Maria Demaree is vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s newly formed National Security Space business. In this role, she oversees an expansive, multibillion-dollar portfolio and leads thousands of full-time employees to deliver integrated end-to-end solutions, high-performance systems, critical space architectures and innovative concepts, helping customers execute vital national security missions.

With a customer-centric, people-first mindset, Demaree oversees the execution of hundreds of programs, operations, and maintenance contracts, critical research and development, and Lockheed Martin’s corporate-wide executive steering group for Combined Joint All-Domain Command & Control, or CJADC2. Additionally, she advocates within the legislative and executive branches of government for Lockheed Martin programs of record and policy objectives that impact the future of the aerospace and defense industry.

Previously, Demaree served as vice president and general manager of Special Programs at Lockheed Martin Space, where she supervised the execution of an expansive profile of predominantly classified programs for U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and U.S. Intelligence Community customer bases. She also created and led numerous workforce improvement initiatives, including the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility-Life initiative, which was later implemented companywide. The initiative provided team members with views of the outside world, unclassified gathering areas outdoors, and privacy pods for phone calls.

Prior to Special Programs, Demaree served as the vice president and general manager of Mission Solutions, a dynamic line of business within Lockheed Martin Space that provided both DOD and intelligence communities and commercial entities with mission-critical intelligence solutions, further enabling rapid information exchange across global networks.

Demaree is a fierce advocate of digital transformation, or DX, business transformation and workforce development strategy, and technology methods evolution and integration (including Agile, AI, and cyber methods). Across the aerospace and defense industry, she is a thought leader on the modular open systems approach, software-defined satellite architectures, cultivating next-gen workforces, classified workplace transformation, the pursuit of space-based 5G, and the application of breakthrough AI to influence the tactical edge of warfighting. She chairs the board of Zeta Associates and serves on the board of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, the National Space Security Association, and the Colorado Chamber of Commerce.

As an executive champion of diversity and inclusion, Demaree recently completed an extensive term on Lockheed Martin’s corporate executive inclusion council. Because mentors were crucial to her early career, she enjoys mentoring others. She reaches out to students and young professionals in the community, frequently speaking at Metropolitan State University of Denver and other schools about the STEM and engineering skills that will be needed in the future. She is active in many community and professional organizations, promoting women in engineering, veterans, DEI, work/life balance, and more.

Demaree earned a B.S. in computer science at The Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the proud mother of three and lives with her husband in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.