Vice Admiral George Sterner , United States Navy (Retired) served in the United States Navy for 36 years. His career included command of two nuclear submarines and the Naval Sea Systems Command where he was responsible for design, construction and life-cycle support of all naval ships, submarines and small craft. Following his Navy career Admiral Sterner joined Walt Disney Imagineering as Vice President for System Integration on the MS Disney Wonder cruise ship construction team in Margherra , Italy . He returned to the defense industry in 1999 as the Raytheon Company Naval Mission Area Executive. Admiral Sterner recently retired from Raytheon after three years as Vice President for Strategic Pursuits, which included oversight of a modest company-wide investment account for future technology and growth. He was also a Raytheon executive coach for mid-grade, high-potential managers. Admiral Sterner is Managing Director and co-owner of a small consulting company in Vienna , Virginia . He is the Non-Executive Chairman of Ultra Strip Systems, Inc., an environment and homeland security technology startup company. He also serves on the advisory boards for two venture capital funded software companies. Admiral Sterner holds a BS (1962) in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State and an MS (1968) in Operations Research from Naval Post Graduate School , Monterey . He completed the Harvard Graduate School of Business Advanced Management Program (1985) and was named a “Distinguished Alumni” of Penn State in 1995.

Previous Recipients