Military contractor thinking ahead, diversifying

Tampa Bay Business Journal by Alexis Muellner, Editor

Since 2001, Celestar Corp. in Tampa has grown as a federal defense contractor offering technology assessment and evaluation, systems engineering, and operations support.
Now, talk of sequestration – formulaic budget cuts to federal defense spending – amped forward thinking about how to diversify.

“That accelerated our plans,” said CEO Gregory Celestan. With plans to spin off technology-related units, Celestar is working in app development, events strategy, and content management and consulting, with innovation an overall theme.

The effort provides a broad roadmap for how to diversify, not only to firms focused on defense, but also to small- to mid-sized companies looking for strategies to grow businesses beyond a founding core.