Board of Advisors

Quality Programs Director
Northrop Grumman Corp

With over 20 years of Information Technology (IT), Ellen Quinn's experience includes management of projects and multi-million dollar budgets, team leadership, quality and performance assurance and web development. Ellen is currently a Quality Assurance, CMMI and Six Sigma (Black Belt) process improvement leader at Northrop Grumman, where she has worked for over 13 years.

She is the QA manager for several major projects, one with the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and two with the Department of the Treasury. Her responsibilities include planning, resources, staff and budget, scheduling and execution of all quality assurance and process improvement related activities, which includes oversight of service level agreement metrics and measurement data for the projects.

In addition to her project activities, Ellen is often called upon as a subject matter expert (quality assurance, process improvement, Six Sigma) for multiple proposals across Sectors at Northrop Grumman. She also is an active member of Women in Technology (WIT) (Northrop Grumman is a Titanium sponsor (highest level)), where she is both a member (since 2001) and leader of multiple committees.

Ellen is also a member of the Tech Alliance Committee, Technology Council of Maryland representing Northrop Grumman. Ellen has been recognized with her efforts in WIT by the 2006 Volunteer of the Year Award and 2004 WIT Champion Award.

Previous to Northrop Grumman, for five years at GTE Spacenet, Ellen managed a $6 million budget for the Information Management (IM) department. She established effective method for monthly accruals and internal audits. As administrator of the corporate e-mail system, she was instrumental in establishing new internal e-mail system (that interfaced with the corporate e-mail).

As editor of the IM newsletter, Ellen worked with the internal helpdesk personnel on training, troubleshooting and general assistance for end-users. Her prior experience includes designing and managing a sales and marketing incentive database for telecommunications sales executives, where she also developed and refined policy and procedures on commissions for sales and marketing staff. The new design provided a more efficient tracking system, and a more timely payment of incentives. For this work Ellen received a Team Quality Award.

Ellen has both a Master's Degree and a MBA, both in management, from the Johns Hopkins University. She is a certified quality manager (CQM) and senior member of American Society for Quality (ASQ), and serves on the Quality Management Division's Marketing and Communications Committee. In addition, Ellen has been very active with the March of Dimes, serving the last three years as a VIP ambassador for finalists at the Heroines in Technology Awards event.

Also, she is a member of the WalkAmerica Committee, and captain of the Northrop Grumman team, and both she and the Team have been recognized every year with numerous awards. She is also active with the Montgomery County (Maryland) Chamber of Commerce, currently serving on its Public Safety Awards Committee.