Fran Pierce began her information technology career with Ford Aerospace where she worked on the design and implementation of a backbone data communications network. She was later employed by the RCA Corporation in the area of communications product development.
Fran joined DSA as a System Design Analyst for a large-scale data switching system. She was promoted to chief engineer and overall technical manager, and then became the Program Manager. She advanced to Vice President and Technical Director, then appointed Executive Vice President and General Manager of the New Jersey Operation. She was Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Washington, D.C. Operation, and became President and Chief Executive Officer in 1991. Fran began serving on the DSA Board of Directors in 1980 and was elected Chairman of the Board in 1991.
Fran is serving her fourth term as a member of the Board of Directors of Chestnut Hill College, where she is a member of the Development and Finance Committees and chairs the Audit Committee. She received the EY Entrepreneur of the Year® 2018 Award in the Services category in the Greater Philadelphia Region, and was a finalist for the award in 2016, 2013, 2006 and 1998. She received the 2018 Vistage Lifetime Achievement Award for the Philadelphia Region.
Under Fran's leadership, DSA became a nine-time winner of the Inc. 500|5000 and was inducted into the Philadelphia 100 Hall of Fame in 2016 as a five-time winner of The Philadelphia 100 award. In 2018, Fran was recognized in the Women Presidents' Organization ranking of the 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies, and was a 2017 honoree in Philadelphia Business Journal's Most Admired CEO ranking. In 2014, she received the Iris Newman Award from the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs and New Jersey Tech Council's CEO of the Year – Private Company Award. SmartCEO Magazine honored Fran with a Brava! Women in Business Achievement Award in 2010, and she was recognized in the SmartCEO Circle of Excellence, Future 50, and GovStar programs across multiple years.
Fran was selected as a 2006 Pennsylvania Best 50 Women in Business award winner and, in 2003, as a Woman of Distinction by the Philadelphia Business Journal and the National Association of Women Business Owners. She serves her sixth term on the Board of Directors of The International Eye Foundation, has served on the Rowan University Dean of Engineering's Advisory Council since 2007, and serves on the Center for Community Leadership and Entrepreneurship Advisory Board at Neumann University. In 2013, she received the Women's S&T Leadership award from Strengthening the Mid-Atlantic Region for Tomorrow (SMART).
A past Associate Director of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), Fran served as president of its Philadelphia Chapter and headed the chapter's efforts to award scholarships to deserving young candidates pursuing a career in communications and security, for which she received the AFCEA Educational Foundation Award. She also served on the Advisory Board of The Secretary of the Army's National Science Center. Her professional memberships span more than two dozen industry, defense, and entrepreneurship organizations including AFCEA, AUSA, NDIA, NACD, the ESOP Association, and Women in Defense.
Fran received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Chestnut Hill College and attended graduate school at Temple University.