Dana Mehnert

President, Communication Systems, L3Harris Technologies, Inc.

Years in current role: 3.5 years

What was your biggest success in 2021?

Our people are at the heart of our success. L3Harris has the most creative and talented workforce in the industry. Our team’s biggest success in 2021 was effectively working together through another year of COVID, political unrest and an unprecedented global supply chain disruption that impacted many of our suppliers, including those in Rochester and throughout the state. We were able to work through these challenges and deliver on our commitments to support our customers in the U.S. Department of Defense, state and local government and our allies throughout the world.

What are your expectations for 2022?

I think we are all hoping for a better 2022: putting COVID (somewhat) behind us, and getting through supply chain challenges and, above all, overcoming political discord in the country. While there are heightened international tensions, we hope for greater unity and less tension domestically. We will also continue to build an inclusive culture where all of our employees feel valued and empowered to do their best work.

What is your biggest takeaway from dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic?

The biggest takeaway is the need to constantly communicate and be more agile and adaptive in dealing with continuously changing situations. We have all learned quickly to do things virtually and work as a hybrid team with employees in our factories, offices and their homes. Being able to find the right mix and effectively deal with a constantly evolving environment is critical to our success.

What is your favorite thing about the Rochester community?

The can-do spirit of our community and the belief that we can always make things better is what I love about Rochester, along with our tenacity to always strive for better. The proliferation of microbreweries is pretty cool too.

If time were no issue, what would you do to help the community that you aren’t already doing?

Giving back to the communities in which we live has always been a cornerstone of our culture here at L3Harris. Personally, I’d like to have the time to be more hands-on in helping the community; whether it’s cooking and serving food, driving people around, coaching small business leaders or just having conversations with people who need guidance, it’s a focus on more doing and less talking about it.

This profile is part of Rochester Business Journal's Power 100 list for 2022. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. View the full list at rbj.net.