2022 HENAAC Awards

Education: Ph.D., Astronautical Engineering, University of Southern California; Master’s, Systems Engineering, Johns Hopkins University; Bachelor’s, Electrical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University.

Since joining ManTech International in 2020, Dr. Douglas Orellana has brought immense credibility to the company’s massive effort to transform how its federal customers acquire and engineer complex systems.  He’s built his organization from the ground up and attracted world-class talent. His vision, depth of technical knowledge, and deep understanding of diverse customer needs in the defense, intelligence and federal civilian arenas has been an invaluable asset to his new company. 

Beyond building out his technology focus area, Dr. Orellana has established strategic partnerships with universities including M.I.T. to help upskill and grow ManTech’s intelligent systems engineering workforce.  In the process, he’s transformed the intelligent systems engineering division and turned it into an industry leader closely watched by customers and competitors alike.

Dr. Orellana’s climb to his current role has been propelled by combining a strong education foundation with hard work and leadership. Born in the Boston, Massachusetts area to immigrant parents fleeing civil war in El Salvador, young Douglas developed an interest for math and science at an early age and excelled academically.  With the help of a non-profit organization that connects standout inner city students with elite private schools, he gained admission and the financial support he needed to attend one of the best high schools in New England.

After working through challenges as one of the few Latino students and having to constantly defend the legitimacy of his admission, he matriculated at Johns Hopkins University, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.  He would later complete a Ph.D. in astronautical engineering from the University of Southern California.

Prior to joining ManTech, he spent 12 years at Northrop Grumman where he held numerous positions with increasing authority within the systems engineering organization over programs that included unmanned vehicles, intel systems, radars and sonars, and instrumentation and controls from concept development to verification and validation.