Ask Margarita Howard what has driven HX5‘s success and she will point to her people before any contract or program. The sole owner and CEO/president of the Fort Walton Beach, Florida-based company has presided over a period of sustained growth that now sees HX5 operating in 34 states with a workforce of over 1,000. The company supports the Department of Defense and NASA under a model built on competitive performance and internal culture.
Howard’s path to founding HX5 in 2004 ran through years of federal healthcare administration, including her work on the Tricare program rollout. That experience taught her how government agencies think, what they need from contractors, and how to navigate the organizational complexity of working with large federal clients. “Nobody likes change,” she noted of those early days facilitating Tricare’s introduction, a time that required extensive community engagement at the town hall level.
A Leadership Team Built for the Long Term
HX5’s internal culture is one of the things that distinguishes the company. Howard has built a senior management team that is both diverse and experienced, with many women in leadership positions and numerous executives who have stayed with the company for a decade or more. She views that longevity as a signal of something meaningful. “We were very selective of people that we chose for our management team. And really, I could not be more proud of them,” she said.
For Margarita Howard, the work itself carries a sense of purpose that goes beyond business metrics. “Working side by side with civil servants and the military, supporting their respective missions, is a privilege. I love this business and the work that we do. I’m extremely proud of it,” she said. That pride, expressed consistently across public forums, appears to be genuine, and it filters through to how HX5 positions itself with government clients. See related link for additional information.
Find more information about Margarita Howard on https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2025/11/12/what-will-defense-contracting-look-like-in-10-years/
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