Board of Directors

Heather is the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Northrop Grumman's Space Systems sector where she leads a team of finance and contracts professionals responsible for the full business management and support of the sector.

Prior to this role, Heather served as the CFO for Innovation Systems and Technology Services sectors with similar leadership responsibilities. She is also a member of the Northrop Grumman CFO Council.

Heather joined Northrop Grumman in 2014, where she was CFO and Director of Business Management for the Cyber Division within Northrop Grumman's former Information Solutions sector. In this role, Heather worked directly with the Cyber team to ensure solid financial performance and flawless program execution for Northrop Grumman's Cyber portfolio. Following this assignment, Heather served as vice president and CFO for Enterprise Shared Services, responsible for the financial leadership of all centralized company services including IT, security, HR, and general accounting.

Prior to working at Northrop Grumman, Heather worked for more than 12 years for the Boeing Company, in a number of increasingly responsible financial management positions, including serving as the CFO of the Electronic and Information Systems division. In addition to her CFO role, she has experience serving in leadership positions specifically within Program Business Management, Financial Planning and Analysis and Risk Management. She is the Chairman of the Credit Union Board of Directors and serves on the Human Resources and Loan & Share committees.

Heather holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Diane is the Executive Officer, Operations Administration at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), the nation’s third largest transportation agency. She is responsible for the financial management and administrative services of Metro’s daily operations. Diane's career spans 25 years of progressively diverse experience leading strategic initiatives and driving organizational change through transformational leadership. Diane has an extensive commitment to public service. She has been active in her community: A member of the Women’s Transportation Seminar, she was a committee member on the California Transportation Association, a mentor and volunteer. She launched and serves as the current President of the Advancement of Latinos at Metro Association (ALMA). She holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from California State University Northridge and a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California (USC). Diane is the 1st Vice-Chair of the Credit Union Board of Directors and serves on the Budget and Loan & Share committees.

Rob is the Program Execution lead for Future Air Dominance Programs at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. Rob joined Northrop Grumman in July 2014 and served in several roles to include E-2 Flight Test IPT Lead, E-2D Aerial Refueling Program Manager and Director of Japan Programs for E-2.

In January 2020, Rob was selected to be the Deputy IPT Lead for Manned Airborne Surveillance Programs (MASP) at NGA where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations for E-2D, JSTARS and ALMDS.

Prior to joining Northrop Grumman in 2014, Rob was the Commanding Officer of AIRTEVRON TWENTY (VX-20), the U.S. Navy’s premier Maritime Developmental Flight Test squadron consisting of more than 23 aircraft (E-2D, P-8, Triton, P-3C, KC-130J, E-6A and T-6). Responsible for more than $2.0B in assets, Polvino led an organization of 430 military personnel, civilians, and contractors in the execution of more than 7,000 annual flight hours on five ACAT-1D and more than 30 other ACAT programs at various stages of maturity.

Rob received his bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy (USNA) and his master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (USNPS). He also is a Class 120 Graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS).

Karin retired in 2018 as Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions for Northrop Grumman Corporation, responsible for the ongoing development and implementation of the company's merger, acquisition and divestiture strategy. In addition, she supported the creation and dissolution of company joint ventures, equity stakes investments, and other strategic business relationships as related to the company's business portfolio. Previously, Karin was the Vice President, Strategy and Technology, and was responsible for the ongoing development of the company's strategic framework, with the goal of optimizing technology investments. She was involved with the company's merger, acquisition and divestiture activities including strategic analysis, competitive assessment, due diligence, transaction support and transition related activities. Karin provided leadership in the majority of company acquisitions (including Grumman, Vought, Westinghouse, Logicon, Litton, TRW, and Orbital/ATK) and divestitures (including TASC, Inc and HII (Shipbuilding), as well as numerous smaller acquisitions and divestitures. Karin holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University and an MBA from California Lutheran University. Karin joined the NGFCU Board of Directors in May 2015 and serves on the Loan and Share Policy Committee.

