Mastering Technical Leadership: A Boeing Engineer’s MBA Journey
Boeing engineer Tamaira Ross wrote the book on how tech leadership can be taught from the ground up
Sometimes it really is rocket science.
Tamaira Ross (MBA 2008) is a Chief Engineer in Boeing’s Rapid Space Capabilities division. In this senior leadership role, she applies the skills she honed in the University of Washington Foster School of Business Technology Management MBA program to lead a team that is, quite literally, reaching for the stars.
“We develop advanced satellites,” she explains. “I’m responsible for technical oversight of our programs and managing our engineering staff. I’m working on propulsion and system engineering. I’m also working on the business side, putting together proposals for new business efforts. My role is a combination of business management and engineering.”
That same philosophy guides the curriculum at the Foster School’s Technology Management MBA program. The curriculum—which includes courses on topics such as Strategic Analysis of Data and Ethical Leadership—trains students in the technical skills needed in today’s business world while also developing the communication and strategic abilities that distinguish successful executives.
Technology Management MBA helps engineers hone leadership skills
Ross says the program was instrumental in her career trajectory. “I felt that I had these great ideas for engineering projects, and I wanted to figure out how to get them funded,” she says. “I needed to learn how to go into a meeting and present a business case for my proposal.”
She recalls that her decision to earn her MBA was essential to broadening her skill set. The leadership lessons she learned at Foster and that she teaches today are just as relevant in a technical role as in a business capacity.
“My MBA gave me a much larger context for my work,” she says. “It was a very helpful degree, and I’m glad I did it. I’m an engineer’s engineer, and I never wanted to get away from that. But providing the business and leadership context is incredibly valuable.”
Prior to getting her MBA, Ross earned her Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington. She says that while the Technology Management MBA program can benefit students from numerous professions in the industry, it is particularly well suited for engineers. “Engineers build systems, and that’s what senior executives do as well. Many CEOs have an engineering background. The Foster School helps engineers apply their skills to new realms, and that creates opportunities.”
From Boeing to Blue Origin and back again
Ross is excited to be working in an industry that she says is in a golden period. Boeing, Space X, and Blue Origin are all pushing one another to innovate faster. The result is more advanced satellites with increased capabilities, which benefits consumers in a myriad of ways they might not even be aware of, from improved cell service to GPS coordinates to financial transactions. She spent 17 years at Boeing before moving over to Blue Origin to serve as a Director of New Glenn System Definition & Design, playing a key role in developing reusable rocket technology. Now she’s back at Boeing, which she says “feels like a homecoming.”
One of the welcome changes she has seen during her career is that her colleagues are now more diverse than they were decades ago.
“I’m not the only woman in the room anymore,” she says. Ross has held leadership positions at the Society of Women Engineers and welcomes the opportunity to mentor fellow female engineers. “Aerospace is about 15% women. I’ve worked over the course of my career to increase that percentage. It’s something I’m very passionate about. For women going into engineering or the space industry, knowing you won’t be alone and that you can receive great mentorship and support from men and women alike is so important.”
Technical leadership is a skill that develops with practice
Ross is an adept people manager with the talent to motivate and develop a team while also being an experienced and knowledgeable engineer in a highly specialized field. She doesn’t view this as a dichotomy. In fact, she literally wrote the book on marrying the two components of her role.
Ross is the author of Technical Leadership: Begins with Knowing Yourself. The book posits that leadership skills, just like technical expertise, can be learned with time and practice. She provides insights and exercises to build the self-awareness and emotional intelligence essential for effective technical leadership.
At Foster, she learned the fundamentals and language of the corporate world, as well as how to help others progress in their careers. “I learned about frameworks for understanding leadership that could be broken down and digested at UW,” she says. “People mistakenly think that leaders are born and not made and it’s this black box of how you become a great leader. It’s not. It is a learned set of skills. You can learn it and you can teach it to people.”
Teaching technical leadership at the University of Washington
Today, Ross is doing exactly that. In 2010, she returned to the University of Washington as an affiliate instructor in the College of Engineering, where she teaches Technical Leadership. Her book on the subject serves as a textbook for the class.
Ross has a warm and friendly demeanor in the classroom. She encourages students to share their experiences and colors the material with personal anecdotes from her 27-year career. Evolving into an effective and respected technical leader is a journey, but Ross says it starts with the title of her book — knowing oneself. To that end, her course begins with students evaluating their own personalities and how they relate to their colleagues before branching out to cover topics including working in teams, innovation, and conflict resolution.
She says that teaching the class also benefits her own career. “Teaching is educational for me as well,” she says. “A lot of the concepts I learned in the Technology Management MBA program have been continually reinforced because I’m teaching them myself. The material is not the same thing I teach, but I use that framework to help teach others.”
Former students are now colleagues
Ross is not the only Technical Management MBA graduate who returned to the University of Washington to teach in the Industrial and Systems Engineering department. She’s not even the only member of her family to do so. Ross is married to Stephen Montgomery (MBA 2008). They were the first husband and wife couple to go through the Technical Management MBA program together, and now both are University of Washington Industrial and Systems Engineering department faculty.
There is a strong University of Washington alumni network at Boeing, including some employees already familiar with Ross. It’s a point of pride for her that her students are pursuing careers in the industry.
“One of the most fun experiences is encountering my former students on an engineering team here at Boeing and at Blue Origin. It’s very convenient because it means we start with a common language regarding leadership.”
Learn more about Foster’s Technology Management MBA.
