Diane Aldrich joined Rockwell Collins on a full-time basis in June 1972 as a bargaining unit employee. Diane was previously employed by the former Collins Radio Company in 1970 as a temporary employee, a job she accepted to pay for classes at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Throughout her 35-year career, Diane says the most significant change has been how small the units have become. Now the material administrator in Operations Finance, Diane says the most exciting and worthwhile thing she was involved with was the early 1980s space shuttle project. She also has enjoyed how family-oriented our company is, and she suggests that new employees get all of the education they can and keep moving forward. "You have to learn to accept change or you will get left behind."

Judy Bemer joined Rockwell Collins – like many of her relatives who were already employed by our company – in June 1967 as an assembly operator. Fond of the diversity within our company and the various learning opportunities, Judy opted to stay with Rockwell Collins for the duration of her career. She currently is a repair operator in the Cedar Rapids Service Center at Main Plant. Judy says she loves the problem-solving aspect of her work, and she takes pleasure in sending a fully-functional radio back to our customers. In her 40 years with Rockwell Collins, Judy says the ARC-182 program was the most exciting and interesting project on which she worked. She encourages new employees to take ownership of the products they too are involved with. For Judy, learning and solving problems doesn't stop at the end of the work day. An original member of Team One Trainers in Cedar Rapids, Judy assists in training employees who want to become 195 Production Specialists. She also is a lifetime member of the Linn County Master Gardeners, Linn County Master Conservation and Trees Forever, all local activities that push her to teach and learn even in her spare time. According to Judy, her most notorious moment at Rockwell Collins in four decades might be the time she killed the yeast in the homemade buns she made and brought for a work potluck. The rock-hard results were used for a game of catch in her foreman's meeting, and that was the last time she volunteered to make homemade buns for her colleagues.

Stephen J. Boyer joined Rockwell Collins in 1972 — immediately after graduating from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa — as a time study engineer in Work Measurement Engineering. Throughout his 35-year career, Steve has watched the former Collins Radio Company go from being a small, local company to a worldwide supplier of communication and aviation electronic solutions. Now the manager of Enterprise Test Equipment Services, Steve is proud of his department and of our company as a whole. One of the most exciting projects he has been involved in over the years was the design and construction of Building 166 at the Main Plant complex in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He also helped with the start of the Combined Process Shop to build Populated Printed Circuit Boards. Steve was recently inducted into the Information, Referral, and Assistance Services Helping Hands Golf Tournament Hall of Fame. He received the recognition because he has participated in the event for the past five years and has raised more than $1,000 in contributions. In his spare time, Steve can be found playing a round of golf, boating, or working around the yard. He also is a member of St. Jude's Parish and is involved in the annual Sweet Corn Festival. Regarding the advice he would provide to our new employees, Boyer says it's always good to "embrace and encourage change. Always put your customer — whether internal or external — first."

Dennis Culbertson joined Rockwell Collins in June 1972 as a Radio Frequency Design Engineer for the Line-of-Sight Engineering Department in the Telecommunications Products Division. An amateur radio operator in high school, it was an easy decision for Dennis to pursue engineering as a career. Thirty-five years later, the Purdue University engineering graduate is a programs manager for Airborne, Maritime, and Fixed Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS) within Government Systems. Throughout his time at Rockwell Collins, Dennis has watched the spread of globalization affect the manner in which our products are developed, and innovation is pursued. Despite the changes, Dennis says it has been interesting to observe our company's lasting commitment to customer satisfaction. It is this same quality of commitment that makes Dennis proud of projects he has been involved with like the B-2 Communication Program and the Automatic Communications Processor High Frequency Program. With 35 years of experience, Dennis voices these words of wisdom for new employees, "Get out of your comfort zone and take initiative to network across the enterprise. Seek out informal mentors and participate in the formal mentorship program. Positive results flow across the company, not just the individual."

John Justice joined Rockwell Collins in June 1972 as a systems engineer in Ocean and Marine Systems. John was first drawn to the former Collins Radio Company because of its superior technical reputation — one that he says is "one of the best in the field." For John, "variety" has been one of many highlights in his career. He has worked on several designs including radios, phone systems, test equipment, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) receivers, Anti-Jam units, and GPS antennas. He says working on GPS systems during his career at Rockwell Collins was perhaps the most exciting because he began work on GPS when the technology was still new. "At the time, it was incredible to have worldwide navigation and time with the accuracy GPS provided to the end user." For the past 35 years, John has met the challenging tasks of hardware design, software design, Gate Array design, and technical leadership. He has since become a technical director in Sensor Systems. Just as John's career has evolved over the past three decades, he also has observed the evolution of our company and our products. "The size, weight, and power of products have dramatically decreased even though the functionality and features have significantly increased," he says. John also recalls a time when engineers obtained data from paper literature and reference books. Personal computers and the Internet, John says, have changed all of that. "Now, it is very quick and easy for anyone to 'Google' information or gather data about a specific product." Over the years, John has learned the value of trust at Rockwell Collins. His recommendation for new and future employees is this, "Trust matters, so give each task your best effort — even those you don't like — and remember, you are being paid to think."

A. Dianne Pickens joined Rockwell Collins in June 1967. Throughout the past 40 years, Dianne has been engaged in several aspects of our company. "I have seen many changes and have been involved in many interesting projects," she says. Dianne has worked on the product lines for our Air Transport Systems business, she has served as a janitor, and has explored painting in Fabrication Operations. She also has worked as a foreman in the Paint Shop and Edge Light Panels, and she has been an industrial engineering technician for Air Transport. Today, Dianne can be found working in Data Services, and she says she looks forward to the changes that are coming in the future and things become even more automated than they already are. She also has her eye on life after Rockwell Collins. "When I retire, I'd like to move to Arizona to be closer to my son, Erik."