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John Michitson |
Building Bridges, Abroad and at Home
John Michitson
February 2006
Over a decade of service on the Haverhill, Massachusetts, City
Council, John Michitson has tackled thorny budgeting problems, worked
to revitalize the city's commercial district, and developed a mentoring
program for troubled youth. In addressing these challenges, Michitson—who
served as council president for the last two years—drew on
the critical thinking and problem-solving skills he applies every
day in his work at MITRE.
Michitson has spent more than 18 years as an engineer and resource
manager at MITRE. Over the course of his career, he has served as
a group leader on command, control, and communications systems developed
for the Air Force across the world, from Iceland to Spain to Somalia,
an experience he describes as fascinating. "It was exciting to spend
extended trips in each of these countries with different cultures
and varying importance on the world stage," Michitson says.
Today he works as an associate section leader in the network interoperability
section of the systems engineering division in MITRE's Air Force
Center. He focuses on the big picture, also known as the enterprise
view.
"In enterprise systems engineering, we're trying to optimize the
impact of the whole enterprise for our Air Force sponsors by evaluating
the mission and how it will evolve over time," he says. For example,
he and his colleagues might ask how Airborne Warning and Control
System (AWACS) components contribute to situational awareness on
the global information grid, in addition to how they serve AWACS
specifications. Enterprise systems engineering, Michitson says,
embodies "the complex, non-linear relationships between and among
people, processes, and technology, as they come together to solve
problems."
In addition to his work in network interoperability, Michitson
serves as project leader for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) Command,
Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence modernization
study being conducted by the Air Force Center. "The Royal Saudi
Air Force currently has an air defense system that was installed
in the 1990s using 1980s technology," Michitson explains. "We're
taking a fresh look at what their requirements are for the 21st
century." This work includes identifying new operational requirements
for the RSAF and developing an enterprise architecture to help it
and the coalition respond to threats in the region. "The program
provides a unique opportunity to lead a technical team on an important
project for the United States," he says.
Promoting Collaboration; Establishing Relationships
The analytical skills Michitson honed as an engineer and resource
manager have served him well in the world of politics. He is proud
of his work co-developing a project called the Innovation Valley
Initiative, aimed at attracting new businesses to Massachusetts'
Merrimack Valley Region and providing them with tools such as collaborative
purchasing. The Innovation Valley Initiative promotes "eco-industrial
networking," which helps local businesses share complementary information,
products, and services. The initiative also seeks to reduce energy
consumption and minimize environmental impacts through a process
called industry matching, which allows businesses to consolidate
resources, for example, by sharing excess components or raw materials
with companies that can use them rather than sending them to landfills.
Michitson compares this effort to his work in enterprise systems
engineering, saying the key to success is taking a long-term view
of how businesses can work together to solve problems and improve
the region's economic viability.
"Trying to attract businesses to a region has many of the same
characteristics of an enterprise," he notes. "Developing a model
for industry matching across an entire region requires analysis
of many complex, non-linear relationships between and among people,
business processes, and technologies of candidate and existing companies."
As a city councilor, Michitson also founded an organization that
pairs underprivileged adolescents with mentors in the Haverhill
area. The group is called Danny's Friends Mentoring Program, in
memory of Haverhill child Danny Thibodeau, who died of cancer in
1994. The program has helped dozens of children by teaming them
with adult volunteers who practice sports with the youngsters, offer
homework help, and help them learn how to use computers. Michitson
cites MITRE's commitment to good corporate citizenship, along with
the opportunities he's had to do volunteer work as a MITRE employee
over the years, as examples he looked to when founding the mentoring
program, which has operated successfully for more than 10 years.
Since Michitson recently stepped down from the city council to
spend more time with his family, he says he's been fortunate to
be able to apply lessons learned from MITRE to the world of politics,
and vice versa. He sees a key parallel between his MITRE work and
his career in government: a focus on building and maintaining relationships.
"Politics is a people activity, and MITRE's success depends on
establishing relationships with a variety of co-workers, customers
and stakeholders," he says.
—by Maria S. Lee
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