MCLEAN, Va., Nov. 17, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neil G. Siegel, vice president and chief engineer, Northrop Grumman Information Systems, (NYSE:NOC) was honored with the 2011 Government Contractor CTO Innovator Award presented by the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) and Washington Technology magazine. Siegel, who was recognized in the large company category, received the award on Nov. 14 during TechCelebration, the annual banquet of the NVTC, the largest technology council in the nation.
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The award recognizes chief technology officers from small, midsize and large businesses within the region's government contracting community for their critical contributions to achieving results for their customers and leadership within their own companies.
Siegel was honored for demonstrating Northrop Grumman's leadership in technical innovation to the Department of Defense. Most notably, Siegel led the creation of the Blue-Force Tracker system, a technical achievement that is saving warfighter lives, and has made Northrop Grumman a recognized world leader in battlefield digitization.
"Neil embodies the persona of a great innovator: one who is a pioneer of long standing learning, encourages innovation among young professionals, and most notably, is driven to produce solutions that improve our customer's mission," said Linda Mills, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Information Systems. "Neil's achievements have played a pivotal role in increasing military effectiveness and his vision has laid the foundation for future network-centric land combat technology developments. I congratulate Neil on this most deserved honor."
Siegel is being honored for his pioneering work that led to the introduction of information technology directly onto the battlefield through the creation of Force XXI Battle Command Brigade-and-Below (FBCB2), also known as Blue-Force Tracker (BFT). Deployed in its newest version this year, BFT has significantly increased U.S. Army and Marine Corps combat effectiveness and saved hundreds of soldier lives. Neil is also being recognized for his efforts to cultivate the next generation of technical innovators and for developing process baseline techniques to improve systems engineering and large-scale software development.
A member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Siegel has received numerous awards for his professional achievements including the prestigious Simon Ramo Medal for systems engineering from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and induction into the U.S. Army Order of Saint Barbara. He is also an IEEE Fellow, an honor revered in the technical world and the association's highest grade of membership. In July, he received an award from iCMG for customer-focused architecture, based on the same achievements.
Siegel leads the Northrop Grumman Information Systems sector technology and engineering group where he oversees more than 14,000 engineering professionals and is responsible for spearheading the development of engineering solutions for customers' most complex and important problems. He also leads engineering process improvement, oversees research programs and organizes the development of the company's technical talent.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
