•Community service•

M.S., Mechanical Engineering, California State University, Los Angeles
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, California State University, Los Angeles

Born in Cleveland, Ohio as the fourth of five children of immigrant Puerto Rican parents, Ralph C. Segarra moved to California in the sixth grade. By the time he graduated high school, his leadership skills were obvious as the class presidency he won as a senior.

After earning a B.S. in Business Administration at the University of La Verne, he has spent hundreds of additional hours completing numerous educational courses/certifications to continue developing his leadership skills. With a career that has spanned over 32 years within the Aerospace & Defense industry as a successful and highly regarded Business Administration & Operations leader, he joined Northrop Grumman in 2001 as a Quality Assurance Analyst 4 and Lean Sigma Trainer/Facilitator.

Mr. Segarra has over 19 years as a continuous improvement Lean Sigma Black Belt subject matter expert- not only driving change within Northrop Grumman, but utilizing his skill set in driving “cultural” change to promote Hispanics internally and within the local communities. His “servant- leader” philosophy has provided active listening, empathy, awareness, persuasion, foresight, conceptualization, stewardship, commitment to growth and community building with those he works with and leads.

His strong vision for driving diversity and inclusion initiatives started over 13 years ago, when Mr. Segarra was selected and certified as a Diversity and Disability Awareness trainer for Electronic Systems training over 1,200 other NGC employees. Because of his passion for diversity, he was asked to support College Recruitment at University of Texas Pan America for several years, where he coached, mentored, spoke with students’ families about the advantages of working within the Aerospace & Defense industry and the need for talented Hispanics within the work force. 

Coming full circle with his vision for diversity and inclusion, Mr. Segarra assisted in selecting talented Hispanic students to work for Northrop Grumman. He was instrumental in starting the first Adelante Chapter Employee Resource Group (ERG) for Electronic Systems Sector at the Azusa facility which eventually led him to be recognized as a subject matter expert in the launching, execution and implementation of ERG’s. 

Mr. Segarra has led the annual Hispanic Heritage Month Summit, Celebration and Networking events during HENAAC and SHPE conferences for 8 years on behalf of Northrop Grumman Corp, providing Adelante members the opportunity to network, assist in strategizing growth, listen to motivational speakers, envision their career and education paths, and network with VP’s and Directors. 

With a passion for mentoring fellow professionals, Mr. Segarra leads and coaches new hires on corporate policies, planning strategy and the importance of getting involved in ERG’s for career and professional development.  His passion and unrelenting desire to promote Hispanics internally and the outside community knows no bounds. He is constantly talking, coaching and mentoring not only Hispanics, but all cultures to continue educating themselves and most of all touch the lives of others in a service to all-oriented career.