Leslie Jelalian is senior vice president of Strategy & Corporate Development for BAE Systems, Inc., where she leads the development of strategic actions and initiatives to shape our business portfolio, both organic and through acquisition, for the nearly $12.6 billion U.S.-based organization. In this role, she is responsible for identifying and implementing initiatives to deliver sustainable growth through organic investments, acquisitions, as well as domestic and international business procurements to enable the organization to protect its core businesses and pursue new and adjacent opportunities in existing and emerging markets.

Jelalian has been with the company for more than 30 years and has served in a number of line and functional leadership positions in engineering, program management, and strategy development. She began her BAE Systems career as a design engineer for a decade before transitioning to program management as lead on the Joint Strike Fighter Countermeasures Integrated Product Team. Most recently, she served as vice president of Strategy and Planning for the Electronic Systems sector, which followed her roles as vice president and general manager for the Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (ISR) Solutions business area and as vice president of Engineering for the Electronic Systems sector.

Jelalian received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She also earned a master’s degree in Systems Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University. She was selected for and completed several BAE Systems leadership development programs, including the North America Leadership Development Program, Delta Program, and Advanced General Managers Program.

Jelalian was honored by the Boston Business Journal and the Mass High Tech Council as one of twenty “Women to Watch” and by the Nashua Telegraph (NH) as one of “The Next 20.” She has received the Association of Old Crows Technology Hall of Fame Award, the University of Massachusetts College of Engineering’s Duane E. Cromack Young Alumni Award, the New England Council’s Leadership Award to Women in Business, Nashua YWCA’s Leadership Award, and the University of Massachusetts’ Women in Engineering Outstanding Alumna Award.

She is a member of the Board of Directors for Home Health and Hospice of Southern New Hampshire, and she has previously served on boards for her local Salvation Army, Girls INC of Nashua, Project SAVE, Worcester Polytechnic Institute of College of Arts, UNH College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Advisory Board, and UMass College of Engineering..