during the pandemic. Financial shortfalls for the casino began even earlier due to intensifying competition in the Northeast, according to a statement.
“The tribe definitely was intentional about diversifying its economy in industries that can weather different economic downturns and cycles and away from gaming,” Angelina Casanova, a Pequot tribal member and chairwoman of the Command Holdings board of directors, said in the statement.
Casanova said Command Holdings has “reimagined” the tribal gaming industry with its expansion into professional services.
“The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe is an industrious nation,” she said.