Retired, Steve had been with Northrop Grumman Electronic Sensors since 1979 and held numerous management positions in operations and program management. His last position was the Director, Aviation and Weapons Systems Programs. Equipped with a B.S. in business and an MBA in management, Steve’s credit union service dates back to 1982. In 1985, he was elected to the Westinghouse Family of Maryland FCU Board of Directors. In 2000, Steve joined the Northrop Grumman FCU Board of Directors where he held the positions of 2nd Vice Chair and 1st Vice Chair and Chair. He currently serves on the Financial Strategies, and Loan & Share committees.

Kathi retired in 2015 from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) after 35 years of service. During her tenure with Metro, she served in various management and leadership positions in Personnel and Human Resources, retiring as Director of Human Resources. Kathi joined the Board of the Metro Transportation Employees Federal Credit Union (MTEFCU) in 1991 and served as Vice President and President of the Board, and Chair of the Supervisory Committee. Kathi served as a member of the Supervisory Committee of Northrop Grumman Federal Credit Union (NGFCU) and later became the Chair of the NGFCU Supervisory Committee until she joined the Board in 2009. She has served as Chair of the NGFCU Board of Directors and currently serves on the Human Resources, Facilities, and Loan and Share Committees.

Petros is managing principal of TBL Strategy, an executive advisory firm he founded in 2006. Prior to founding TBL Strategy, Petros served as a Managing Director at Citigroup Global Markets and its predecessors, Salomon Smith Barney and Salomon Brothers. In these roles Petros worked closely with Northrop Grumman Corporation among many other clients. Petros currently serves on the Board of Directors of Sonnedix Power Holdings Ltd., a global, utility-scale, solar power producer and on the Advisory Board of Aries I Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company. Petros holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics with a minor in Physics from Hamilton College, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Eric is the Vice President and CFO of Aeronautics Systems (AS) for Northrop Grumman where he leads a team of finance and contracts professionals responsible for the full business management and support of the sector. Most recently Eric was the Vice President and CFO of the Strategic Space Systems division at Northrop Grumman Space Systems sector. Prior to that, Eric served as the Vice President and Controller for the Aerospace System sector and in various business management leadership positions at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems and the Corporate office. Prior to joining Northrop Grumman in 2005, he held a variety of engineering positions at other aerospace companies.

Eric earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a master’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California.

Before being elected to the NGFCU Board in 2015, Eric participated in the Volunteer at Large program with the Northrop Grumman Federal Credit Union starting in 2012. He served a term as the Chair of the Credit Union Board of Directors and is a member of the Executive Committee.

Jessica is a Program Director for Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems (AS), where she is responsible for providing missions systems capabilities to advanced weapons system platforms within cost, schedule, and technical requirements.

Jessica had previously served as a Chief Engineer within Advanced Programs, responsible for assuring the technical solution was optimized to best meet all of the challenging technical performance and cost requirements with a well understood level of risk. Prior to that she was a Deputy Chief Engineer for a significant effort in the Strike Division, integrating the programmatic engineering team into the sector’s overall engineering functional organization. She held a role as a Program Manager in the Military Surveillance and Targeting and Military Aircraft Systems divisions of Aerospace Systems, where she served as the Chief of Staff for the Sector Vice President and General Manager, supporting both the strategic development and integration of the division portfolio.

She has a B.S. in Optical Sciences and Engineering from the University of Arizona, a M.S. in Systems Engineering and a M.S. in Software Engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology. She also has an MBA from the Florida Institute of Technology and Certificate in Aerospace Project Management from the California Institute of Technology.

Jessica currently serves on the Credit Union Supervisory and Technology Committees.

Aaron is Vice President, Strategic Force Programs for the Payload and Ground Systems Division at Northrop Grumman Space Systems, a premier provider of space and launch systems serving national security, civil, and commercial customers.

