Board of Directors

W. Keith McCollum is CEO and Chairman of Aviation & Missile Solutions, LLC. He joined AMS in January 2022 after the divestment of AMS from Dynetics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leidos. Prior to AMS, McCollum had a 31-year Dynetics career in which he managed the Weapons Systems Technologies Division with annual revenue exceeding $100M. He managed radar, seeker and weapons systems analysis, modeling & simulation, and air and missile defense technology efforts that have now become the basis of capabilities AMS provides its customers. He was also the Dynetics Chief Ethics Officer for many years, and served on the ESOP Advisory Committee from 2016 until the completion of the Leidos acquisition in 2020. McCollum earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Auburn University in Electrical Engineering in 1990.

Ms. Griner has 40 years of experience supporting DoD and other Government agencies. Before joining AMS in April 2022, Griner spent 39 years with Dynetics, retiring in 2021 as Vice President of Engineering Services and Solutions and President of then subsidiary AMS, LLC. She was responsible for strategy, operations and performance as well as major corporate captures. Griner also served on the ESOP Advisory Committee from its inception in 2011 through the ESOP dissolution in 2020 after the Leidos acquisition. Griner was instrumental in the transaction to become a 100% S-Corporation and subsequently led the development and implementation of the internal market. Griner earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Physics from Murray State University and a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

Stephen W. Thomas is CFO and COO of Aviation & Missile Solutions, LLC. He joined AMS in January 2022 after the divestment of AMS from Dynetics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leidos. Prior to joining AMS, Thomas had a 25-year Dynetics career in which he was most recently the subsidiary Chief Financial Officer and VP of Finance. Prior to joining operations, he had a 20-year technical career supporting Intelligence and DoD customers. He was a key contributor and founding ESOP Advisory Committee Member during the 100% S-Corporation ESOP transition in 2011. His financial strategy underpinned the analysis of strategic alternatives that resulted in the 1.65B Leidos acquisition of Dynetics. Thomas earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Auburn University in Electrical Engineering in 1995, a Master’s Degree in EE from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1996, and an MBA from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 2018.

Dr. Bendickson retired from Dynetics, Inc. in 2015 after serving as CEO for 25 years. He began his career working for Bell Telephone Laboratories in radar and communications, moving to Teledyne Brown Engineering in 1971 to continue his pursuit of military radar system design and analysis specializing in simulation. In 1974, he joined Dynetics, a startup specializing in radar systems analysis. Over the next 15 years, he rose from project lead to Department Manager leading radar intelligence systems, tactical radars and missile seeker systems. In 1989, he formulated and led a leveraged buyout of the retiring owners via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. As CEO and Chairman, Dynetics grew from 160 employees to over 1,500 with annual sales of over $300M by growing commercial products and services, and hardware prototyping and low-rate production. Several subsidiaries, joint ventures, and regional offices were also created during his tenure.

Mr. Lester was a career-long employee of Dynetics, joining in 1979.  His primary technical contributions came in the areas of systems analysis and systems engineering, with primary emphases on radar systems, phased array antenna technology, signal processing, and algorithm development.  He served in management positions starting with leading small teams of engineers and culminating in the office of President.  He also served in several ancillary capacities as Dynetics grew, including chairing the committee that facilitated the transition of the Company to a 100% ESOP S-Corporation in 2011.  Mr. Lester served on the Board of Directors beginning in 2014, and he retired at the end of 2020. Lester earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Auburn University in Electrical Engineering.