Dr. Cynthia J. Young; Theater Mission Planning Center Curriculum Developer and Instructor at Leidos

Cindy is as self-made a person as anyone I have ever met.  After graduating high school and not having any particular skills that were as yet discovered nor the grades or money to get into University, she joined the United States Navy as an enlisted person.  Perhaps she knew, and it’s just as likely she did not, that this single decision to join the Navy set her on a professional trajectory that is nothing short of amazing.

Once in the Navy, her MOS was that of a cryptologic technician maintenance servicing communication equipment.  As her initial planned time in the Navy was nearing the end, instead of leaving, she decided to remain and earn her Bachelor’s Degree (soon-after becoming an officer) and then her Master’s Degrees – eventually retiring from the Navy.  She earned her Doctorate degree after leaving the Navy when she was 46.  Her doctoral study, Knowledge Management and Innovation on Firm Performance of United States Ship Repair, provided her the opportunity to gain additional professional and academic expertise to facilitate improvements in organizational knowledge management.

She had a daughter while stationed in Georgia which added yet another level of complexity; working hard to balance her professional career in the Navy with her studies and the new responsibilities of being a mother.  Her driving force – wanting to never fail at any of it and making sure her daughter was provided for and brought-up in a stable environment. 

If all this was not enough, Cindy has found time to become a certified Project Management Professional, a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, and as an ASQ-Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence – and has been a contributing author to several books including; Chapter 3: Using Leadership to Improve Firm Performance Through Knowledge Management from The Refractive Thinker: Volume XI: Women in Leadership and Chapter 4: Ensuring Prosperous Knowledge Flow from the Silent Generation Through Generation Z in a Global Workforce from The Refractive Thinker: Volume XVII: Managing a Cultural Workforce: The Impact of Global Employees.

I am sure you will find Cindy’s life journey as fascinating and inspirational as I did.

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Host: Joseph Paris, Founder of the;  XONITEK Group of Companies,  Operational Excellence Society & Readiness Institute

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Guest: Dr. Cynthia Young

Dr. Cynthia Young

About Dr. Cynthia J. Young

Cindy resides in Chesapeake, Virginia.   She holds several accredited degrees; a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park; two Masters of Business Administration (MBA), one in e-commerce and one in advanced management studies, from Trident University International; and a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) from Walden University.

She is a retired Surface Warfare Officer with 23 years in the U.S. Navy having entered the Navy directly out of high school.  At Leidos, Cindy is a Theater Mission Planning Center Curriculum Developer and Instructor, a defense contracting company.   She is a past-Chair of American Society for Quality, Tidewater, Section 1128, and a member of the Project Management Institute, Golden Key International Honor Society, and Delta Mu Delta International Business Honor Society. 

Outside of her professional career, she raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society with Team in Training (TNT).  She has run (to date) two marathons (Marine Corps Marathon and the Chicago Marathon) and two half-marathons (Norfolk Harbor Half Marathon and the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon).

About Leidos

Website: https://www.leidos.com/

Headquarters: Reston, VA

Year founded: Leidos (from Kaleidoscope) was originally part of SAIC, which was founded in 1969, but split from SAIC in Sept 2013.

Company type: Global science and technology leader

Company size: 34,000 and growing; over $10B; #311 in the Fortune 500

Specialties: Defense, Civil, Health, and Intelligence markets with core competencies of: cyber, digital modernization, integrated systems, mission software systems, mission support, operations and logistics, and sensors, collection, and phenomenology.