Former Military Reconnaissance Operator Bill Beard, EMBA '05, Now Flying High with L-3 Vertex Aerospace

As a career U.S. Navy man, Bill Beard developed a deep appreciation for discipline and protocol. When he entered the civilian work force after ending his military career, he had the requisite technical expertise but sensed that he needed to bolster his business acumen and administrative leadership skills. He gained the insights and understanding he sought by enrolling in Baylor's Executive MBA program conducted in Austin and Waco. The MBA curriculum reinforced his knowledge and helped prepare him for higher level of responsibility as vice president of operations at L-3 Vertex Aerospace (www.l-3vertex.com), a position to which he was appointed this past May.

L-3 Vertex Aerospace, based in Madison, Miss., has a pivotally important role in national defense. The company--a division of L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL) of New York City--performs aviation and aerospace technical services. Its functions encompass logistics support, maintenance, supply chain management, and repair and overhaul services, primarily for all branches of the U.S. military, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, NASA, the Drug Enforcement Agency and other government agencies.

"I oversee aircraft maintenance programs for U.S. Air Force, Navy and other federal customers--that's my P&L responsibility," said Beard, who also has responsibility for the company's quality control, information technology, risk management and environmental health and safety functions. His operational functions encompass about 4,500 employees. He says that as a business executive, he applies all aspects of the Baylor MBA curriculum.

"To me, the most useful subject areas of the curriculum were the accounting, finance, strategy and human resources-related topics, which I apply daily," Beard said. "But more than anything, the value of the MBA program is the well-rounded nature of the total experience. I believe the MBA curriculum induces you to think in different ways. I'm now able to discern the 'big picture' with greater clarity and evaluate situations with a more disciplined, analytical approach than I previously could."

Beard, whose parents Lonnie and Helen were cotton mill workers in his native South Carolina, enlisted in the Navy right out of high school to pursue his interest in aviation electronics. The flight from South Carolina to boot camp in Orlando, Fla., was his first time aboard an aircraft. When he completed his four-year tour in the summer of '81, he returned to his home town and took a job as an instrument technician with a local textile manufacturer.

"But I wasn't having a lot of fun, so after just two and a half months there, I re-enlisted in the Navy," Beard said. He became an ELINT (electronic intelligence) operator and logged more than 4,000 hours aboard Lockheed EP-3E and P-3C reconnaissance aircraft around the globe. ELINT is used to identify ship movements and military emplacements, including locations of radar and anti-aircraft installations.

"During the Cold War, I spent a great deal of time flying over the Pacific, and later for Operation Desert Storm and over Bosnia in the mid '90s," Beard said. The altitude at which he flew--25,000 to 27,000 feet--was at times unnerving.

"That's high, but not always high enough," said Beard. "That can put you within range of shoulder-fired missiles launched from mountaintops."

When he retired from the Navy as a master chief petty officer in 1997, Beard submitted a resume to the Waco operation of Raytheon Aerospace, which was working on modifications and upgrades of aircraft on which he had flown.

"I had expertise that was of interest to them, so they hired me for a low-level position in their Navy program," Beard said. He gradually worked his way up the job ladder through positions of increasing responsibility over a period of more than nine years, through the company's acquisition by L-3 in March 2002. "We just changed the sign on the door to L-3 Communications Integrated Systems [L-3 IS], but everything else remained the same."

Beard said he loves his new position at L-3 Vertex Aerospace.

"I think our work is a very noble cause. We support the men and women who ensure our freedom every day. Knowing you are part of that is what makes this job and career field both interesting and extremely rewarding," Beard said.

He feels fortunate to have overcome the often career-limiting stereotypes associated with military enlisted personnel.

"Retired military officers are likely to be perceived as having leadership abilities--regardless of whether or not they actually do excel in leadership--whereas enlisted military personnel are often painted into a box as technicians or mechanics," Beard observed. "Since I left the Navy, I have had the good fortune of working with people who never did make those kinds of assumptions, but instead made sure I always had challenges before me and was given the opportunity to do whatever I was capable of."

Still, Beard felt the need for more formal leadership training. He had been thinking of embarking on MBA studies since he obtained his bachelor of science degree in business from New Hampshire College while in the Navy. He gathered information about several programs but decided upon Baylor's EMBA program with the encouragement of his supervisor, John E. "Ed" Boyington Jr.--who was at the time vice president of federal programs for L-3 IS, but has since become president of L-3 Vertex Aerospace.

"Our company had sponsored people into the Baylor program during previous years, and the credentials of Baylor's faculty members made their program more appealing to me," Beard said. "Ed clearly cares about his people and takes time to mentor his folks and help them develop their own skills."

Beard's career advanced even while he was enrolled in the Baylor MBA program. He was named senior director of federal programs for L-3 IS Waco and Greenville, Texas, operations in 2004, a year before he completed his MBA degree work.

Beard said he drew inspiration from a book that was recommended as part of the Baylor curriculum--Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, by Jim Collins (ISBN-13: 978-0066620992).

"It teaches that the secret to attaining greatness lies in learning what the core competencies of your organization are, and discovering what your passions are and how to build a winning team on them," Beard said. "It taught me that success depends not only upon selecting the right people--getting them on the bus--but also ensuring that you get them in the right seats on the bus, in a way that benefits both themselves and the organization the most."

It appears that Bill Beard's progression from the cabin of a Lockheed EP-3E to the L-3 Vertex Aerospace executive suite put him in the right seat.

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