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Suzanne McNamara
Profile
Suzanne never had a doubt that she would get a college degree. She was the oldest of five children with parents who never went to college. A college education was a fulfillment of her parent’s dreams. She learned about Industrial Engineering from a summer program at Notre Dame.
Suzanne comments that her current role would surprise those who knew her growing up.
When Suzanne graduated she started her career with Texas Instruments. When she showed up to work, the employees thought she was a secretary. It wasn’t long before they respected her as an engineer. She developed quality control systems which helped improve the operations.
Raytheon bought the missile division of T.I. where Suzanne worked and moved its operations to Tucson, Arizona. She moved to Arizona with Raytheon. Her boss, and mentor, saw that Suzanne had talent that was being underutilized. He helped her move into a business development and government relations role. She moved to Washington D.C. and began to learn the ins and outs of government funding. This was critical to Raytheon since a significant share of its business is with the Department of Defense.
While Suzanne increased her responsibility at Raytheon, she realized that there was a limit to how far she could go. Most of the top executive positions at Raytheon go to people with military backgrounds, which Suzanne did not have.
As Vice President of Insitu, Suzanne is responsible for government relations. Insitu is owned by Boeing, but operates as an entrepreneurial business. Insitu is a leader in the development of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) used for surveillance missions for civilian and governmental applications. Suzanne has responsibility for marketing, sales, and government relations.
Suzanne comments that her current role would surprise those who knew her growing up. She was a shy person who often struggled doing presentations. Her current role is a very public one. Her genuine approach to people has made her very successful where those who are more outgoing come across as being much less genuine.
Bio
Vice President, Business Development B.S. Industrial Engineering, West Virginia University
Suzanne McNamara is the vice president of business development for Insitu. She is responsible for leading the company’s global sales campaigns, customer relations, communications, marketing and government relations.
Suzanne came to Insitu after a 28-year career with Raytheon, most recently as the Director, Global Government Relations & Releasability for Raytheon Missile Systems (RMS), where she led strategic initiatives to improve customer relations and support international capture efforts. Prior to this role, Suzanne was the Director, Strategic Planning & Competitive Intelligence for RMS. Before joining business development, she led new business capture and development efforts for the company’s Common Seeker design and development efforts. Suzanne has also supported Raytheon’s Corporate Business Development office in Arlington, VA, managing US Navy Programs’ current and future capabilities for ship self defense. During this assignment, she also served as a full-time congressional lobbyist for Raytheon Army Programs.
Suzanne earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University, has attended MBA classes at the University of Dallas and holds Six Sigma Black Belt certification.
