Dr. Candace Givens most recently served as the sector vice president of quality and mission assurance for the Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems sector, responsible for ~$12B annual revenue, ~22K matrixed employees across 47 states and countries. Responsibilities included all aspects of product quality, environmental health and safety management (ESHM) and sustainability across multiple sites and programs. Prior to joining the Aeronautics sector, she served as the vice president of the Overhead Persistent Infrared and Geospatial Systems (OGS) business unit focused on missile-warning and missile defense satellite programs, within the Space sector. Overseeing $3B+ revenue generating activities and business operations, with responsibility for ~750 matrixed employees along with internal and external suppliers.

Prior to rejoining Northrop Grumman in 2022, Candace served as Virgin Orbit’s Vice President of Engineering. Candace served as the vice president of Remote Sensing Programs (RSP) for Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems sector. In this role Candace directed the business unit, focused on key space systems, payloads and software that supported various customer missions. In this $500 million business she drove operational and production efficiencies with integrated development and design activities. Prior to that Candace served as the Senior Director of Engineering and Program Management for the Mission Systems sector engineering organization. In that role she developed productivity-focused improvements to reduce program costs and increase production without compromising quality. Additionally, she managed internal research and development (IRAD) activities associated with enterprise product development and created sector-level design strategies impacting over 17,000 engineers. Candace joined Northrop Grumman in 2015 as the Director of Engineering for the Space Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Division. She directed engineering execution, processes and staffing for over 12 domestic locations and many programs within the division, focused on improved synergies within engineering, manufacturing, mission assurance and the global supply chain.

Candace began her aerospace career at TRW Space and Defense and spent 17 years at Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. She has held numerous leadership positions in program and functional management, and led multi-disciplined engineering teams that have implemented successful process improvement strategies, and delivered solutions across the full lifecycle of satellite platforms.

Candace completed undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at Hampton University and California State University (CSU), holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from California State University, a Master of Science (MS) in systems engineering from Loyola Marymount University and a Doctorate of Education (EdD) in Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California. She recently completed the Women on Boards program at Harvard University, and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for CSU Long Beach’s College of Engineering.