In 2019, Canvas is committed to growing our company while maintaining our strong family-like culture. We are focused on providing our employees with the very best, delivering superior results for our customers, and deepening our community involvement with Be The Good, our new employee giving fund.

Year after year we maintain a retention rate of 98% or more, and we believe it is because of our commitment to our employees, our customers, and our community is at the heart of everything we do. In 2018, we were thrilled to not only win the Chamber of Commerce’s Government Contracting Technology Company of the Year but also the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) of the Year. To date, Canvas is the only company to win these two categories in one night!

In 2017, Canvas celebrated 10 amazing years of business. Recognizing the company’s success could not be possible without the dedication and loyalty of our employees. We gave every employee a commemorative coin and a dollar for every day they had worked for Canvas. Canvas moved our corporate office to its current location in the historic Huntsville Times building in downtown Huntsville, and once again made the top contender list for Best Places to Work. In 2017, we topped 100 employees across all seven of our locations.

In 2015, Canvas employed about 70 full-time employees and was managing over 20 active contracts for a diverse set of customers. In March of 2015, we acquired a small business. This acquisition provided Canvas with contract vehicles and past performance in a specific area we had targeted for growth: programmatic support with a technical discipline. In 2015, Canvas moved from a contender to winning Best Places to Work by the Chamber of Commerce. In 2016, Canvas won its first prime contract supporting the Army in addition to self-graduating from the HUBZone program. In 2016, Canvas spun off Lojix, an independent company to further develop the software suite for government contractors.

Canvas continued steady growth each year with 10-15% revenue and employee growth. In 2013, our workforce demographic changed with the addition of several recently graduated millennials. During this year, we kicked off our tuition reimbursement program to support our employees’ continued professional career development. This was a huge hit with all employees, and to date 95% of our millennial workforce has utilized the tuition reimbursement program. Canvas made the contenders list again in 2013 and 2014 for Best Places to Work by our employees. In 2014, Canvas began development of a software suite for our internal use for contracts management, time card reporting, human resources, and accounting.

Canvas grew by 10-15% each year in both revenues and number of employees. In 2011, we received our HUBZone certification opening new doors for subcontracting opportunities with larger firms such as Teledyne Brown Engineering and Yulista. By mid-2012 we had about 35 full time employees. As we grew our workforce and contract vehicles, we also expanded our capabilities to include programmatic services. We extended our footprint outside of Huntsville, AL and into Colorado, Alaska, and Utah. In 2012, our company participated for the first time in the Best Places to Work small business category and made the contender list.

Canvas had contracts supporting the MDA Sensors and System Engineering, SMDC Hypersonic Weapons, and AMCOM Cruise Missile Defense Systems. Quickly approaching 15 employees, we selected an office space in Downtown Huntsville. With over 50% of our employees residing in Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Zones, we decided to apply for HUBZone certification through the SBA. This proved to be one of the best business decisions in Canvas history.

An artist at heart, founder Jami Peyton thought the name “Canvas” was appropriate, as she hoped to use her same passion and energy in the world of engineering and defense as she had in her art. Canvas was officially incorporated in the state of Alabama in Sep 2007, and obtained our first contract in January 2008 supporting the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Sensors directorate’s mission to combine all X-Band radars into one program office with common software platforms. This contract was key in establishing Canvas’ core strength as a systems engineering and integration problem solving company that gets the “big picture” concepts. By late 2008, Canvas had three full time employees.