S02 E03 Leadership Lessons from a Defense Industry CEO | Parker Judd

S02 E03 Leadership Lessons from a Defense Industry CEO | Parker Judd

From Untold by Jon Spiesman

April 21, 2026 · 36 min · Season 2 · Episode 3

About this episode

Parker Judd discusses leadership lessons and company culture while scaling GMRE Incorporated in the defense industry.

In this episode of Untold, host Jon Spiesman sits down with Parker Judd, President of GMRE Incorporated, a defense and aerospace engineering firm based in Ogden, Utah. Parker shares how the company has tripled its revenue in recent years and the strategy behind scaling even further while protecting the culture that made the company successful. After spending 17 years at GMRE, Parker rose from engineer to President. In this conversation, he explains what changed when he moved from COO to the president’s chair, how leadership shifts from operations to strategy, and why culture and people must come before numbers when building a lasting company. As GMRE grows from a small business into a much larger competitor in the defense industry, Parker discusses the difficult decisions leaders must make including turning down opportunities that don’t align with the company’s long-term vision. In This Episode, You’ll Learn: Why culture matters more than strategy in fast-growing companies The biggest leadership shift from COO to President How GMRE plans to scale from $60M to a much larger defense contractor The challenge of maintaining a small-company culture during rapid growth How leaders…

People in this episode

Host: Jon Spiesman

Guest: Parker Judd

Topics covered

  • leadership
  • defense industry
  • company culture
  • business growth
  • entrepreneurship

Keywords

  • revenue growth
  • strategic leadership
  • company values
  • customer relationships

Mentioned in this episode

Products: GMRE Incorporated

Books & works: Untold

Places: Ogden, Utah, U.S.

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