Ron Godlewski
ENTREPRENEUR, TECHNOLOGIST, BUSINESS DEVELOPER, AEROSPACE & DEFENSE SPECIALIST
Background - why we are here
Hi...you've reached the home page for
Ron Godlewski
Full name is Ronald, but please call me Ron
As 2025 unfolds, I find myself reflecting on an incredible professional journey spanning over several decades! And I started this little social media experiment of a personal webpage back in 2010 with the goal of understanding the dynamics of social media and exploring different ways of "being online." It’s fascinating to see how things have evolved since then.
Over the years, I've observed how the lines between personal and professional lives have blurred. Younger professionals, in particular, see little distinction between the two. In today’s world of content creation and digital business, personal is professional, and professional is personal—something evident across platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
For me, LinkedIn has always been strictly business, while my private Facebook remains a space reserved for close family and friends. I’m active on LinkedIn nearly every working day, though I can’t recall the last time I logged into Facebook.
If you've visited my LinkedIn profile, you know my career path. I've been a functional manager leading engineering teams, a program manager handling both small and large-scale programs, and I've held profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities. I’ve owned my own company and led business development efforts, capturing opportunities from under $100,000 to well over $150M. In 2022, I transitioned to the role of Chief Technology Officer, where I embraced the "mad scientist" side of my career and had the privilege of driving innovation.
Now, as I step away from my full-time CTO role at Leonardo and embrace a blend of retirement and new challenges, I’m excited to focus on special projects that align with my passion and expertise, including:
AI/ML Algorithm Development – Crafting innovative solutions using artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Equipment Prototyping – Turning concepts into reality through hands-on development.
Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) – Offering guidance and implementation strategies to enhance systems engineering practices.
I want to express my deepest gratitude to all that I’ve met and had the privilege of working with over the years. Thank you for your kindness, collaboration, and, in many cases, friendships that I will treasure forever. Working alongside such talented and dedicated professionals has been one of the greatest privileges of my career. I have learned so much and am immensely proud of what we have accomplished together. While I will undoubtedly miss being part of this incredible team, I am excited about what the future holds for all of us. I wish each of you continued success in your endeavors.
So even though I'm retiring from the daily grind, I'm still here and eager to contribute to impactful projects. If you're looking for expertise in these areas, let’s connect! And if you ever find yourself in the Huntsville area, give me a shout—we’ll head out and do some bass fishing!
Entrepreneurship - the building of a business, start-ups, analyzing business models, and just plain understanding the money flow.
Technology- I call myself a technologist as I try to understand the underlying enablers (technology) that make the gadgets, knowledge tools (artificial intelligence/machine learning), the internet (web 3.0) and other novel 'toys' work: especially those that enable us to communicate with each other, entertain ourselves like never before, and do things we only imagined a few years ago.
Professional Interests - what’s most important
Business Development- I'm in the Aerospace and Defense industry. I've been there nearly my entire career. Started at the back end of programs teaching computer repair and worked forward all the way to an area called Business Development. It's not sales. The cycles are much longer. You need a team to win the big programs. And the playing field has more rules to level the competition than one can imagine. It's challenging and its fun, especially when you win! But make no mistake, I've been heavily involved in the commercial market space too. I founded my own commercial company, created several unique 'internet of things' devices long before the current trend, and even have a patent. Business development is all about leveraging talent (what our people do), heritage (what have we done in the past), technology (discriminators), and teammates (to fill in the gaps) into a solution that aerospace, defense, commercial, and international customers want and buy.
Aerospace & Defense - Over the past several years, I focused on a specific branch of the Aerospace & Defense market space, specifically those technologies and opportunities involved with Electronic Warfare. Without bullets or brawn, the control of wired and wireless connections on the battelfield wins a war. Current events in Europe prove it. During this past year, I've been able to expand and focus on applications that apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to electronic warfare. Tasks that once took a long time and needed a well-seasoned expert, now can be done automatically and on a lot more signals of interest. I have to admit, combining commercial and military technologies is downright fun!
Hobbies - there is really only one
Now if you really want to get me talking about something that is not work related, try the topic of fishing...I absolutely love bass fishing. After all, you have to balance, recharge, and refresh in order to create new ideas and be ready to tackle the next set of challenges.