Employee Spotlight
- Can you share a bit about your background and how you ended up in your current role? I grew up airplane crazy and started working on anything with an engine, learning basic electronics from my grandfather. A musician in my spare time, I love to create things no matter what the medium may be. I began as a QA technician for a computer motherboard repair company, then later became an assembly technician for a medical device manufacturer building several product lines. After that I began working as an engineering technician for the R&D department. From there I grew my knowledge, then after a layoff, I spent 20 years working for another medical device company where I honed all of my mechanical and electrical/PCB design skills, gained regulatory experience, systems-related engineering… everything. I learned to manage projects, develop test methods/systems, support production, design for manufacture, as well as PCB, optical, and mechanical parts/system design and drafting. When I was ready to realize my dream of working in the aerospace industry, I sought out and found a job with UDI. And it is here that I truly love to work.
- How does your role contribute to the overall mission and success of United Dynamics? My role is an important contribution (as well as others’ roles being important) in that the thought, discipline, and quality I put into my design work is directly proportional to the quality, reliability, and completeness of the end product. Also, my role in engineering is typically on the front line for recognizing process and/or design improvements. And I will act on these findings when a process, particular document, or design requires a change to positively enhance any associated aspects of development or manufacture, product performance, and product quality. These things contribute to ensuring product conformity to requirements and success of manufacture, which helps to fulfill the overall mission of United Dynamics, Inc. in its continued support of DoD and emerging markets.
- What do you think sets United Dynamics apart as a workplace and a community? UDI stands above many others as a company that affords growth, opportunity, and a sense of accomplishment to an employee. The workforce community here is a great team. The people that make up this company are top-notch, equally caring about the quality of our individual job positions and end-product. The workplace culture is an equality-based team structure that allows everyone to have a voice. Each one of us lifts another up both in spirit and performance, and all serve as an important cog in a machine which manages to make the most of the opportunities that come our way as a company. We define the spirit of this organization with our passion for our products, and compassion for one another. All of this results in a culture which is rich in capability and is force-positive towards the needs of our customers and end-products.
- What aspect of your job brings you the most satisfaction? The aspect of my job which brings me the most satisfaction is creating a design based on a need and requirement, designing everything necessary to accommodate that need/requirement, refining the details of functionality to be the best it can be in performance, then watching that final design become a well-functioning product which serves a purpose on aircraft that helps to ensure the protection of our country and people.
- What is the one thing that you wish people knew about your job? How difficult it can be to perform your required job duties when you have to deal with Microsoft applications and their extrinsic “features”.
- Give us one fun fact about yourself? I am a professional musician in my spare time. I play drums in three bands, play bass guitar, sing backup vocals/harmonies, and have played guitar for over 40 years. I also write and create electronic music from time to time.
3rd Quarter 2024
