Vicki Panhuise,
Vice President, Military Aircraft
Honeywell Aerospace
Outstanding among a worldwide workforce of 40,000, Vicki Panhuise has
held a number of impressive positions during her 28-year tenure at Phoenix,
AZ-headquartered Honeywell Aerospace (www.honeywell.com). Today, as
vice president, military aircraft, she is responsible for all original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and aftermarket business for Honeywell’s
military aircraft customers. Prior to her 2008 appointment, she was
vice president, commercial and military helicopters and vice president
of program management for Honeywell’s Aerospace Electronic Systems,
among other positions.
Although joining the company early in her career, Panhuise brought with
her substantial professional experience. Once coming on board, she spent
15 years in engineering management and, at one time, was site general
manager for Honeywell’s Business, Regional & General Aviation
(BRGA).
A 1974 graduate of Wells College, Aurora, NY, Panhuise earned a bachelor’s
degree in mathematics, master’s and doctorate degrees in nuclear
engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and an MBA from
the University of Arizona. Six Sigma Green Belt Certified in 1999, she
earned black belt certification in 2004 followed by program management
professional (PMP) certification a year later. In 2004, she was the
recipient of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) “Upward Mobility
Award” and the University of Arizona’s “Eller MBA
Alumni Award.”
Reflecting on her journey to engineering, Panhuise explains it began
in a small upstate New York town when, as the first high- school female
to register for drafting, she was prevented from doing so until another
female agreed to join her. “The principal was against a male and
female sharing a drafting board,” she recalls. Undeterred from
considering a technical curriculum, she struggled with her choice of
college. Was her major to be math or engineering? “While my parents
weren’t sure about engineering, they didn’t discourage me.
My guidance counselor, however, noting that women were needed in pure
math and science suggested teaching,” she relates.
Certain that her four years at Wells helped develop her confidence and
leadership abilities, Panhuise was equally certain that teaching was
not the career for her. “The turning point was taking a short
course in radioactive isotopic procedures. That validated my love for
applied math and science and prompted me to go for a degree in nuclear
engineering,” she comments.
Identifying government/military contracting as a sector that offers
excellent opportunities in all aspects of aerospace including engineering,
technical sales, program management, customer and product support, supply
chain management, and contracts, Panhuise says “This is an industry
that needs people with a diversity of professional backgrounds. While
some technical/engineering education is required, individuals whose
backgrounds include other areas are very much in demand.”
Identifying Honeywell Aerospace as a leading global provider of integrated
avionics, engines, systems, and service solutions for aircraft manufacturers,
airlines, military, and space operations, among others, Panhuise credits
the company with providing her with multiple cycles of learning. “As
a global company with more than 17,000 scientists and engineers, Honeywell
Aerospace offers career opportunities for growth within all areas of
engineering,” she states.
Honeywell, she continues, means being part of something big. “Engineers
know their work is important and that customers value their technologies.
It is through the efforts of engineers that the company continues to
build an organization with great positions in good industries and with
a solid track record of financial performance,” says Panhuise,
who encourages interested persons to check out www.honeywell.com/careers
for a list of job opportunities.
As one who thrives on a diversity of responsibilities and challenges,
Panhuise enjoys partnering with customers. “My goal is to provide
the end-user with the best solutions to effectively complete their missions,”
she explains. An active mentor and member of the SWE, Panhuise is married
and the mother of a son who is a recent graduate of Arizona State University.
Well able to balance work and family, she’s a dedicated gourmet
cook and Valley of the Sun United Way volunteer.
Jylinda White,
Task Order Manager,
SAIC
Jylinda White and engineering have a long history. The daughter of the
associate dean of the school of engineering at George Mason University,
she recalls attending many conferences and technology expos with her
dad while growing up. “Just seeing what could be designed and
built by the human mind astounded me,” she says. “Deciding
to major in engineering at the University of Virginia was the result
of my early fascination with engineering design.”
In 2002, White earned a bachelor’s of science degree in electrical
engineering, with a dual concentration in communications & signal
processing and control theory, followed by a master’s degree in
systems and information engineering, in 2006. “But it was my first
internship during the summer of my freshman year that brought me to
SAIC. There I discovered the company’s many rich opportunities,”
she says. After completing three more internships and graduating, she
was promptly offered a position as lead systems engineer and project
manager for mine warfare software systems in the defense and maritime
solutions business unit.
Today, as task order manager for SAIC’s (www.saic.com) defense
information system (DISN) global solutions (DGS) program, one of the
company’s largest, White oversees 100 technical workers worldwide
and manages a $70 million per year task order contract that equips modern-day
warfighters with video, voice, and data at all times and places throughout
the world. Noting that SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation),
headquartered in San Diego, CA, is a Fortune 500 scientific, engineering,
and technology applications company, White mentions that its 44,000
employees serve customers in the Departments of Defense and Homeland
Security, the intelligence community, other U.S. government civil agencies,
and selected commercial markets.
Identifying the government/military contracting sector as strong, White
says, “In order to continue providing state-of-the-art defense
technology and weaponry to the U.S. military—the strongest in
the world—the government will persist in hiring those who are
smart and skilled at solving difficult problems.”
Including more women among that workforce, she believes, involves educating
females about technological fields early. “It has to start young,”
she states. “The more we invest in our young women and encourage
them to pursue science- and math-related studies, the more we will see
them entering the technical job market.”
Pleased to use her engineering background to formulate robust solutions
to real and relevant issues and challenges, White notes, “I go
to work every day knowing that what I do helps our warfighters maintain
their dominance and superiority, and that is truly fulfilling.”
In an effort to reach out to young women, White takes a proactive role
in company and community affairs. She is a member of the Project Management
Institute (PMI), SAIC’s Women’s Network, and a peer mentor
for interns. She is also the current vice president of the company’s
Multi-Cultural Network (MCN).
In addition to these functions, White’s presence in community
and youth activities is extensive. She served as a sponsor/mentor in
the Monster.com Diversity Leadership Program (DLP); represented SAIC
at the Northern Virginia Urban League awards banquet and the United
Planning Organization Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast; attended the
13th Annual Diversity and Women Leadership Summit & Gala; represented
SAIC in 2007 at the 10th Anniversary of the Women in Military Service
for the America Memorial Dedication and is active in Women in Technology
(WIT), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to offer women in all
levels of the technology industry a wide range of professional development
and networking opportunities. Her three-tiered advice to others: “Get
invested in the success of your organization. Don’t wait for someone
else to set your career or life path. Always be excellent, always be
persistent, but always be humble.”
Paulette January,
Senior Software Quality Engineer,
DRS
Paulette January smiles as she recalls watching a television commercial
that set the course of her life—at the age of 12. “It was
an ad for a personal computer and right then and there I knew I was
destined to study computers in college,” she explains. It turns
out, she was right. “From that moment on I never deviated from
my initial notion,” she adds. Now, over two decades later, this
Alabama native—and graduate of Alabama A&M University with
a degree in computer science—boasts 20 years experience in software
quality engineering.
After spending several years at various defense firms in New York and
New Jersey, January returned to Alabama. Taking a few years off to raise
her daughter, she
