NJ Biz: Bringing Military Discipline to Business Practices

Retired Lieutenant General helps firms improve project management

Andrew Sheldon
As Published in NJBIZ

November 10, 2014

Frank Libutti, President & CEO of PS&S Global, served in the Marine Corps for 35 years. - (AARON HOUSTON)

But the firm didn't find the demand it had hoped for in that area, so it shifted to a niche in traditional project management.

Its executives wouldn't be running their own business efficiently if they hadn't done so.

“It's what we initially looked at, but it's not off the table,” Libutti said. “It's still something we would do if the opportunity presents itself in support of a larger company that has a requirement for a diversity company like ours, then we would pursue that aggressively.”

The company has now focused its business development efforts in the power utility and life sciences industries. Part of ensuring efficiency is making sure each job and contract is customized for — not just each industry — but each company.

“We would talk to the client and review what the project was and we'd decide whether we could do that for them, provide supervision and overwatch,” he said. “That's a negotiated sort of thing in terms of tasks, operations and priorities.”

This specificity, accompanied by the ability to find the right people for the job, allows them to step outside the project management box when needed.

“Right now, aside from the project management side of our company, we're providing technical experts to clients,” Libutti said.

Two companies receiving technical assistance are National Grid and UGI, both working in power distribution, which utilized PS&S's technical services to support gas pipeline inspectors.

Libutti’s military training applies to how he manages a team: by being goal-oriented and team-centered — and communicating clearly. “I’ve learned to trust the people around me and take care of them,” he said.

The company, recognized by the federal government as a service-disabled veteran-owned business, actively looks to provide veterans with jobs. With five veterans on its workforce, more than half the PS&S team is comprised of former military personnel.

Frank Libutti is all about the mission — and as a retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant general who served from 1966 to 2001, he brings that level of focus and attention to his dealings as president and CEO of PS&S Global.

His 35 years of military history is even echoed in how he discusses his business as a third-party operations manager.

“The mission focus of the company is on performing project management or program management with a target set — in terms of our client range — in the utility area and the pharmaceutical area,” he said. “We will chase, and bring in under our wing, qualified people to be a part of our team and charge ahead looking to be successful in support of a customer or client.”

Generally, Libutti and his team are there to make your company run more efficiently as they take the lead through various projects.

When PS&S Global was founded in 2010, one obvious avenue to accomplish this was to find ways in which companies were wasting electrical energy and cut their costs by pushing them toward going green.