Briana Brown recalled the moment she caught the engineering bug. As a junior in high school, she strapped herself in for a wild jolt of excitement as she rode the Six Flags theme park’s Bizzaro Roller Coaster. Who knew that those few moments of thrilling G forces would be the fuel to launch a career, which is now in full flight.

“I decided I wanted to design roller coasters and, through research, discovered that it takes a variety of people with various engineering degrees to design and build roller coasters…Consequently, I chose mechanical engineering.”

Her current position as Senior Program Manager and Aftermarket Business Leader for GE Aviation Systems, NYC now follows a career trajectory that began at Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford, CT, when she interned following her freshman year at Stony Brook University.

She would go on to a concentration of study in Technological Systems Management. Today Briana holds a Master of Business Administration from Auburn University and two Bachelor of Science degrees in Applied Math and Statistics and Technological Systems Management with a Specialization in Mechanical Engineering from Stony Brook University. Briana was awarded three annual scholarships from the Construction Advancement Institute (2011-2013), and hails from a technical and skills based family—she is the daughter of Donald Brown, a member of Carpenters Local 279.

Briana today brings more than nine years of related supply chain and product management experience, supporting the on-time delivery, quality, and workplace safety for military and commercial aviation products. Briana is a certified Project Management Professional, GE Lean Academy graduate, Venture for America fellowship alum, and Scrum (Agile) process owner.

On her own time, she continues to devote her energies to the community and charitable causes. She founded and operates two not-for-profit foundations whose missions provide scholarships to college-bound high school seniors in Rockland and Westchester counties and in South Florida.

She has also been recognized for her service to the community and her efforts to increase collegiate retention by then-New York State Senator David Carlucci, the New York State Assembly, local NAACP chapters as well as her alma mater.

Her career trajectory is an inspiration for those students who receive CAI scholarships each year.

— Researched and written by Sheila Smith Drapeau