This article originally appeared in the March 4, 2025, issue of Teknovation, a service powered by PYA for those interested in advancing the Southeast’s economy through technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
David Murray and his Knoxville-based company named Statheros were literally flying under the radar not quite a year ago when he applied for the PYA-sponsored Ballard Innovation Award.
“When I applied for the award, I could have never imagined the impact that it would have on the business and my own personal life,” he says. “You know, I looked at it as an opportunity to share my passion with those outside of my client base. And, I really liked the trophy. It’s a beautiful trophy, and I wanted that trophy.”
Murray pitched the company and captured first runner-up in the competition. He did not win the trophy, although he says there is a picture of the trophy on the certificate that he was awarded along with $10,000 in services from PYA. What really propelled the company toward its acquisition by Peerless Technologies Corporation at the beginning of February 2025 was not only the award, but the teknovation.biz article that followed with a spotlight on the company.
Founded at the start of 2021, Statheros specializes in designing and developing highly performant, secure radio frequency (RF) systems and software for U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO). EMSO is a broad technology domain that includes any activity that manipulates electromagnetic waves for transmitting information; examples include GPS navigation, RF communications, air defense radar systems, and a broad range of intelligence-gathering operations.
“The Air Force Small Business Office reposted the teknovation.biz article on LinkedIn,” Murray says. “I don’t know how they saw it, but it was very cool – and totally unexpected – that they were monitoring the newswire. When they pushed it out to LinkedIn, it rose awareness to the private equity firms that are investing in the defense space.”
Peerless Technologies was not the first defense contractor that tried to acquire Statheros, but it was the successful pursuer. Based in Dayton, OH right across from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the 450-employee company, founded in 2000, provides a wide range of cyber and systems engineering services, from R&D to technology implementation on fielded systems in the defense, intelligence, and civil markets.
In announcing the acquisition, Peerless described Statheros as “an important accelerator to the Peerless strategy of delivering exceptional technology, expertise, and mission capabilities. Peerless continues to expand its Peerless Innovation Center strategic investment focused on advancing R&D, developing technologies, and generating differentiating capabilities focused on Digital Systems Engineering, multi-spectral operations, Modeling & Simulation, Open Architectures, and software engineering.”
Murray says the acquisition is a “great strategic and cultural alignment” between Statheros and Peerless Technologies. Today, he serves as Vice President of acquirer’s Development and Applications Group with most of his team continuing to be based in the Knoxville area.
As far as the pitch competition for the Ballard Innovation Award, Murray says, “I never thought we would have garnered the interest we did. So many people came up to me after the presentation. I probably had 10 to 15 follow-up meetings.”
One of those who became a mentor throughout the acquisition process was David Youngblood, Chief Financial Officer at Strategic Acquisitions Group. “He has literally taken me under his wing,” Murray explained. “He made himself available throughout this acquisition journey, and he offered his insights and experience that helped me tremendously.”
That included introducing Murray to John Brock, a Knoxville-based attorney, who represented the interests of Murray and Statheros. “Even my lawyers and their lawyers agreed that it was one of the smoothest transactions they’ve done,” Murray added.
The Ballard Innovation Award comes with a total prize package of $65,000 – $10,000 in cash and $40,000 in PYA services to the first-place winner. Second place is $10,000 in services, and third place is $5,000 in services.
Murray describes the article in teknovation.biz as “invaluable marketing for the company to raise awareness that I could not have generated myself.” What followed, however, was the hallmark of the HELP culture that personifies PYA. Each winner has a meeting with appropriate leadership from the firm, including Marty Brown, PYA President and Chief Executive Officer.
I never expected to be treated so well by PYA, being such a small company,” Murray says. “I really felt special.” He chose to utilize tax services from the firm and complimented Mark Brumbelow, PYA’s Managing Principal of Tax.
“He was there all along the way, providing consulting from the accounting side through acquisition and made himself available,” Murray said. “Even though he was busy and had business travel, he routinely carved out time – day or night – to support me.”
Unbeknownst to anyone at PYA, Murray posted this note on his LinkedIn page: “The PYA Ballard Innovation Award changed my life. If you are an East Tennessee-based entrepreneur or start-up, I insist that you apply. This is a unique and powerful opportunity that can exponentially ascend the trajectory of your business, just like it did mine.”
