A Professional Journey That Led Home
April 12, 2021
It’s good to be part of a family. King Aerospace Chief Financial Officer Scott Parkinson said his March 30 wings ceremony was an adoption of sorts.
“It felt like I was being welcomed into the family,” says Parkinson. “(President) Jarid King was there and explained how I met the King Aerospace standards and why I was accepted into the King Aerospace family. It felt good to know that I met the high standards that King Aerospace expects of its employees. I’m excited because I really missed being part of a business that treats its employees like family.”
Parkinson joined the company in July 2020, bringing with him more than three decades of experience providing financial oversight of both domestic and international operations, helping to build companies and navigating through complex regulations of U.S. government contracts.
Building Something Special Together
For more than 20 years he worked for Crane & Co., Inc., a company with roots dating back to 1770. Stephen Crane famously sold paper to Paul Revere who printed the American Colonies’ first currency. Crane has been the sole supplier of currency paper to the U.S. Treasury since 1879 and part of Parkinson’s role was to continue that tradition. He had every intention of retiring at Crane, a family-owned company that he helped build. Toward the end of his career with Crane, international expansion put Parkinson in charge of Crane’s finance teams in Sweden and Malta in addition to teams in the United States. When the Crane family sold the company in 2017, many of Parkinson’s colleagues began to leave. He had known many of his colleagues for upwards of 20 years and many had helped build the company with him. The family culture was gone, and “I really missed the camaraderie and the teamwork. I actually felt like a family member had passed away,” says Parkinson.
Parkinson decided to move on. He took a position in Huntsville, AL, to help execute a strategy to grow and spin off a division of a company that had contracts with the U.S. government. After that strategy was abandoned, he decided to continue his search for a company that was growing and needed someone with a varied background and a long history of working with government contracts.
When he talked to Jarid and Jerry King, and other members of the King Aerospace team, “It felt right,” he says. “I accepted the position and knew I made the correct decision even before the first day I showed up. I’m very happy with the company and my role.”
Finding Purpose and Joy
At King Aerospace, he found a company that believes strongly in making a difference for both employees and customers. “I like to say that I used to work for a company that makes money, and now I work for a company that makes a difference,” says Parkinson.
He reports directly to President Jarid King, a second-generation leader. “Jarid grew up in this business and has a tremendous amount of knowledge that is clearly driving King Aerospace’s success. He’s always ready to support his team, our employees and our customers. And that’s important to me. I think highly of Jarid and the King Aerospace culture that he and Jerry have established over the years. Frankly, not everyone is invited to join the family, so I was delighted when I received my wings!”
Parkinson says his first six months were intense as he learned the business and helped with several major projects. But he’s hitting his stride now and enjoying being part of a team with substantial growth potential and incredible, unwavering excellence. “We’re meeting our customer’s operational metrics and earning our incentives, which says a lot about the performance of our ops teams,” says Parkinson.
A case in point: King Aerospace’s contractor logistics support (CLS) work scope for the U.S. Army’s Special Electronic Mission Aircraft (SEMA) fleet expanded in late 2020 to include seven additional locations across the United States and four international sites as well. King Aerospace added more than 200 new hires to support these additional locations. It delivered standup operational support in a mere 30 days. King Aerospace serves as a subcontractor for Northrop Grumman. The contract provides lifecycle services for a fleet of 68 highly modified King Air (C-12), De Havilland Canada Dash 7 (DHC-7) and Dash 8 (DHC-8) turboprop aircraft used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). The contract was awarded in 2017 with options extending to 2026.
“I don’t think the journey that brought me to King Aerospace was simply good luck,” says Parkinson. “I believe this is where I’m supposed to be and I’m happy to call it home.”