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The Modern-Day Technology Leader Award is a part of the BEYA Outstanding Achievement Award, which recognizes outstanding women and men who are shaping the future of engineering, science, and technology.
The BEYA Technology Recognition Ceremony will take place on Friday, February 16, 2024, at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD. During the ceremony, BEYA Outstanding Achievement Award winners will be acknowledged for their hard work and success.
General Dynamics Electric Boat (EB) has announced that Jessica Key is one of BEYA's 2024 Modern-Day Technology Leaders. In a brief video, Jessica shared what winning this award means to her and why this recognition is significant to her and Electric Boat.
Jessica is a business leader group 10 graduate and is a proponent and supporter of many EB employee resource groups. She began her career at EB in 2014 as a buyer specialist and has been promoted to positions of greater responsibility due to her work ethic and leadership abilities.
Currently, as the supplier and workforce development manager, Jessica is highly respected among EB leadership as a keen strategic thinker capable of tackling large-scale business challenges in a measured and cautious manner.
Her strategic leadership has led to positive enterprise outcomes, including developing and implementing multiple programs and processes that directly impact the strategic position of EB across numerous technical and non-technical functions.
Jessica has led the development, testing, and implementation of large-scale critical supply base assessment, a suite of risk analysis and mitigation tools, along with adult and youth workforce development programs, among other important projects.
She has directly impacted the methodology by which EB drives many daily business decisions, acquisition strategies, and technical outcomes.
In 2023, Lockheed Martin's Stephanie Hill opened the awards program at the BEYA Technology Recognition Event for Modern-Day Technology Leaders and Science Spectrum Trailblazers at the BEYA STEM Conference.
She explained that the conference aims to support a culture of STEM through professional education, personal development, recruitment, mentoring, and recognition of groundbreaking contributions by people of color and cultures in industry, government, academia, and the military. Hill acknowledged the trusted community of BEYA and their ability to create change through their values, intellect, and goals.
Eric Mitchell, AT&T's assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion, said the accomplishments of Modern-Day Technology Leaders and Science Spectrum Trailblazers make a positive impact.
Dan Voce, a senior vice president and operations manager for enterprise cyber solutions from Leidos, said they were proud to recognize a record 37 honorees from Leidos at the event. He stated that these honorees have demonstrated a commitment to innovation, customers' missions, and community. Their contributions and achievements include working with the National Institutes of Health, protecting the nation's networks and national systems, developing more efficient algorithms for federal and health customers, and working alongside NASA on their future missions to Mars. Voce added that these honorees are mentors for the youth, volunteer in communities, prioritize STEM, and introduce robotics and artificial intelligence technologies to the next generation of engineers and scientists.
Brian Thomas, a sponsored speaker from World Wide Technology, also spoke at the event. He highlighted WWT's commitment to creating a diverse workforce and being a corporate sponsor of BEYA for over a decade. Thomas emphasized that innovation is more than technology solutions; it includes connections made within the community, such as the BEYA Conference. Thomas celebrated the awardees' vision and encouraged them to return their time and treasures to others. He also asked students to focus on learning and contribute their critical pieces to make a new world happen.