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Founder of 27-year aerospace engineering services company honored for a life’s work of mentoring, hiring, and funding women leaders

Palo Alto, CA – Celeste Ford, Board Chair of Stellar Solutions, Inc. and Managing Director at Stellar Ventures, was bestowed the AWESOME Legendary Leadership (ALL) Award at the 9^th Annual AWESOME Symposium gathering last month in Chicago, IL.

The ALL Award recognizes women leaders who have achieved professional excellence and success, have addressed challenges impacting opportunities for women in the supply chain field, and have advanced to the highest levels of leadership and roles with broadest impact. 

“Celeste Ford is an extraordinary role model who began her aerospace engineering career as the only woman in a room, grew a renowned global company, expanded opportunities for women there and throughout her industry, and now is at the forefront of space venture investing,” said Ann Drake, Chair and Founder of AWESOME.

AWESOME is the preeminent women’s leadership group for the supply chain industry, with more than 1,500 women in diverse senior supply chain leadership roles making up the organization. The Symposium is AWESOME’s signature annual event, and this year’s theme was “The New Possible: Igniting Powerful Progress.”

As Founder of Stellar Solutions, the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award-winning aerospace engineering services company, Ford pioneered a new business model that ensured its talented engineers were working in their “dream jobs.”  This created a team of experts who forge high-impact solutions to customers’ critical needs across defense and intelligence, commercial, civil and international realms.

From the company’s inception in 1995, Ford served as CEO until 2018 when she became Board Chair.  She launched Stellar Ventures in 2022 which is distinguished as a woman-led firm investing in the next generation of space technology companies.

Ford has cultivated opportunities for entrepreneurial growth and innovation for women outside Stellar Solutions as well. She has served as a mentor and speaker at her alma maters the University of Notre Dame and Stanford University.

Ford’s numerous honors include Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Baldrige Foundation and the National Association of Women Business Owners, Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame, Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernest & Young, and Small Business Executive of the Year from National Defense Industry Association. Under her leadership, Stellar Solutions has been named a Fortune Magazine Great Place to Work® since 2014.

Ford is a member of numerous public, private and nonprofit Boards, including the Board of Trustees at the University of Notre Dame and the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Associate Fellow.

AWESOME was founded in 2013 by Ann Drake, former CEO of DSC Logistics. After nine years, AWESOME remains the preeminent women’s leadership group for the supply chain industry, with more than 1,500 women in diverse senior supply chain leadership roles making up the organization. The Symposium is AWESOME’s signature annual event, and this year’s theme was “The New Possible: Igniting Powerful Progress.” The AWESOME Symposium is an integral part of the organization’s mission to advance and transform the future of supply chain leadership by bringing together senior women leaders for connecting, learning, collaboration, recognition, and inspiration. In addition to their annual Symposium, AWESOME curates a series of virtual events each month, maintains the AWESOME Excellence in Education Scholarship Program, and, since 2016, has partnered with Gartner on annual research studying the progress of women in supply chain. 

About Stellar Solutions, Inc.:  Stellar Solutions is a global aerospace and systems engineering services provider to commercial, defense, intelligence, civil and international sectors.  Stellar Solutions provides rapid-response capabilities related to global surveillance and cyber-security, space exploration, risk management, and technology optimization. These solutions to clients’ critical needs involve satellites in space, sensors on Earth, and intricate technology connections across multiple frontiers. With physical operations in California, Colorado, the greater Washington DC area, London and France, as well as employees throughout the U.S. and the globe, Stellar Solutions has become a recognized leader in delivering end-to-end critical expertise and problem-solving skills to dozens of significant programs. Stellar Solutions Foundation supports employees’ community engagement. QuakeFinder, Stellar Solutions’ humanitarian R&D division, pursues earthquake prediction models. www.stellarsolutions.com

Stellar Solutions CEO Janet Grondin was recently featured on “Talon Talks,” a  podcast showcasing the best and brightest of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University alumni.  Grondin received her BS in Aeronautical Engineering, Magna cum Laude, in 1989 – a time, she recalled, when the music and energy of “Top Gun” was pervasive on campus.  Since then, as the host noted, Grondin attained three Master degrees and served for 26 years in the U.S. Air Force before joining the private sector and then Stellar Solutions.

At Embry-Riddle she was encouraged to run experiments and stress-test specimens in a lab without a professor to look over her shoulder. “Having that early empowering experience was foundational to my career. That’s why as CEO, I am protective of that part of our culture at Stellar. It’s what inspires us to come to work every day.”

Grondin shared her respect for the core values first envisioned and led by Celeste Ford. “I don’t know of any other company that is all about putting people in dream jobs and solving customers’ critical needs,” she said.

Some key defining moments:

·      With the Air Force, Grondin created a  frequency-hopping system on airplanes to evade enemy detection during Desert Storm.

·      She led fielding of a next-generation GPS ground system, which was like “replacing the engine of a car while driving 60 miles an hour.”

·      As a Lt. Colonel,  Grondin flattened her organization to speed decision-making and empower  the team, many of whom are now leaders in the Space Force.

“You don’t always know what your dream job will be, but if you can pursue your curiosity and have the opportunity to test yourself, great things can happen,” she says.   

What is her favorite cartoon character? Elastigirl from The Incredibles – like many working moms who have to stretch. What historic person would she like to live as for a week? Martin Luther King Jr., whom she deeply admires: “I would love to see how he changed history.”  

