Amy Foy, senior vice president of contracts & supply chain at STR, has spent more than 20 years building a career in the defense industry, with a focus on how contracts and supply chain can drive both mission impact and business success.
She’s held a range of leadership roles at Raytheon and most recently, helped stand up a new company at Nightwing, giving her experience across large primes and high-growth environments.
Today, the Bay Stater native is focused on bringing that perspective to a rapidly growing organization by strengthening how teams, processes and tools come together to move faster, scale effectively and deliver for customers.
In this Q&A, Foy shares how she’s navigating her new role, where she sees the biggest opportunities and challenges ahead, and the lessons that have shaped her career along the way.
Can you provide a brief overview of your professional background and career progression?
I’ve worked in the defense industry for over two decades. In college, I interned at Foster-Miller, where I was first introduced to the defense sector and gained exposure to contracts. I enjoyed that every day was different and that contracts touch so many aspects of the organization—one of the few areas that truly connects all functions across a company.
After that experience, I joined Raytheon’s Contracts Leadership Development Program and spent 20 years there in various contracts and supply chain roles at both the business and corporate levels. I had the opportunity to lead functional operations for contracts—people, processes, and tools—and to support DoD, international, and commercial programs. I then spent two years at Nightwing, where I helped execute a divestiture and stand up a new company. In May, I joined STR to lead Contracts & Supply Chain. After working for a large prime and helping build a private equity–backed portfolio company, STR was a great opportunity to leverage that experience at a rapidly growing, smaller company with a diverse customer base.
Why was this the path you chose, and how influential was it to your career?
The most important factor in my career decisions has been staying in Massachusetts to be close to my family. My parents instilled in me early on that family comes first. This was during a time when geographic rotations were strongly encouraged for career development, so I had to chart my own path. That meant being very intentional: finding roles that offered new experiences, greater responsibility, and broader scope while still allowing me to call Boston home.
I had to be honest with myself about what I wanted, be comfortable turning down opportunities that didn’t align with my personal goals and actively seek out other ways that would still enable growth and acceleration. Now, as a mom, I continue to look for opportunities that allow me to wear my most important title—mom—while contributing at a high level professionally and while being present for my family.
Do you have a personal connection to the current mission you support?
I feel a strong connection to STR’s focus on mission impact and innovation. Being able use my experience to help accelerate critical capabilities to the field is meaningful to me, and it’s a big part of why I chose to be here.
What are your current top priorities and responsibilities? How do these relate to your company’s overall mission/growth strategy?
a. My top priority is transitioning into my new role at STR and transforming Contracts and Supply Chain (C&SC) into a strategic enabler for growth, speed, and mission impact. STR’s Tech-Enabled Services (TES) strategy focuses on building reusable software and hardware that can be rapidly deployed across multiple missions. To make that possible, my team must operate with speed, agility, and efficiency. My responsibilities center on strengthening our people, processes, and technology so that Contracts and Supply Chain can support faster execution, scalable delivery, and better alignment with customer needs—directly enabling STR to achieve its TES strategy and overall growth objectives.
Where do you and your team see growth opportunities in your current field or portfolio you support, or what do you anticipate to be your customers’ top pain points?
I see significant growth opportunities in areas where STR can help customers move faster and scale more effectively—particularly in tech-enabled services that combine reusable software, hardware, and mission expertise. As threats evolve and missions become more complex, our customers increasingly need solutions that are modular, rapidly deployable, and interoperable across customers, missions, programs and platforms. Our customers’ top pain points are speed, flexibility, and predictability. They need faster contracting and procurement cycles to keep pace with mission needs and reliable, resilient supply chains that reduce schedule and performance risk
How are you and your team planning to address/prepare for these opportunities?
By strengthening our people, processes, and tools, my team is focused on reducing friction across the value chain—from proposal through award and execution—so we can help our customers get increased capability to the field more quickly and with greater confidence. We’re investing in building a high-performing team with the right mix of expertise so we can be better strategic partners to the business. We’re also examining our workflows with an emphasis on automation, cycle time, risk management, and scalability. This includes clearer roles, better handoffs, and more proactive engagement with programs and customers. Together, these efforts position Contracts and Supply Chain to enable STR’s growth and respond more quickly and effectively to customer needs.
How important is mentorship & networking in GovCon? Were they influential to your career?
My peers, mentors, network, and advocates have been integral to my career. I would not be where I am today without each of these groups. Mentors have been invaluable as sounding boards, helping me think through decisions and challenges. My broader network has supported my transition into leadership and kept me connected to what’s happening across the industry and within our field. What made the biggest difference, though, were my advocates. Through strong on the job performance, I built relationships with leaders who were willing to vouch for me and sponsor me for special projects, new assignments, and new roles. My position at STR is a great example of how your network and advocates can open doors to new opportunities at the right time for you.
What is something most people don’t know about you personally?
I’ve lived my entire life in Massachusetts and genuinely love it—especially experiencing all four seasons with my kids, Mya and JR. We ski in the winter, hit the beaches in the summer, and I watch them play sports all year long, no matter the crazy, unpredictable weather.