INTERVIEW with Todd Stirtzinger, CEO at Galvion

1. How long have you been the CEO at Galvion and what has been your primary focus since taking over the appointment?

I was fortunate enough to be selected as the Galvion CEO just over 1 year ago. After 20+ years of success as a founder-led organization, Galvion’s founder Jonathan Blanshay decided that the organization was ready for its next chapter of growth and made the bold move of entrusting Galvion to new leadership. At the same time, Jonathan moved into the Executive Chairman role and remains very active in the business.

Since joining Galvion, a tremendous amount of focus has been placed on restructuring the organization, recruiting and hiring new talent to augment an existing strong team, and refreshing our long-range strategic plan. Our growth projections and long-term aspirations are the driving force behind the need for the restructuring and augmenting the team.  Galvion is positioned for an accelerated growth rate over the next 3+ years.

It has been an exciting and energizing first year, and thus, the year has flown by rapidly.  I am extremely pleased with the team we have in place today and with the growth strategy we have developed.

2. What are some of Galvion’s current key programs, projects and priorities?

I had the good fortune of joining an organization that has a great market reputation and a foundation of repeat customers. That said, Galvion has also recently won some very key programs. One of these programs is our framework contract with the NATO Support & Procurement Agency (NSPA) for our flagship Caiman helmet system.  Selected for its ability to scale across a spectrum of end-user communities and operational missions, Galvion’s Caiman helmet is fast becoming the go-to helmet across NATO and other European agencies. The Caiman is more than a helmet as we have added a suite of Batlchk^TM accessories that are available on the NSPA contract and are battle tested by Galvion, turning our Caiman helmet into a fully integrated head system.

Another hallmark attribute of Galvion is our agility and responsiveness to customer needs and market demands. Given today’s world events and conflicts, Galvion remains committed to being responsive to customers operating in harsh and dangerous environments by providing quick turn products with shortened lead times. Our ability to shift priorities and quickly customize products for our customers has resulted in several key wins for both our Tactical Head Solutions and Power & Data Systems products.

While Galvion is mostly known for our portfolio of helmets and head systems, Galvion’s family of expeditionary power, power management, and data distribution systems are gaining traction in the market, propelled by recent wins to deliver SoloPack Battery Packs, Mission Adaptive Charging Stations (MAX-8), and Power & Data Hubs to the USMC, the US Army, and for key opportunities with partners across the globe including Europe, the Middle East and the Far East .

3. How does Galvion differentiate itself in the market to satisfy customer demands?

Galvion’s portfolio of solutions is predominately targeted for the world’s most demanding military and tactical teams with a focus on providing integrated solutions that allow them to go beyond what they thought possible. Our products directly interface with the end-user by being worn on the head or torso and are intended to integrate with other devices deployed with our customers. Our engineers and technologist take a human-centric approach to design and product development and keep three primary objectives in mind when designing every solution: 1) it all starts with the individual end-user, the person; 2) our solutions must seamlessly integrate into the end-users’ ecosystem; 3) our products must not only meet all specifications and perform 100% of the time, but the products must also meet the unique demands of every individual end-user.

Galvion takes pride in gaining keen user insights, combined with advanced design, to ensure our customers get the products and solutions that meet the unique demands of their specific missions.

4. Looking at the current industry landscape, what are the most significant trends impacting your business?

If one were to ask this question just a short 5 years ago, the answer would be dramatically different. Much of the focus back then had shifted from the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) to the more pressing concerns of near-peer threats. Significant investment was being made in cyber warfare, hypersonic weapons, and long-range stand-off platforms. The thought of a ground war and deploying “boots on the ground” was not forgotten, but based on global defense budgets, it was clear that support for the dismounted warfighter had certainly been deprioritized. Then came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine followed by other global conflicts including the Middle East.

So, while the attention on cyber warfare and long-range platforms and weaponry remain, we are seeing a resurgence in the procurement of dismounted warfighter equipment. Additionally, there is an increased focus on integrating more and more technology on the battlefield. The use of commercial technology, adapted for military use, is surging at an exponential rate. From hardware such as phones, drones, and heads-up-displays (HUDS) to wireless technologies, advanced and alternative power sources to commercially available software, AI and machine learning. The soldier is becoming a critical node in this vast technologically enhanced battlefield and Galvion is well positioned to address this shift in the market.

Traditional means of defining solutions and designing products are no longer enough. The thirst for providing real-time information and data to the warfighter is ever growing. The ability to quickly assess how to integrate technology into the soldier’s ecosystem and products, while also understanding the cognitive impact of infusing data is critical. To meet this demand, Galvion has invested millions of dollars developing a state-of-the-art, purpose-built Warfighter Lab to be able to truly understand the effects of changing the physical, cognitive and sensory loads on the warfighter. This cutting-edge research and testing lab is an immersive environment utilizing full reality to mixed and virtual reality capabilities that are singularly unique in industry. The immersive, almost theatrical environment deploys high-speed cameras, infrared probes attached to subjects and equipment, 3-D battlefield sound and acoustics, 2-D firing simulation, a fully configurable shoot house, and the ability to transition from indoor to outdoor scenarios. All of this augmented with cognitive and physio software and analytics. The Warfighter Lab provides Galvion with the ability to iterate product designs, system solutions and software in real-time, early in the design and often throughout the design lifecycle, resulting in an optimized solution for our customers.

Augmented by our Warfighter Lab, Galvion is developing advanced integrated soldier systems and solutions. Our advanced head systems include compute-on-the-head, scalable power and data fusion. Add in the ability to integrate with power and data equipment on the torso, the result is a true soldier system integration solution. All of this is designed in an open architecture framework allowing Galvion’s systems to integrate with already fielded soldier equipment such as fused night vision goggles, end-user devices, tactical radios, drones, smart watches and other battlefield sensors.

As the trend toward a more technologically advanced battlefield continues, Galvion is positioned well to meet the growing demands.

5. What excites you most about the upcoming opportunities for Galvion?

I am very excited about our expansion into Europe with the addition of a European Production Hub in Gdansk, Poland. As the global demand for Galvion’s products grow, having a facility closer to our European customers is very important. As an example, we expect to have an installed base of over 1.5M helmets and head systems in Europe by 2026, in addition to an ever-growing market share for our Power & Data systems.

The European Hub is expected to be fully operational in late summer to early autumn of this year. Initial capabilities will be focused on assembly and support of Galvion’s head systems. Over the coming years, we are expecting to add the ability to manufacture and support our Power & Data product lines as well as embedding engineering and design capabilities in Poland.

As you can see, there is much to be excited about at Galvion. From an ever-expanding customer base to a growing market share for our Tactical Head Solutions and Power & Data Systems, to the integration of technologies and the move toward fully integrated soldier systems. Galvion has the team, the design and product development capabilities, the human factors expertise, the manufacturing capacity and sophisticated tools such as our Warfighter Lab to meet the most challenging demands our customers are facing now and well into the future.