In this role, Aaron leads the Strategic Force Programs organization, which is responsible for providing innovative and affordable sensors that support the missile warning, missile defense, technical intelligence, weather sensing capabilities, and the ground elements for these missions for the DoD, NOAA, and NASA.

Most recently, Aaron served as the ground segment lead for an emerging space program overseeing a complex development program leveraging Agile execution methodologies to deliver three satellite operations centers and eleven ground antennas across six geographically dispersed sites. Previously, Aaron served as the Integrated Mission Control Operating Unit Director in the Payload and Ground Systems Division where he oversaw Ground Element software programs. His portfolio primarily included the software ground elements of four large related programs, including smaller adjacent efforts. Aaron’s prior roles with Northrop Grumman include leading a family of aircraft mission planning & execution programs and delivery of airborne Battle Management and Command & Control capabilities.

Aaron earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Kelli is the Head of Communications for Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems sector. She serves as a strategic partner and member of the sector executive leadership team, providing communications counsel for sector leadership. In this role, Kelli is responsible for the sector’s communications strategy, narrative and priorities to drive business growth, thought leadership positioning, executive communications and team talent development.

Previously, Kelli was responsible for all of Northrop Grumman Corporation’s integrated marketing communications efforts, leading the communications campaigns for the company’s strategic mission and technology campaigns, and the communications strategy in support of customer and supplier engagement. This included developing, coordinating and conveying the messages Northrop Grumman delivers to their customers and external partners. She was responsible for implementing the strategy through the customer engagement ecosystem, including utilizing owned channels such as tradeshows, events, sponsorships, and customer messaging through direct engagement to support their business priorities and growth objectives.

Prior to joining the corporate team, Kelli served as Director of Communications for Strike and the Florida Centers of Excellence (CoE) for Aeronautics Systems. She was responsible for leading the development and execution of communications strategy, planning and messaging for the division, CoEs, division programs of record and relevant new business captures, including the B-21 Raider program, to effectively advance business objectives while elevating the visibility of Northrop Grumman’s brand and reputation.

Previously, Kelli served as Director of Global Brand Communications in Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems sector, where she was responsible for customer engagements, trade shows, sponsorships, advertising, branding and creative services. In addition, she also served as the communications account Director for the Strategy and Business Development organizations, providing executive, employee, and external communications support.

Kelli joined Northrop Grumman in 2002, after a year-long internship in the International Marketing organization.

Kelli earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Loyola University in Maryland

Jay Patel is the Vice President of Remote Sensing Programs for the Payload and Ground Systems division for Northrop Grumman Space Systems sector, a premier provider of space and launch systems serving national security, civil and commercial customers.

As Vice President, Jay has executive responsibility for leading all aspects of the business unit, focusing on key space systems, payloads and software that supports Northrop Grumman's customers’ national security missions. In this role, he also leads efforts to drive operational and production efficiency with integrated development and design activities across product lines.

Since joining Northrop Grumman in 2004, Jay has held various leadership positions with responsibilities spanning systems engineering, hardware and software products including most recently serving as Vice President of Engineering for the Payload and Ground Systems division where he led engineering performance, training and development, staffing and personnel support. Previously, he also served as director for Systems Engineering, Integration and Test (SEIT) in the Mission Systems sector, director of the Mission Enterprise Systems Operating Unit, and program director within Remote Sensing Programs.

Prior to joining Northrop Grumman, Jay held various technical and leadership roles including design engineering, front line product management, sales and marketing, program and capture management for both commercial and government customers.

Jay earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a champion for building a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture, serving as co-chair of the company’s Space Systems DE&I Council. Jay is also a dedicated mentor and participates in the High School Involvement Partnership (HIP), the Asian Pacific Professional Network (APPN), Gen2Gen and Connect1NG employee resource groups. Jay also serves on the advisory board for the College of Computer and Electrical Engineering for the University of Maryland College Park.