The days of the “boys’ club” are fading away as women increasingly enter leadership roles in the defense sector. On Monday, this became evident with the sold-out Empowering Women in Missile Defense event, held in the East Hall of the VBC.

Presented by the Women’s Business Council (WBC) of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce to recognize and celebrate female voices from across the aerospace and defense industry, the event featured a lunch provided by Raytheon Technologies and a fireside chat with female leaders and business owners.

This year’s theme addressed the topic of “why we need diversity of thought to get to next-generation capabilities.”

Speakers at the event included:

Alka Bhargav, Founder of the Aum Foundation and 2022 Chair of the Women’s Business Council
Tay Fitzgerald, President of Strategic Missile Defense at Raytheon Missiles and Defense
Melissa Morrison-Ellis, Program Director of Raytheon Technologies
Jami Peyton, CEO of Canvas Inc. and Vice Chair-Small Business, Huntsville/Madison County Chamber Board of Directors
PeggyLee Wright, Owner, The Company You Keep and Executive Director of the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering (ASCTE) Foundation

The panel was moderated by Haley Baker, WAFF-48 Morning News Anchor.

Tay Fitzgerald of Raytheon Missiles & Defense addresses the audience. Photo by Dawn Suiter

Following an introduction by Bhargav, Fitzgerald addressed the audience. “Missile defense, as you all know, is traditionally a male-dominated mission, but it’s evolved significantly. As you can see today, women now lead some of the most critical technology programs and missions to defend our nation and our allies.”

Fitzgerald expressed her appreciation for the Empowering Women in Missile Defense program, recognizing Huntsville’s long and critical history in aerospace and defense.

“Throughout history, as we all know, women drive the engineering, operations, and leadership in this noble mission…we’re standing in the company of some of the brightest minds of the country who’ve committed to taking on one of the most complex missions in defense.”

Fitzgerald noted that it’s important to look ahead to the future, taking into consideration the evolving nature of threats facing the country.

“The next generation’s capabilities are going to demand more of us than ever, pushing our technologies and us to new limits. It’s going to require diversity of thought–the minds that got us to where we are today are not going to be the minds that get us to the future. It’s incumbent on us, everyone in this room, to make a path into missile defense easier for the next generation of women than it was for some of us.”

The panelists ended up in missile defense via varied paths. While Morrison-Ellis had an engineering background, Peyton began on the business side, working for over 20 years in corporate roles and providing program, test, and integration management for DoD clients. Prior to founding Canvas, she consulted with the DoD, Department of Labor, and Department of Agriculture programs.

Wright is a former U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawk pilot who served at the 82nd Airborne Division, and following her military career she used her experience in DoD, logistics, leadership management, behavior analysis, and education to start The Company You Keep, which works with government, military, scientific, industrial, and nonprofit enterprises.

Wright sees ASCTE as important for encouraging the next generation of talented, diverse young women to seek paths in defense and cyber technology. She noted that diversity isn’t limited to skin color or gender, but also diversity of thought, and ASCTE provides access to this education for students from under-resourced areas.

Wright noted that during her time in the military twenty years ago she was the sole female in her unit. Twenty years later, there are 30 women in her former unit. “Dang, that’s amazing, because change is happening so that they can be that face for the next generation,” she said.

“For me, it’s just really the perspective of what women like this are doing…the next generation has somebody that looks like them [and] they can achieve it. Not everyone has to be the trendsetter,” Wright continued.

“Our nation needs more engineers that come from a different perspective, and I think women bring that in that we think differently, you know, we attack problems differently, and we just bring that different perspective,” Peyton said.

As a child, the influential women in Peyton’s life were nurses, teachers, and stay-at-home moms. Now, she notices a lot more “strong women and engineering leaders” in the workforce that take time to go into the schools and mentor young women. “One-on-one mentorship is a way that we can get more girls involved in engineering and military.”

The panelists also noted the importance of younger workers’ perspectives due to the changing technological landscape of the defense sector. According to Peyton, it’s important to embrace cultural diversity with respect to generational changes.

She used the example of a new hire from Amazon who came to work in flip-flops, blue jeans, a t-shirt, and occasionally shorts. Another employee, a retired military colonel, came in to work in a tie every day.

“I had to figure out how to make them be able to work together because they both had very important jobs. But I think recognizing the contributions and the competence that each different person brings to the table is going to be important going forward,” Peyton said.

Wright observed that we live in a very different society from that of 25 years ago. “This generation that’s coming up now at ASCTE…these kids, they care about everything socially that’s going on in our world. Not just here in the States, but throughout the world. And it doesn’t really matter whether I agree with their stance or they agree with mine–this is who this generation is and we’re going to support them because this generation is going to be up here talking about how to inspire the next generation at some point.”

She also noted that ASCTE grads will go into a wide variety of sectors, both public and private, and not all will be gung-ho about supporting the warfighter. “We have to remember that diversity of thought. That diversity we talk about isn’t just about skin color, it’s not just about gender, it’s not just about your socioeconomic status. It’s about all things that we bring to the table that make us different and we, as the older generation, have to remember that because they operate and are motivated by something completely different from what I am.”

To Morrison-Ellis, empowerment means “the power of being welcomed in your own skin the way you are–the unique skill sets that you have, being able to bring them into your job without constantly having to prove yourself over and over and over again.”

“As empowered women, we can empower other women…ladies, we have to help each other. We can’t be crabs in the bucket–we have to be monkeys in the bucket,” she continued, recalling a parable about monkeys pulling each other up while crabs drag each other down. “I rise, we rise.”

“There’s too much of that out there for us to be doing it to each other. You’ve got to grab someone–it doesn’t have to be somebody younger, it can be a peer, whatever…somebody out there needs the skill set that you’ve already acquired to make it a little bit easier for themselves. Why should you hold onto the gifts that you have when you can give those to others and give them a leg up? That’s what we’re here to do. To me, that’s empowerment.”