Locality
Fairfax County
Occupation
Entrepreneur
Biography
Mary Ann Edwards Elliott grew up in Newport News after her family moved from Robeson County, North Carolina. After her husband's sudden death, she began looking for work to support her children. Although she had dropped out of high school, she earned her G.E.D., and her persistence led to a job at Motorola as its first woman hired to work in terrestrial wireless communications. She moved into the field of satellite navigation and communications and held management positions with several different companies.
In 1991 Elliott founded her own business, which she named Arrowhead Space and Telecommunications, Inc. (later Arrowhead Global Solutions, Inc.) in tribute to her family's Tuscarora and Lumbee Indian heritage. Headquartered in McLean and one of the few technology companies at the time headed by a woman, Arrowhead grew rapidly into a multimillion dollar business that provides integrated communication network solutions for the military and government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. She fought gender prejudice through constant study and is recognized as an expert in satellite telecommunications.
Elliott has received numerous accolades during her career, including the 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace. In 2007 she became only the second woman inducted into the Space and Satellite Professionals International Hall of Fame. She has established scholarships at the University of North Carolina, Pembroke, and also founded the Morningstar Foundation to support organizations that work on behalf of children, education, health care, and the environment.
2003 Virginia Women in History honoree, Virginia Foundation for Women and Delta Kappa Gamma Society International.
In 1991 Elliott founded her own business, which she named Arrowhead Space and Telecommunications, Inc. (later Arrowhead Global Solutions, Inc.) in tribute to her family's Tuscarora and Lumbee Indian heritage. Headquartered in McLean and one of the few technology companies at the time headed by a woman, Arrowhead grew rapidly into a multimillion dollar business that provides integrated communication network solutions for the military and government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. She fought gender prejudice through constant study and is recognized as an expert in satellite telecommunications.
Elliott has received numerous accolades during her career, including the 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace. In 2007 she became only the second woman inducted into the Space and Satellite Professionals International Hall of Fame. She has established scholarships at the University of North Carolina, Pembroke, and also founded the Morningstar Foundation to support organizations that work on behalf of children, education, health care, and the environment.
2003 Virginia Women in History honoree, Virginia Foundation for Women and Delta Kappa Gamma Society International.
File Citation(s)
Image Courtesy of Arrowhead Space and Telecommunications, Inc.