Vanguard Magazine

38 DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022 www.vanguardcanada.com GAME CHANGER See the full interview online Q What is your role at your organization today? As the strategic business unit president for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnais- sance Systems at Raytheon Intelligence & Space, I lead a team of more than 7,000 employees located around the world. We're headquartered in Texas in the Unit- ed States, but we have quite a few employ- ees in California. I am also responsible for enabling the success of Raytheon UK and Raytheon ELCAN in Midland, Canada. I started with Raytheon over 20 years ago as a mechanical engineer and through- out my career, I have focused on finding the next role where I could learn the most. I've worked in five functions: engineering, program management, supply chain, op- erations, and mission assurance. Q What was your most challenging moment? I was very comfortable living in Califor- nia close to my family. When I was asked to take on a new role in another state, I faced a challenging decision to leave my comfort zone which included leaving a role I knew how to perform in. I chose to take it on, and I have learned that I grow the most when I face my fears and get uncomfortable. I also learned that liv- ing in new states opens myself up to new friendships and experiences. I'm thankful for the challenges because they often turn into opportunities to learn and grow. Q What was your A-HA moment or epiphany that you think will resonate most with our reader, tell us that story? The first program manager assignment I had was on a program that was over budget and behind schedule. I spent months trying to find ways to reduce cost and improve schedule by imple- menting small changes. One day a men- tor asked me what I would do differently if I could start over, and what support I needed to make those changes happen now. It completely opened my eyes to the possibility of radical change happen- ing even on an ongoing effort. Instead of trying to shave off cost and schedule, we relooked at the program and built it back up by significantly changing how we were executing. I had to seek sup- port from my leadership and customer and found that they were ready to sup- port. The end result was that we recov- ered schedule and on the next proposal we were able to bid 40% lower on cost. Q What is a habit that contributes to your success? I am only successful due to the team I have around me. I purposely surround myself with individuals that I know can fill in gaps and are willing to challenge me. A strong team requires transparent and trusting relationships, and I build that trust by ensuring that I am available to my team through a daily call back list. This habit of committing the time for in- formal and open conversations contrib- utes to our success as a team. Q What people or organizations do you believe best embody the innovation mindset? I'm inspired by the innovation happen- ing in our organization every day, from the actual technology we develop to the way we have adapted to change over the past two challenging years. Right now, I am so impressed with the teams that are driving digital innovation into our product life cycles. Having a dig- ital twin not only accelerates design but allows continuous improvements to be made through sustainment of the prod- uct. Having the vision to design, manu- facture, and support the product in a to- tally different way has taken many game changers. Q What are some of the biggest impediments to innovation in your industry sector? We are in the business of protecting lives. We must have defined processes that we follow to ensure the quality and reliability of our products. This focus is exception- ally important but sometimes can impede our industry from reaching our full po- tential in changing how we do things at a rapid pace. However, I have found that when we spend time with our customers to define their priorities and work in col- laboration, we can implement innovation in record time. One example of us being able to in- novate on a process to turn a product around more quickly for our customers is when we needed a patch that would have typically required a process that can take months. Instead of doing things the way we always had, we were able to 3-D print the needed part and return hardware to the field in days instead of months. Q What is the one thing that has you most fired up today? Looking at the new year ahead of us, I am fired up about delivering on the commit- ments we make to our customers. Warfight- ers and operators around the world depend on the systems we build to gain clarity on the battlefield, at sea, and in the air. Our engineers and scientists are devel- oping, building, and delivering disruptive technologies that help support national and global security. Being an innovative partner to our customers is something that keeps me motivated. BARBARA BORGONOVI PRESIDENT, INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE AND RECONNAISSANCE SYSTEMS RAYTHEON INTELLIGENCE & SPACE

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