This document profiles four women professionals who work in engineering and technology fields: Adrienne Williams of Northrop Grumman, Jessica Gomez and Michelle Pope of Huntington Ingalls Industries, and Renata Spinks of the US Treasury. It provides brief biographies of each woman, describing their educational and professional backgrounds, roles and responsibilities in their current positions, and areas of expertise and interests. The document emphasizes their leadership experience and contributions to STEM education and mentoring initiatives. It concludes by providing contact information for the panelists.

1. MANAGING COMBAT
Turning Conflict into
Collaboration
Adrienne Williams, Northrop Grumman
Michelle Pope, Presenter Huntington Ingalls
Industries
Jessica Gomez, Huntington Ingalls Industries
Renata Spinks, US Treasury

2. Adrienne Williams is a Functional Systems Engineering Manager for Northrop Grumman
(NGC) directly supporting development and international radar programs in SEIT,
Deputy SEIT and IPT roles. She directs engineering reports supporting as many as 40
development, 10 production and 4 international programs. Adrienne began her tenure
at NGC in 2009 as a Program Manager supporting 2 programs within the Naval Marine
Business Area.
Adrienne pursued her Bachelors of Science in Aeronautical Science at Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University while concurrently serving honorably in the United States Air
Force supporting Tactical and Strategic Airframes Avionic, Electronic Countermeasures
and Air Traffic Management. In addition, she earned her Project Management
Professional (PMP) certification from Project Management Institute.
Upon separation as an active service member, she continued her service in the US Air
Force as an active reservist participating in the most recent campaigns such as Operation
Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan.
Concurrent to serving as a reservist, Adrienne joined United Parcel Service (UPS) Airlines as a Program Engineering
Manager with responsibilities of 30 CONUS and Mexico Air Operations. Adrienne’s organizational leadership and logistics
management expertise was pivotal as a lead for the post acquisition team of Menlo Worldwide Logistics consisting of 8,200
employees and operations in 175 countries. Adrienne has been a winner of numerous Premium Performer Awards for
individual and team contributions from the U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman to include Women of Color.
Adrienne’s daily mantra to pursue her highest heights despite gender and ethnicity in any area of her life is “Well-Behaved
Women Seldom Make History” – Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

3. Jessica Gomez joined Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of
Huntington Ingalls Industries, as a nuclear engineer in 2004.
Huntington Ingalls Industries is the world’s largest naval shipbuilder
and, at their location in Newport News, VA, are the nation’s sole
provider of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines. In her
14 year career, Jessica has held various technical and management
positions in Engineering and Construction Support across all of the
shipyard’s product lines from new construction to maintenance and
overhaul.
Jessica is currently the Director of the A2W and A4W Reactor Plant
Planning Yards, Propulsion Plant Engineering Activity, and the
Standard Navy Valve Yard. She is responsible for leading an
organization which provides Program Management, Engineering and
Design life cycle services to NAVSEA and the Naval Nuclear
Laboratories. Jessica has a Bachelor’s degree in physics with research
experience from Florida State University in the field of experimental
nuclear particle accelerator physicsShe also has a Master’s of Science degree in Engineering with laboratory experience from Dartmouth College’s
Thayer School of Engineering in the field of thin film electronics and biotechnology. Jessica is passionate about
STEM educational outreach and helped implement the Girls with Engineering Minds in Shipbuilding program
with NNS Career Pathways. This program brings after-school STEM activities to middle school girls and creates
long term mentoring relationships to help guide their educational and professional journey. Jessica continues to
support local STEM initiatives in the community, and is also an avid supporter of mentoring and development
programs at NNS.

