LISA STEFFEN Collins Aerospace
T
hough she is proud of her Iowa Hawkeyes, Lisa Steffen has adapted well to our warm winters since assuming her role as general manager, Communications, Navigation & Surveillance Programs / Melbourne site leader at Collins Aerospace in 2019. The company has deep roots in the community, with over 1,500 employees and a history going back almost a half century. Now part of United Technologies through an acquisition in 2018, the Melbourne operation manufactures some of the most sophisticated aviation guidance, radar and communications systems in the world. “Until we came to Melbourne, I never lived more than 30 miles from where I grew up,” Steffan said of her home state of Iowa. She completed undergraduate work at the University of Iowa in electrical engineering, then went to work in Cedar Rapids as a co-op student for Rockwell Collins.
“I didn’t even consider engineering right out of high school, I was good in math and science and started out as an accounting major” Numbers Game “I didn’t even consider engineering right out of high school,” she said, “I was good in math and science and started out as an accounting
major.” When a friend recommended that she consider engineering, she leaned in and quickly realized that electrical engineering was what connected for her.
“Regardless of which discipline of engineering you are in, what engineers really love and gravitate towards is problem solving.” Eventually, she led the engineering team that designed the cockpit displays for Boeing aircraft and continued to rise quickly through the ranks at Rockwell Collins, while also earning a MS in Computer Engineering (from the cross-state rival Iowa State University) and an MBA (from the University of Iowa). “Regardless of which discipline of engineering you are in, what engineers really love and gravitate towards is problem solving,” she said. “So, whether it is about a computer chip, avionics display or project management, what we do is solve problems.” Though she admits problems may vary greatly and usually require different skill sets to resolve, the analytical approach has commonalities that Steffen is able to identify and utilize. “I’ve always enjoyed human interaction, which is true of some, but not all, engineers. My time managing the customer interaction with Boeing was especially fulfilling for that very reason,” she said.
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