Client success stories Taking a defense contractor’s business to new heights

During his 24-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, John Albers fulfilled his boyhood dream of flying fighter jets. He also spent time overseeing the purchase of aircraft and other gear that service members need to do their jobs.

“That assignment essentially made me the customer and led me to really understand the business side of supporting our military,” says John, now CEO of Albers Aerospace. “Now, I’m building the company I wanted to work with when I was the customer.”

John founded Albers Aerospace in 2015 with little more than a vision and a “get stuff done” attitude. Today, the company supports the defense industry through three main business units:

• Industrials, which includes the manufacture of aircraft parts and avionics, as well as the fabrication of container systems for both government and commercial use
• Aviation services, which includes flight testing and aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO)
• Innovation, which includes engineering services and the research and development of emerging technologies for military applications

The Albers of today is the result of an ambitious acquisition strategy the company began in 2021. Through their “buy and build” plan, Albers has added capabilities, gained customers, and increased market share on the way to becoming one of Inc.com’s 5,000 fastest-growing U.S. companies in 2022 and 2023.

“To really support the warfighter at scale, you have to have size,” says John. “Our pursuit of size is not for the sake of size alone but for the capability to meet the warfighter’s mission.”

Albers Aerospace grew quickly—but not without challenges. John says the biggest obstacles have been maintaining the company’s culture and securing capital to fund acquisitions.

As he was pursuing that capital, John says it became clear that his business had outgrown the capabilities of his former bank. In addition to not being able to accommodate a syndicated loan, he says, they lacked the depth and resources to provide the strategic insights and advice he needed to grow.

“A good bank is more than just a capital provider,” says John. “It’s a resource that adds value in other ways.”

For that deeper level of service, John turned to Truist relationship manager Marvin McHellon, whom he’d initially met when Albers Aerospace first relocated to McKinney, Texas.

“At the time, I was acting as an ambassador for the McKinney Chamber of Commerce,” says Marvin. “I knew that Albers Aerospace was a growing company and that Truist’s specialization and dedicated loan officers in government contracting could be useful to them. I did some research and reached out to John so he would have some background on our capabilities.”

The two stayed in touch, with Marvin providing quarterly insights from Truist’s industry specialists in government contracting. And in 2023, Marvin helped John secure a $35 million credit facility to refinance debt and fund acquisitions. John says Marvin’s proactive approach and the entire Truist team’s effective communication were differentiators in sealing the transaction—and their ongoing relationship.

“I’ve been told, ‘no,’ by banks a thousand times,” says John. “Marvin and the team at Truist said, ‘Here’s what you need to do to secure this financing.’ And then we made it happen together.”

While John worked to meet the performance metrics that Marvin outlined, Marvin continued researching ways Truist could support Albers Aerospace beyond financing. So far, Marvin has connected John with resources across Truist to provide acquisition targets, market analysis, commodity hedging for aluminum purchases, and a commercial card program to help optimize day-to-day cash flow.

“John was quickly able to see that we were not just going to be a financing partner,” says Marvin. “He knows we’re a true side-by-side partner that can grow with him for the long term.”

Since 2015, John has taken Albers Aerospace from a one-man operation to a $100 million family of companies with more than 200 employees, many of them veterans. The culture he’s built is one that thrives on continuous learning. So John says he has no plans to stop or slow down.

“One of our values is excellence, and we’re going to keep chasing excellence knowing we won’t hit perfection,” says John. “Nobody’s capable of perfection, but we want to get as close as we can.”

Marvin says he has no doubt John will achieve his goals. “A lot of times, when an experienced owner has grown a business from the early stage through the growth and established stages of the business lifecycle, they can become complacent,” he says. “Not John. He says, ‘I know I can take this business to the next level.’”

The motivation that fuels John’s drive to keep growing the business is one that he shares with his entire team.

“I remind them that we get the privilege every day of waking up and serving the men and women in uniform who are defending our country and our way of life,” says John. “I try to keep that at the forefront of everything we do.”

• Albers Aerospace continues to expand its capabilities, gaining market share and adding customers.