Northrop Grumman VP to speak at winter commencement

A vice president of one of the nation's largest government contracting firms will speak at the winter commencement ceremony.

James Pitts, the corporate vice president and president of the Electronic Systems sector of Northrop Grumman will address graduating students the night of Dec. 19 at Comcast Center. Pitts, a Baltimore native, is the latest in a string of lesser-known winter commencement speakers, including Nobel-winning physicist John Mather and United Way Chairman Brian Gallagher.

In comparison, CIA Director Leon Panetta, Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer  have spoken at spring commencements during the same time period.

Jessica Rindos, the chair of the winter commencement speaker selection committee, said they made the decision based on the speaker's involvement with the community and lifetime achievements. Rindos' father, who works with Pitts in Electronic Systems, suggested Pitts to her as a speaker because of his wellknown public-speaking skills.

"Lots of his different speeches involve the joint networking of universities and big businesses. With a lot of graduates looking for jobs in the economic downturn, he could inspire them to follow their own path. He could motivate them," she said.

The sector Pitts spearheads develops defense, communication, weapons, navigation and space electronic systems for the federal government and commercial businesses.

Electronic Systems is one of Northrop Grumman's largest sectors, with $7 billion in sales for 2008 and 21,600 employees operating in 20 different countries.

Pitts holds three patents related to warfare electronic systems. He earned a bachelor's degree in engineering science and a master's degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He currently serves on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Board of Visitors and is chairman of the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education.

"His involvement in the community on specific boards was a deciding factor. He has worked from the bottom up with networking skills, and he has spoken at other events. We figured he'd be an attention-grabber," Rindos said. She said the committee was not able to release information about other speakers they considered.

While students graduating this winter largely didn't know who Pitts was, they did expect him to motivate them with some words of wisdom.

"I expect the speaker to be encouraging about the future and to give us tips on what to do after college, because we are going to be stepping into a new life," senior biology major Andrea Akyeampong said. "We want it to be entertaining because speeches are usually boring."

"He should tell us ways to use our degrees to help others and the country as a whole, continue our career paths and move on to bigger and better things," senior microbiology major Adwoa Kaakyire said. "Tell us what we can do to change the world."

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