•professional achievement I•

Education:  Master’s in Technical Management,  Embry-Riddle University; Bachelor’s in Metallurgy, Science and Engineering University of Texas

Over the last 19 years, Maria Cardwell has helped set the stage for new markets emerging in space and spanning across some of the most prestigious and respected aerospace companies in the world. Today she is leading an organization providing critical engineering products and services to a diverse and complex program portfolio. 

Her rise from Manufacturing and Structural Analysis Engineer at the Boeing Company to Senior Director for the Vehicle Engineering Directorate at Northrop Grumman was nothing short of meteoric.  Now, back at Boeing as an Executive Director & Chief Engineer, her career has come full circle.

In the course of her life she has overcome a series of daunting challenges to become a true leader in her field.  As leader of the 2,500-employee Vehicle Engineering (VE) Directorate, she was responsible for almost 30 percent of the 8,600-employee Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems (NGAS) Engineering organization. This team supports a complex program portfolio of advanced systems manned and unmanned aircraft systems with annual revenues of $11 billion in 2023.

At Boeing, she quickly rose up the ranks to Chief Engineer for Safety & Airworthiness for all commercial air vehicles globally –  leading a team of almost 400 that critically certifies the structural safety and readiness of all new and existing airplanes to fly.  Maria received the 2012 HENMC Most Promising Engineer Award, an indicator of her future potential.

Moving on to Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in 2019, Maria became a chief engineer and program manager working on classified programs responsible for technical guidance, staffing and development of stress analysis engineers.  During her time there, she and her team worked on development of the U2 Dragon Lady high altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, the NASA X-59 low boom sonic demonstrator aircraft, and other classified projects.

She then moved over to Virgin Galactic as Vice President for Quality & Airworthiness, growing her team by 40 percent to more than 300 people to lay the groundwork for commercial space travel in a year and a half. And since joining Northrop Grumman in 2022 as Senior Director for the Vehicle Engineering Directorate, her team has grown from 1,760 to 2,500 employees in a little over one year.

All the while, Maria has been a trailblazing role model for the Hispanic community. She is a longtime member of the One Adelante Hispanic/Latinx Employee Resource Group and has presented remarks at  several One Adelante events, and mentors many group members to support the advancement of Latinas within the company's talent pipeline. 

While at Boeing, Maria was also actively involved in their Familia Hispanic/Latinx Business Resource Group, she was deputy coordinator for the Society of Hispanics Engineers, and a member of the group’s Industry Partnership Council. Her involvement with GMiS dates back to 1996 as a student presenter at the GMiS Conference, participant in several Viva Technology programs, and a member of the Boeing College Bowl teams.  Above all, she has overseen recruiting, hiring and placement of more than 1,000 new hires from the SHPE and GMiS conferences over the past 15 years.

Maria is a tried-and-true engineering leader.  Throughout her career, she has been an innovative professional working on advanced aerospace vehicles and a role model to the Hispanic community. Very few people have taken the opportunity to advance technology on commercial aerospace vehicles, state of the art experimental aircraft, and vehicles that support our country and strengthen our national defense.