4. Michelle Pope is an Electrical Designer at Newport News Shipbuilding, a
division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) where she designs lighting
systems for Aircraft Carriers during their Refueling Complex Overhaul
where her responsibilities include being the electrical lead for the medical
and dental complex reconfiguration. In 2014, she became an Engagement
Champion for the Engineering and Design division where she acts as a
subject matter expert and as a resource to Division leadership on issues and
ideas related to employee engagement. In 2016, Michelle was chosen to
become a member of the Engineering and Design Change Agent team,
dedicated to helping leaders build strong teams by identifying and resolving
issues that interfere with growth, development and performance through
workshops and focus groups centered on Strengths and team effectiveness.
She is also a sought out expert in implementing these kind of tools in the
workplace. Since 2016, Michelle has been part of her Division’s Innovation
Cell; being instrumental in finding new and creative ways to use emerging
technology to rethink and reinvent engineering products delivered to HII’s
value stream customers. Michelle is passionate about giving back to her
community in a variety of ways She is an active member of HII-NNS
Employee Resource Groups including Women in Shipbuilding (WiSE) and
the African American Shipbuilders Association where she serves as the co-
chair of the Professional Development Committee.Michelle has organized volunteer events centered around providing food, toiletries and Christmas gifts for local families in
need during the holiday season. Over the five years this volunteer event has been in place, over 30 families have received
assistance. She volunteers at local STEM events including robotics competitions and Career Pathways events, and serves as a
development mentor specializing in reading skills improvement from middle school students. Ms. Pope holder a Bachelors
of Science in Social Science with a specialization in Organizational Effectiveness from Troy University. Michelle has
received several honors and recognitions for her service to her local community as well as her professional development
expertise. Michelle is also one of HII 2016 Women of Color Technology Rising Star Award recipients.

5. Ms. Renata C. Spinks has 20 years of combined military and federal service
engineering and designing technology systems for the financial and investigative
arms of the federal government, the Intelligence Community as US Military. She is a
US Army Medical Command Combat Veteran with expertise in cybersecurity,
criminal investigations, computer forensics, healthcare, and information systems
security/risk management.
Renata is currently a Senior Advisor to the ACIO at the US Treasury IRS; responsible
for technology security and risk management, continuous monitoring and
diagnostics, identity access management, electronic authentication and privacy.
She is also the Lead Executive for Enterprise Programs Cyber Vulnerability
Management Focus Team; implementing cybersecurity and privacy frameworks for
front-facing technology and internal processing ecosystems as well as lead
contributor for behavioral analytics for insider threat.
Ms. Spinks has served as an Acting CTO at Millennium Challenge Corporation US
State Department, Special Assistant to the Chief Technology Officer at US Treasury;
a DHS ICE Special Assistant to the Director, and is a recognized CIAA Elite Student
Athlete. Renata holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from St.
Augustine’s University, a Master of Science in Technology Management from
Florida Tech and holds several certifications, professional recommendations and
awards-- 2014 Woman of the Year with the National Association of Professional
Women (NAPW), 2016 Outstanding Employee at the US Treasury and Shining Star
at DHS; to name a few.
Renata is an Active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated and is the owner of Rising Footsteps STEAM2.0
(Science Technology Engineering Athletics and Mathematics) –a program that mentors female student athletes interested in
STEM careers. She also is the CEO of Resilient Cyber Services– a consulting company that provides services in cybersecurity
operations, threat intelligence and skills development. Renata’s causes are assisting women and children who are victims of
Domestic Violence and is very involved in community programs focused on combatting Human Trafficking and Child
Exploitation. She’s a published articles author and sought out industry STEM Conference speaker; often contributing to
White Papers, Policies and Curriculums. She is native of Louisiana and currently resides in Northern Virginia.

6. Let’s Chat!
Effectively addressing workplace conflict is a
beneficial means of bringing important issues to
light, opening the lines of communication, and
strengthening workplace relationships.
Leaders that can embrace conflict are better
able to build empathetic and stronger
relationships, thereby attaining and experiencing
grander personal and professional success.
Managing conflict is a skill that takes practice
and time to learn.
Unmanaged struggles in the workplace can
lower teamwork production, lessen cooperation,
and reduce employee commitment to the project
and company.

7. Adrienne Williams Adrienne.williams@ngc.com
Michelle Pope chellepo@gmail.com;
michelle.pope@hii.com
Jessica Lopez jessica.gomez@hii-
nns.com@hii.com
Renata C. Spinks rcs@resilient-inc.com
Contact the Panelists