Michael Dumais ‘88

EY Center for Executive Leadership - Resident Advisor to Chief Operating Officers, Ernst & Young Global Consulting Services

Although I have spent most of my career at United Technologies [now Raytheon Technologies], I have worked in numerous engineering, consulting, general management, strategy and corporate development roles with multiple companies. The one common thread throughout my career is all of my roles and experiences involve technology. As an 1988 Virginia Tech Electrical Engineering grad, my class was the first required to have personal computers. I’ve gone on to both lead businesses with billions of dollars of revenue and tens of thousands of employees and negotiate large multi-billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions. I have been happily married to my wife Diane for 27 years and I have three college aged sons. We live in Charlotte, NC, a three hour drive to visit campus and attend home football games!

The work project/initiative I'm most excited about...
I am now responsible for the integration and transformation of Raytheon Technologies, a $65B company formed by the merger of Raytheon and United Technologies. My responsibilities include creating a common operating system for the company, reducing costs, capturing new market opportunities and digitizing our business processes.

Something I still carry with me from my management consulting days...
having worked with 25 different companies in varied industries and located in different countries reminds me that the world is a very large place and there are many different ways to solve a problem.

Of all the aerospace M&A transactions I've led, the most memorable...
leading the spin-offs of Carrier Air Conditioning and Otis Elevator out of United Technologies which created three industry leading companies.

I've sharpened my negotiation skills over the years by...
trying to understand the objectives of the other side, using data and facts to strengthen my position and taking a principled approach in every negotiation.

My hidden talent...
Ping pong.

The most formative experience I've had...
leading a $1B business at age 37 where I was responsible for the safety and livelihood of thousands of employees.

How Virginia Tech equipped me for the "real world"...
Virginia Tech not only offered a world class engineering education, it also provided me with practical problem solving skills that I use to solve technical and business problems to this day.

Fondest Virginia Tech memory...
walking across the Drillfield after my last afternoon class was over.

Words of encouragement to a current Virginia Tech student...
while the Virginia Tech academic program can be tough, rest assured that you are getting a world class education.

If I had a superpower, it would be...
never losing focus on the end objective.