Chairman Robert J. Stevens
The Admiral of the Navy George Dewey Award honors a US citizen eligible for regular membership in the Naval Order who has established a record of exemplary service as a senior civilian that sets that individual apart from his or her peers. The 2017 recipient is Mr. Robert J. Stevens, retired Executive Chairman who served in the Marine Corps in the early 1970s.
The award will be formally presented during our annual Congress in Jacksonville, Florida.
Robert J. Stevens was Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lockheed Martin Corporation. He served as the Corporation's CEO from August 2004 through December 2012, was elected Chairman in April 2005 and served as Executive Chairman from January through December 2013.
Mr. Stevens currently serves as the Lead Director of the Monsanto Company, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Steel Corporation, the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, and the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council.
Stevens is a Fellow of the American Astronautical Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics, and he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
A native of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Robert Stevens, at age 18, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps after graduation from McKeesport High School in western Pennsylvania in 1969. He reported to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and graduated as the Outstanding Marine of Platoon 3073. He also was the recipient of the Outstanding Recruit Award for the 3d Battalion given by Leatherneck Magazine. Based upon Mr. Stevens' performance in boot camp, he was meritoriously promoted to lance corporal.
Upon completion of training as a forward observer at Camp Lejeune, Mr. Stevens was assigned to the 2d Field Artillery Group, FMF Atlantic and subsequently transferred to WESTPAC where he joined 3d Battalion, 12th Marines in Okinawa. While with 3/12, Mr. Stevens was assigned to an infantry company in 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, and as part of the Special Landing Force, traveled to Vietnam and the Philippines. In 1972, he finished his two years of active duty with the III Marine Amphibious Force, FMF Pacific and was honorably discharged in 1975 with the rank of corporal.
Following active duty, Mr. Stevens enrolled in Slippery Rock University and graduated summa cum laude in 1976 receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award. He subsequently received graduate degrees in engineering and management from the Polytechnic University of New York, and, with a Fairchild Fellowship, earned a master's degree in business from Columbia University while pursuing a very distinguished career in the aerospace defense industry culminating as chairman, president and CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, retiring in 2013.
In 2001, Mr. Stevens served on President George W. Bush's Commission to Examine the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry. In January 2012, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, and he currently serves as Chairman of the Director of National Intelligence Senior Advisory Group. He has been recognized by the National Management Association as Executive of the Year, by Government Computer News as the Industry Executive of the Year, by the Partnership for Public Service with the Private Sector Council Leadership Award, and by the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation with the Globe and Anchor Award.
Chairman Robert J. Stevens
In 2010, he received the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s inaugural LeJeune Recognition for Exemplary Leadership, and in 2011 he was recognized by the National Defense Industrial Association with the James Forrestal Industry Leadership Award and inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame. In May 2012, Mr. Stevens was recognized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics with its highest honor, Honorary Fellow. In October 2012, he was presented the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Chairman’s Award, and in December 2012, Mr. Stevens became the 65th recipient of the National Aeronautic Association Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, which is presented annually for “significant public service of enduring value to aviation in the United States.” In March 2013, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation’s highest award, the Circle of Honor Award, and the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation’s Semper Fidelis Award, and in September 2014, he was awarded the Lone Sailor Award by the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation.
“I did not learn about leadership in business school. I learned about leadership when I was 18 years-old and first introduced to the United States Marine Corps, where leadership is not taught by a favored professor in a three-credit hour course. It is taught by every officer and every NCO in every minute and every hour of every day, in every action, every word, every deed, and every circumstance. And, in that experience, you are immersed in a culture of excellence that is built on a foundation of virtue and value.”
Remarks by Robert J. Stevens, 9 May 2012