Christine Thropp
Executive Mosaic is honored to induct Maria Demaree, a vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin‘s space business, into the 2023 edition of the Wash100 Award for championing the welfare and growth of company workforce in addition to helping drive space-focused innovation.
The award marks Demaree’s first Wash100 Award, which annually recognizes the top 100 government and industry leaders who exemplify great impact on the government contracting space, innovation and vision. 2023 is the 10th year of the award for the elite GovCon executives.
Visit Wash100.com to vote for Demaree and your nine other favorite Wash100 awardees to help them secure top spots in this year’s Popular Vote competition.
Demaree is a more than three-decade Lockheed veteran. As VP and general manager of special programs at Lockheed Martin Space, the executive has oversight of the business’ delivery of high-performance systems and innovative concepts to customers with national security space requirements.
She was with the aerospace company as an engineer even before a merger between the former Lockheed Corp. and Martin Marietta companies was finalized in 1995 to form the defense contracting giant. Since joining Lockheed in 1990, the executive has worked on several engineering programs, workforce strategy, customer and employee engagement as well as research and development initiatives.
Prior to leading the special programs arm, Demaree was vice president of ground systems and solutions and then VP and general manager of mission solutions.
Demaree told ExecutiveBiz during an Executive Spotlight interview that Lockheed is accelerating technology integration and digital transformation to meet its customers’ need for speedy response to threats.
She also talked about ensuring long-term success and driving value for employees.
“There’s something we say at Lockheed Martin Space, and that’s ‘Only here.’ Only here can employees be on a team that has been a part of every NASA mission to Mars, deliver the first woman to the Moon and at the same time help defend our nation with the newest hypersonics and directed energy programs. We do so much for our customers, and it takes a talented and diverse team to succeed.
Our people are absolutely our greatest asset. We strive to build a dynamic and welcoming workplace that drives innovation, embraces diverse perspectives and encourages collaboration.”
One of the initiatives Demaree’s team is focused on is transforming classified employees’ workplace experience– providing them with classified spaces and tools to do their job while preserving the work environment and culture.
To conclude her spotlight interview, Demaree talked about her other focus areas, “Personally, I am especially passionate about STEM initiatives that motivate girls and women to pursue technical careers, especially through Girl Scouts and the Society of Women Engineer forums. I’ve assisted local schools with developing cyber curriculum, developed programs to encourage computer courses, and given career advice to those who may not pursue college degrees but have technical skills.”
Executive Mosaic looks forward to Demaree’s continued GovCon workforce contributions in the year ahead and congratulates the executive and the Lockheed Martin Space team for their inclusion in the 2023 Wash100 class.
Don’t forget to cast votes for your favorite GovCon leaders at Wash100.com! Competition for the Popular Vote rankings runs until April 28.
