Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: JENNIFER BOYKIN

Since beginning her career in 1987 at Newport News Shipbuilding in the nuclear engineering division, Boykin steadily rose through the ranks, becoming its first female president in 2017. Newport News Shipbuilding is a division of Fortune 500 military contractor Huntington Ingalls Industries and is the state’s top industrial employer, with about 25,000 workers.

NNS is the lone manufacturer of nuclear-powered Ford-class aircraft carriers for the Navy; it is also building 10 submarines for the service under a $22.2 billion-plus deal that was the military branch’s largest-ever shipbuilding contract, from which NNS is set to receive $9.8 billion. The shipbuilder reported 2023 revenues of $6.1 billion.

NNS is expanding its footprint with an eight-acre satellite campus at Fairwinds Landing in Norfolk. In October 2023, NNS became the lead industry sponsor of Old Dominion University’s program to graduate more engineers. In July, the Navy announced it would build a $120 million parking garage at NNS.

Boykin holds a bachelor’s degree in marine engineering from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and a master’s in engineering management from George Washington University. She is a founding member of two organizations aimed at empowering girls and women: Old Dominion University’s Women’s Initiative Network and USMMA’s First 10 Forward.