College Announces Spring 2004 Engineering Commencement Speaker
Drew Crouch, Vice President of Strategic Development at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., is the spring 2004 engineering commencement speaker. Crouch graduated in 1984 with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an MSME (engineering management specialty) from Colorado State University.
Crouch has directed strategic processes for Ball Aerospace since 2002. His responsibilities include strategic planning, development and implementation; mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; intellectual property management, public and corporate relations and communications; inter-segment marketing; and business development coordination. He also serves as Ball Aerospace's designee on the Board of Directors of Vexcel Corp.
Drew's career spans aerospace business and strategic development, aerospace operations and finance, technology start-up executive management and financing, and space mission development and systems engineering. He previously served as Senior Director of Operations for Ball Aerospace, where he provided primary support to the Chief Operating Officer to enhance operational and financial performance across the company. In this capacity, he was a key player in reorganizing the company's operating units to ensure improved focus, accountability and performance, yielding significant EBIT recovery and reduction of capital spending.
Formerly as Director of Finance and Strategy for Ball Aerospace's Commercial Space Operations (CSO) Strategic Business Unit (SBU), Drew was responsible for strategy formulation, articulation and presentation; financial planning, reporting and performance and business management; and customer venture assessment and development.
From 1998-2000, Drew served as Manager of CSO New Venture Development, combining strategy development, business development, and new venture pursuit. In this role, Drew structured strategic relationships that led to collaboration with the strongest second generation commercial remote sensing providers in the industry, Resource21 and Astrovision. He also identified financial partners, and built relationships with leading technology bankers and venture capitalists.
Previously at Ball Aerospace, between 1989-1995, Drew also worked as a mission and systems engineer in the Ball Space Systems Division.
From 1996-1998, before rejoining Ball Aerospace, Drew was a Principal at Becker Capital Management, Inc., a privately funded venture finance firm. In 1996, Drew also served as Chief Operating Officer of VR1, Inc., an Internet multiplayer game software company. Drew was Vice President of Operations of Online Network Enterprises, Inc., a venture financed internet service provider, from 1995-1996, leading growth from 2 to 35 employees and the rollout of commercial services.
As Project Engineer for McCutchen & Company, a high-leverage construction management company, Drew performed a variety of functions for unique, water-related, engineering and construction projects from 1985-1989. He began his career in 1984, as a Mechanical Engineer for BDM Corp., an aerospace and defense contractor in Albuquerque, NM.
Drew holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Engineering Management) from Colorado State University (CSU). As an undergraduate, he was named the top of his M.E. class. Drew also completed Aerospace Engineering graduate courses at the University of Colorado at Boulder.