June 13, 2006 Laurel, Maryland

An aerospace services company founded by two Capitol College alumni won NASA’s 2005 George M. Low Quality Award, the agency’s highest honor for quality and technical performance.

SGT Inc. employees and leaders gathered on the Capitol College campus May 31 to celebrate the recognition that is bestowed annually to only four companies in the country.

SGT, founded by Harold Stinger, BS92, and Kam Ghaffarian, BS82, was nominated by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

"In order to get this award, you have to be the best,” Sen. Barbara Mikulski said to the audience of nearly 300. “SGT was named the best in the small business category, but there is nothing small about SGT. In 1994 Harold and Kam had a dream to build a company to provide service to the space industry. Nobody wanted to give them the time of day. ... Wherever there is an important project to be done, you’ll find SGT in the mix.”

Despite the numerous obstacles, they built their company, originally employing 140. Today, the company has more than 900 employees with an annual revenue of $150 million.

In accepting the award, Stinger repeatedly told those gathered employees that the award wasn’t about his work or the company. Instead, it was about the performance of every individual SGT employee.

“What makes us special is no matter when you go in the company, you find people doing the best they can," Stinger said. "Kam and I feel that way, and that is why this is your award.”

The trophy is awarded in memory of George Low, a NASA deputy administrator whose contributions helped develop the space program. Low’s son, David, attended the presentation, as did NASA Goddard Director Edward Weiler. The embedded medallion in the trophy is the shape of an Apollo command module and contains a portion of an artifact flown to the moon and back on Apollo 11 – the first manned lunar landing mission.

SGT, based in Greenbelt, supports 30 active contracts for several government agencies. It won two NASA Goddard Contractor Excellence Awards (2001 and 2005) and was a semi-finalist in 2003 for the Low Award.