Alfred Grasso

Mr. Alfred Grasso is president and CEO of The MITRE Corporation. He is responsible for developing and leading the corporation's overall strategic and business operations for its federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs). He also serves on MITRE’s Board of Trustees. Concurrent with his CEO responsibilities, Mr. Grasso is director of MITRE’s National Security Engineering Center, responsible for delivering transformational solutions for the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. Mr. Grasso has held several leadership and management positions within MITRE since joining the company in 1986. He was executive vice president and director of the Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence FFRDC until his appointment to CEO in 2006. He held positions as senior vice president and general manager of MITRE’s Washington Command, Control, and Communications Center and vice president and CIO. Earlier, he was technical director for the Battlefield Systems Division at MITRE’s Fort Monmouth, N.J., site. Under Mr. Grasso’s leadership, MITRE has received several prestigious awards for its commitment to public service and technical excellence, including the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service (2008); the Air Force Association’s Theodore von Karman Award (2008); and the National Aeronautic Association’s Collier Trophy (2007). The company has also been recognized for its innovative culture, its workplace environment, and its knowledge management capabilities. Fast Company named MITRE one of the “World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” (2010); Computerworld has named MITRE to its “100 Best Places to Work in IT” (2005-2012); Aviation Week named MITRE a “Best Place to Work” for aerospace and defense professionals (2009); and MITRE was on FORTUNE’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” for a decade (2002-2011). MITRE received the North American Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) award in 2009 and 2011. Mr. Grasso is an appointed member of the Defense Science Board. He is chairman of AFCEA International’s Board of Directors and was vice chair from 2010 to 2012. He is a special adviser to the STRATCOM Strategic Advisory Group and is a member of the Stevens Institute Systems Engineering Research Center Advisory Board, the University of Virginia’s Department of Systems and Information Engineering Advisory Board, and Howard University’s College of Engineering, Architecture, and Computer Sciences Board of Visitors. Mr. Grasso is the former president of the Board of the National GEM Consortium, a nonprofit that promotes the participation of under-represented groups in the STEM fields. He previously served for seven years on the Army Science Board. Federal Computer Week presented Mr. Grasso with its prestigious Eagle Award in 2012. Eagle Award recipients are chosen from among the winners of the Federal 100 Award, which recognizes individuals who have made a significant impact on federal IT. Mr. Grasso was cited for his work leading studies on acquisition management and resilient system architectures and for his leadership roles on advisory boards. In 2012, the Lido Civic Club of Washington, D.C., an Italian-American civic organization serving the metropolitan community, named Mr. Grasso as its Man of the Year. A first generation Italian-American, Mr. Grasso was recognized for his longstanding commitment to advancing educational opportunities for young people, particularly in the STEM fields. Before joining MITRE, Mr. Grasso was with ARINC Research Corporation and with the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a master’s degree in computer science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is a graduate of the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School.