"Connecting & Creating"

Maria Hedden came to Comtech with over two decades of extensive P&L management and optimization experience. Notably, she brings a management philosophy that seeks to address and solve problems via a process of inclusivity. One of Maria’s most outstanding qualities is her ability and commitment to connecting with everyone at every level of the business – and then helping them do the same.

Since being at Comtech, Maria has visited dozens of our sites and facilities, both in the US and abroad, and spent a great deal of time learning not just about our various business units but our employees' key drivers and unique capabilities. Relationships are central to everything she does and a significant contributor to her success in developing a culture that Comtech has come to call the “Comtech Way.”

“My career has largely been in pursuit of making great companies better and putting them on the path to meet their potential. Particularly for organizations in the most crucial of disciplines – such as providing failsafe satellite, space, and public safety communication solutions – improved operations can have a significant impact on our customers, and anyone who relies on our technology,” says Maria Hedden. “Comtech provides an invaluable set of services to its clients, and my responsibility is to ensure the company becomes the most streamlined, strongest version of itself – we owe that to our people, and our customers.”

Maria also treats being in a leadership position as a learning opportunity. She came into the company eager to learn everything possible about the communications industry from Comtech employees, engineers, and customers. While her fundamental remit was to bring change and transformation to the business, she does not believe in change for its own sake. She approached the business as a student and, with thoughtful diligence, acclimated herself to every detail of each business unit’s challenges and opportunities before initiating changes.

Finally, Maria thinks about Comtech on a global scale. Before her arrival, Comtech had been slightly more focused on North America, but Maria understands the business as a worldwide enterprise with opportunities ahead of it. She has already and will continue to implement improvements to how we go to market and serve our customers – wherever they are.

Maria is extremely grateful to the leaders and sponsors she’s had throughout her career. Since she started, Maria has committed to mentoring and sponsoring women within Comtech and connecting them with other female leaders in the industry. Together with Comtech’s Chief Human Resources Officer Jennie Reilley, Maria is actively developing and implementing a female mentorship program within Comtech built into Comtech’s broader “People First” strategy.

The steadfast leader has also been a support system for individuals trying to succeed in the industry. “For me, some support systems are highly formalized – defined networks, explicit goals, dedicated resources, and so on. Other systems are less formal, but I believe, highly influential. One example of that kind of “system” is when women can see other women in leadership positions, taking responsibility, making complex and difficult decisions.

Without having to formally say or do anything, having female executives can send a very powerful message to other women, because you have an objectively clear example that it is possible to establish yourself, because it has been done. I think having both support systems is important, because they prove each other out: one provides a set of tools and machinery, and the other provides evidence that women can work hard, compete, and win in business.”

Armed with this brilliant mindset, Maria is committed to helping make sure Comtech comes out with the next technology changer in the industry and is the best solutions provider for doing so. She is confident Comtech has the people and resources in place to make this happen! Comtech has a rich history, and the people who work at Comtech are highly passionate about what they do. This passion translated, in many cases, to teams focusing intently on solving the business problems in front of them. At the same time, there was no common structure to share internal knowledge with one another. Upon joining the company, Maria immediately identified the silos in which each business unit was operating and sought to unite everyone through a common process and culture. Now, business units can collaborate unlike ever before and deliver even more cutting-edge solutions to customers.