Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) President and
co-owner Eren Ozmen first came to the United States by herself at age 23 to
earn her MBA after graduating from college in Turkey. When she arrived in the
United States, Eren spoke little English and had no financial resources, but
she did have a driving entrepreneurial spirit and BIG dreams. To pay for her
tuition and support herself during her MBA at the University of Nevada, Reno,
she worked night shifts, even cleaning offices at SNC for a few months, and
made baklava for a local bakery during her first year at UNR. Eren believed in herself and the American
Dream, and she worked very hard to earn her MBA and advance her business
career.
Although incredibly determined even at that
young age, Eren never imagined she’d own and operate SNC one day—or that it
would become one of the largest female-owned space and aeronautics contractor
in the United States.
Her husband, Fatih Ozmen, has an equally
incredible story. A year before Eren came to the United States, Fatih—a former
Turkish cycling champion—came to America to pursue his graduate degree in
electrical engineering. Later, he started at SNC as an engineering intern. Fatih
and Eren became good friends while supporting each other during these difficult
first years. Their friendship grew and they married in 1989. Then, in 1994 they
had the opportunity to acquire SNC and, together, grew the company into a
global leader in aerospace and defense.
Here’s a quick look at Eren and Fatih Ozmen’s
staggering success story and why that makes SNC an ideal place to start your
career.
Making Their Multibillion-Dollar American Dream Come True
The story of the Ozmens really begins in
Turkey, the country they both emigrated from in the early ‘80s.
Eren first met Fatih in Ankara, Turkey during
her senior year of college studying journalism and public relations. Fatih was
an electrical engineering student there, but they both had plans to head to the
United Sates to earn their master’s degrees.
Fatih came to the U.S. in 1980, and the couple
reconnected when Eren also came independently to the United States in 1981 for
an English language program at UC Berkeley. Fatih was pursing his master’s
degree at the University of Nevada, Reno at the time and suggested Eren apply
for the MBA program at UNR. She took his advice and moved to Reno to begin the
program.
The pair became best friends before they even
considered dating each other. Fatih was rising through the ranks at SNC, and Eren
was working in the finance department of a local sprinkler system company. She
learned the company was completing its financial reports by hand –which took
weeks–and she put in a request for a personal computer. Eren’s request was
denied. So, she spent her next paycheck on a new PC, brought it to work and
generated the next set of reports in a matter of hours. Eren was immediately
promoted to manage financial reporting.
A few years down the line, Fatih and Eren were
married and working at SNC, but the company was struggling. Eren was working in
the finance department to convert SNC’s accounting system to an automated
platform. She discovered that SNC was on the verge of going out of business and
she knew the owners were not fully aware of the situation. Because of her
determination to fully share the company’s current situation with the owners, the
leadership team was able to turn the company around and stay in business. In
fact, her honesty earned her a promotion and she became SNC’s first controller
in 1988.
Later on, in 1994, Eren and Fatih had the
opportunity to acquire SNC. They took a significant risk and leveraged their
house as collateral to purchase the company.
Since then, they have grown SNC from a small electronics company with
just a team of 20 to a trusted, multibillion-dollar leader in aviation,
national security, and space with 4000 employees across the globe.
How The Couple’s Strategic Decisions Made SNC an Aerospace and Defense Leader
Upon acquisition of SNC, Eren took over as CFO
and Fatih became CEO. They developed an entirely new strategy for the company,
one that focused on innovation, resourcefulness and exceeding customer
expectations.
Given the company’s smaller size and limited
resources, Eren and Fatih knew they couldn’t compete with major players in the
industry by acting the same way and selling the same product. So, they
innovated and decided to offer scaled down products, but at a far lower cost than
their competition and at five times the speed.
This innovative strategy not only enabled the
couple to take on major aircraft projects while saving the U.S. government
millions of dollars, but also drove them to develop a myriad of products across
the defense and aerospace industries. Smart and frequent acquisitions and a resourceful
approach also enabled the couple to obtain abandoned projects and make them a
reality for their clients.
In 2008, the Ozmens made their highest
acquisition yet: $38 million for a space company called Space Dev, which
included rights to the Dream Chaser®
spacecraft—a reusable orbital vehicle designed to replace the retired space
shuttle. Dream Chaser is now set to service the International Space Station
starting in 2021 as part of a multi-billion contract with NASA.
This was something of a dream come true for
the Ozmens. Fatih told Forbes:
“Space is more than a business for us. When I was a young child, on the other
side of the world, I watched the moon landing on a black-and-white TV. It gave
me goosebumps. It was so inspirational.”
Their Hard Work Carried Them to the Top — And At SNC, So Could Yours
The journey to the final frontier is far from
the only inspiring thing about the Ozmen’s story and SNC. At SNC, the belief
that great leaders and great ideas come from anywhere and anyone comes from the
top down. Remember, Eren started at SNC working night shifts while pursuing her
MBA and Fatih began his career as an intern at the company.
Perhaps that’s why SNC’s internship program is
known for its emphasis on both long-term and short-term career development.
While the company has grown considerably, teams are still tight-knit groups of
top industry talent and experts. That means mentorship, close collaboration and
high-impact projects are always a
part of the SNC experience. (You might even get to learn from an astronaut or two.)
At a company like SNC, impact is everything. Whether you’re an intern or the CEO, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish—not even the sky.
Want your career to blast off? Check out open opportunities at Sierra Nevada Corporation on WayUp right now!
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