Executive Bios — Joanne Walker

Joanne Walker is Vice President of Business Operations with the company’s SATCOM division, based in Ottawa, Canada. Walker joined the company in 1990 following its acquisition of CAL Corp.

Walker has been responsible for the manufacturing, supply chain management and operations engineering during the company’s transition from aerospace research to the mass manufacturing of marketable communication systems. In this capacity, Walker led major advances in the division’s inventory management and manufacturing processes. Walker also acted as operations manager until 1998 and then as director of business operations until 2005.

In her ongoing role as Vice President of Business Operations, Walker is focused on LEAN manufacturing initiatives and on meeting the time, quality and process requirements of EMS SATCOM’s major OEM customers. Walker standardized costing methods and introduced innovations in the way in which the company does analysis of manufacturing variances. Her success with improving operational profitability and product lifecycles has been recognized by EMS SATCOM and the Ottawa Manufacturing Network.

Walker holds the APICS (American Production & Inventory Control Society) CPIM designation and has held production control roles with Atomic Energy Canada. She has taught materials management courses at Algonquin College, in Ottawa, where she also received her materials management training.

Walker is also an avid dressage competitor and a runner. She is married and is the mother of two children.