Jane Edwards
Executive Mosaic is honored to present Maria Demaree, vice president and general manager of national security space at Lockheed Martin‘s space business, as an inductee into the 2024 edition of the Wash100 Award for driving space-focused innovation and advancing the development of integrated platforms in support of national security missions.
Vote for Demaree as your favorite GovCon leader as part of the 2024 Wash100 popular vote competition! Voting closes on April 30, so visit Wash100.com to cast your ten votes today.
This marks Demaree’s second Wash100 Award, recognizing her commitment to advancing critical space technologies to help warfighters achieve readiness and maintain superiority in the space domain.
“First and foremost, being recognized for this award is a result of the tireless efforts and unwavering commitment of the 8,000+ person team, whom I am honored and privileged to lead. National Security Space is entrusted with our customers’ most indispensable missions and we are counted on to deliver leading-edge, 21st century security capabilities and world-class systems integration that give our warfighters, nation and allies an unequivocal advantage,” Demaree said of the Wash100 recognition.
“So I graciously accept this coveted award with the confidence that we are going to continue to innovate with urgency and help galvanize the defense industrial base to change the strategic landscape of deterrence and warfare forever,” she added.
Jim Garrettson, CEO of Executive Mosaic and founder of the Wash100 Award, said of Demaree, “Appraising the value of Maria’s 33 years worth of commitment at Lockheed, one of the most technically advanced companies on earth, has no reliable yardstick. Maria and her team place the market value of Lockheed beyond the reach of any nonsovereign competitor in the private sector.”
In May 2023, Lockheed’s space segment moved to streamline its five business lines into three: national security space; commercial civil space; and strategic and missile defense systems.
The realignment is part of efforts to improve the delivery of space capabilities to customers, facilitate collaboration with suppliers and partners, better address emerging threats and further advance growth and innovation.
With the restructuring, Demaree was named head of national security space, which covers classified and defense portfolios with oversight of programs supporting military space, special programs and mission solutions customers.
In this capacity, she oversees a multibillion-dollar portfolio and a workforce of approximately 8,300 employees focused on delivering critical space architectures, integrated end-to-end platforms and innovative concepts to help clients carry out critical national security missions.
In September, Lockheed launched a new technology test bed that uses artificial intelligence, cloud computing and automation to manage multiple satellite operations in space.
The Operations Center of the Future is equipped with the company’s proprietary Horizon and Compass satellite software.
“The Operations Center of the Future’s next-generation AI, automation and cloud capabilities enable operators to remain closer to the mission than ever before, regardless of their physical location,” said Demaree. “Remote operators can instantly receive timely mission alerts about satellite operations, and then securely log-in to make smart, fast decisions from virtually anywhere.”
In late November, the aerospace and defense contractor announced that it built a wideband electronically steerable antenna payload designed to perform missions on orbit faster than traditional sensors.
The Tantrum payload demonstrator was expected to launch aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha launch vehicle.
“Our customers’ mission needs and operational tempo have increased dramatically,” Demaree stated. “We designed this technology to showcase how a highly producible ESA antenna could be built, launched, and quickly calibrated and fielded on orbit, in support of 21st Century Security.”
In addition to advancing space initiatives, Lockheed is working to improve the work-life balance for its thousands of employees in the Tri-Valley area.
In December, the company converted a multi-use building in Pleasanton, California, into a new office space to cater to employees residing in nearby communities and pursue collaboration with emerging tech companies.
“We’ve been a part of Silicon Valley for nearly 70 years, pushing the innovation envelope and advancing critical technologies that underpin some of our nation’s most vital programs,” Demaree said. “We are looking to partner more with commercial industry to take the best emerging digital technologies and fuse them with our platforms to give our customers unrivaled capability and mission capacity.”
Demaree has been with Lockheed Martin for more than 30 years and has held senior leadership roles, including VP and GM of special programs, mission solutions and ground systems.
She is an enterprise leader with decades of experience across engineering, research and development, corporate enterprise business, workforce strategy and P&L leadership.
Her career at the Bethesda, Maryland-based aerospace and defense contractor has enabled her to showcase her passion in building employee and customer experiences, fostering collaboration across multifunction organizations to achieve business growth, promoting workforce engagement and advancing digital transformation efforts.
Executive Mosaic congratulates Maria Demaree and the entire Lockheed team on their 2024 Wash100 Award selection.
Don’t forget to show support for Demaree at Wash100.com.
