DRAKE
Eileen

• 1. Career

Eileen P. Drake is chief executive officer and president of Aerojet Rocketdyne, responsible for defining the company’s vision, guiding the strategic business plan, and building relationships with customers and stakeholders.

Career

Ms. Drake joined Aerojet Rocketdyne in March 2015 as chief operating officer. She previously was with United Technologies Corporation (UTC), where she served as president of Pratt & Whitney AeroPower’s auxiliary power unit and small turbojet propulsion business. She also served as the vice president of Operations and vice president of Quality, Environmental, Health & Safety, and Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) for UTC’s Carrier Corporation, as well as for Pratt & Whitney.

Prior to joining UTC, Ms. Drake managed production operations at both the Ford Motor Company and Visteon Corporation, where she was Ford’s product line manager for steering systems and plant manager of Visteon’s fuel system operation.

During her military career, Ms. Drake served on active duty for seven years as a U.S. Army aviator and airfield commander of Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Ms. Drake is a distinguished military graduate of the U.S. Army Aviation Officer School. She received a Master of Business Administration from Butler University and a Bachelor of Arts from The College of New Rochelle. She also received an honorary doctorate degree in Science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Ms. Drake holds commercial and private pilot’s licenses in both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.

In February 2017 Ms. Drake was appointed to the board of Woodward, Inc. where she serves as the Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and is a member of the Compensation Committee. Woodward, Inc. is an independent designer, manufacturer and service provider of control system solutions and components for the aerospace and industrial markets.

Ms. Drake serves on the Board of Governors of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). In November 2018 she was elected as a member of AIA’s Executive Committee. AIA helps shape the American aerospace and defense industries’ future by advocating for polices and responsible budgets that keep our country strong, bolster our capacity to innovate, and spur our economic growth.

In January 2020 Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) selected Ms. Drake to serve on their National Board of Directors. The 2.5 million member GSUSA is the nation’s preeminent leadership development organization for girls, with programs coast to coast and across the globe.

Ms. Drake also serves on the National Space Council’s Users’ Advisory Group (UAG). Chaired by Admiral James Ellis, Jr., USN, Retired, the UAG is a federal advisory committee that advises the National Space Council on U.S. national space policy and approaches to strengthen U.S. leadership in space. Ms. Drake started serving a two-year appointment in June 2020.