Listen here to learn more about Grondin and why she is proud to be at Stellar Solutions.  https://alumni.erau.edu/s/867/bp20/interior.aspx?sid=867&gid=1&pgid=6231

Stellar Solutions CEO featured on “Talon Talks”

Military, corporate and strategic leader joins global aerospace engineering services innovator  

Palo Alto CA – Stellar Solutions, Inc., the global aerospace engineering services leader, has named Robert Wright as Vice President, Intelligence Systems.  He joins the company’s senior executive team as it embarks on its 27^th year of delivering high-impact engineering services to intelligence, defense, civil, commercial, and international customers.

In announcing his appointment, Stellar Solutions CEO Janet Grondin, who previously held that position at the company, said, “Bob Wright brings 30 years of extensive space domain experience across military, private sector and strategic consulting realms. As a proven builder of sound businesses and talented diverse teams, he will help drive our mission of solving customers’ critical needs while placing our employees in their dream jobs.” 

Wright has implemented large-scale data strategy, digital engineering and human capital transformation programs, to include talent recruiting and retention initiatives embracing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion principles.

“I am excited to be part of Stellar Solutions’ bold strategy to seize growth opportunities in the space industry today. With its agile, cooperative culture, the company is a force in delivering systems engineering expertise across business lines and sectors,” Wright said.  

Most recently as client relationship manager at Deloitte Consulting, LLP, he advised government clients on organizational design transformation, business process re-engineering and enterprise data strategy development.  Earlier, as General Manager and Senior Vice President at Integral Systems and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, he led strategy development for a team of over 250 software engineers, more than doubling revenues, and developed and maintained unique command and control software for military satellite communications and rapid Radio Frequency interference detection and response.

Wright’s senior military service included roles as Commander of the Space Innovation & Development Center, Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, and prior to that, Vice Commander of 14AF at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California where he helped stand up the Joint Space Operations Center. He has held numerous and successive military leadership positions with expertise in MILSATCOM, GPS, Space and ICBM Launch, Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP), and classified programs.

He is devoted to nonprofit leadership, having led innovative fundraising in his term as Board Chair of the American Heart Association’s Southern Colorado Chapter. As President of the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association in both Omaha and Colorado Springs, he raised substantial funds for local high schools and student STEM scholarship programs.  He serves on the Board of Directors at Peterson AFB Air & Space Museum Foundation.

Wright holds a Bachelor’s of Science from the US Air Force Academy and a Master of Science in Systems Management from the University of Southern California.  He graduated from the Deloitte Executive Leadership Program and Deloitte University, and attended the National Defense University, the Armed Forces Staff College, the Air Command & Staff College and the Department of Defense Executive Leadership Development Program.

About Stellar Solutions, Inc.:  Stellar Solutions is a global aerospace and systems engineering services provider to commercial, defense, intelligence, civil and international sectors.  Stellar Solutions provides rapid-response capabilities related to global surveillance and cyber-security, space exploration, risk management, and technology optimization. These solutions to clients’ critical needs involve satellites in space, sensors on Earth, and intricate technology connections across multiple frontiers. With physical operations in California, Colorado, the greater Washington DC area, London and France, as well as employees throughout the U.S. and the globe, Stellar Solutions has become a recognized leader in delivering end-to-end critical expertise and problem-solving skills to dozens of significant programs. Stellar Solutions Foundation supports employees’ community engagement. QuakeFinder, Stellar Solutions’ humanitarian R&D division, pursues earthquake prediction models. www.stellarsolutions.com

On Wednesday, January 12, Stellar Solutions CEO Janet Grondin gave an expert talk on “Crossing Boundaries: Transforming the Space Business on Earth, from Orbit and Beyond” at the Commercial Space Lecture Series hosted by the Space Portal Office at NASA Ames Research Center. These conversations center on the core concepts of space commerce and commercialization of space, to include government investment, public-private partnerships, privatization, and government agencies as part of the market.

This weekly teleconference creates an open dialogue about challenges and opportunities relevant to both NASA and industry among a broad set of participants from civil, commercial and defense sectors as well as the academic, venture capital and engineering communities.

Grondin conveyed her perspective on the robust possibilities that are now available in space, with examples of how Stellar Solutions’ unique concept of “Crossing Boundaries” enables the innovation and problem solving so crucial to the success of the company and the industry as a whole.

• How the aspirations that we have for humanity in space are increasingly complex – from space travel and a cis-lunar economy; to a cooperative defense, communications and intelligence space ecosystem; to addressing climate change and planetary protection.

• Why preparing a workforce of people for their dream jobs and cultivating a broader team of experts through a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion will be key to tackling the difficult problems that Stellar Solutions’ customers face in aerospace.

• How Stellar Solutions’ cross-sector expertise addresses the nation’s space priorities; and how the company crosses boundaries to achieve these goals to improve lives and enhance knowledge on Earth, strengthen national security and public safety from orbit and extend our horizons beyond our orbit.

“I want to send a special thanks to Stellar Solutions’ Civil and Commercial teams for their input,“ Grondin said.

Grondin’s full presentation is available at:

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/space_portal_janet_grondin_2022.pdf

More information about the Commercial Space Lecture Series can be found here:

https://www.nasa.gov/ames/partnerships/spaceportal/commercial-space-lecture-series