Growing up in Melbourne, Florida, Mike was always aware what a staple in the community Northrop Grumman was and had a desire to join the company. Combined with the fact that his father and grandfather served in the military, Mike knew that he could combine his passions for business management and finance together with the Northrop Grumman mission and have a successful career. A decade and a half later, Mike has had several roles across the company at various sites.
What has kept you at Northrop Grumman all of these years?
It’s the people. I’ve worked at Northrop Grumman over 16 years now, and each individual experience has been about the people. I’ve seen folks grow up with the business, including myself, and it’s awesome to see.
Working here also allows me to marry my passion for finance, the “art of the deal,” and driving performance, with my family’s proud heritage of supporting the warfighter.
Tell me more about growing up with the business. How has that been?
I’ve had a lot of opportunity over my time here. I started with Northrop Grumman in Melbourne straight out of college as an entry-level contracts and pricing estimator. After a few years, I was promoted to a deputy business manager and moved to another one of our Florida sites. Within the year, I received another promotion and moved to Virginia to serve as business manager over one of our NASA contracts. Following that, I became a business unit business manager at a different Virginia site. My next move led me back to Florida where I joined the E-2 program to focus on international business management and I currently serve as E-2 deputy business director.
It’s been a lot of transition over the course of my career and the culture is really dynamic. I’ve had a number of people contribute to my success and I try to do the same for others. Leaders around the company invest their energy into their teams and it’s great, because that same energy is invested by individual contributors as well.
You’ve mentioned people quite a bit. What’s it like to work at Northrop Grumman?
We’re successful, because we have mixed backgrounds and focus on an inclusive environment. We aim to understand what drives each other, what tools we need and have 360° communication.
While we have serious jobs, we also know how to have fun. There’s a time to sit down and put pen to paper, but we also know at the end of the day we’re all humans who don’t mind working hard, like to have fun and want to make a difference.
Northrop Grumman business management professionals are Defining Possible every day. Click to see business management openings and apply today.
Return to Life at Northrop Grumman home page.