Cathy Osten

Local Defense Subcontractor Asks Sen. Osten for Help in Growing Its Workforce

NORWICH – American Systems, the defense subcontractor located at 40 Wisconsin Avenue in Norwich, hosted state Senator Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) for a two-hour tour this morning to make an announcement and to ask a question.

The announcement? American Systems has just been selected to work on two new U.S. Department of Defense submarine-related contracts. The question? Can you help us grow our workforce as we look to hire 15 more people as soon as possible?

The new work will also require American Systems to expand: they will be moving their existing HQ and 110 employees to a larger headquarters just down the street in Norwich.
“Of course I started making phone calls as soon as I left the building,” Sen. Osten said today. “I called Congressman Joe Courtney’s office, John Beauregard at the Eastern Workforce Investment Board, and David Lehman at the state Department of Economic and Community Development. We’ll get them the people they need and anything else they ask for. When jobs are on the line, when a local company is looking to expand and increase its profile, when our Defense Department is counting on a Connecticut subcontractor to get the job done, we’ll come through.”

Sen. Osten toured the facility with John H. Leckie, Vice President and Director of the Engineering Services Division, and Technical Director John Ketcham.

“It was very nice to meet Senator Osten. She’s very detailed and very knowledgeable. It was a very good visit,” Leckie said. “We’ve been in Norwich since 2008. We are a company that draws on the local workforce in the State of Connecticut that has specific skills. We’re trying to gain a little higher profile in the technical schools because they train the students in the skills that we need. We’re also real big on hiring ex-military people. So we’re looking for any assistance that can help us achieve our hiring goals.”

Headquartered outside of Washington, D.C., American Systems is a government services contractor that has been delivering information technology and engineering solutions to complex national priority programs since 1975. American Systems has 1,400 employees at 25 offices in Connecticut, Arizona, Hawaii, Virginia, California, Maryland, New Mexico, Washington, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia.

American Systems’ announcement comes just one week after Beauregard and the Eastern Workforce Investment Board announced that manufacturing jobs in eastern Connecticut have increased 11.3% since 2015, which is four times the state average and twice the national average. Two-thirds of all manufacturing employment growth in Connecticut over that time period occurred in the 41 EWIB towns in eastern Connecticut.