Make no mistake, Linda Parker Hudson smashed a glass ceiling or two after graduating with honors from the University of Florida with a systems engineering degree.
The diehard Gator behind UF’s Linda Parker Hudson Leader-in-Residence program has called several CEO suites home and led some of the world’s largest defense contractors.
She was one of Fortune Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, one of Washingtonian Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Washington and one of the Washington Business Journal’s Power 100. The London Sunday Times called her “the first lady of defense,” and The Charlotte Business Journal gave her a Lifetime Achievement Award.
And she attributes her career path and much of that success to Ms. Haynes, her seventh-grade math teacher.
“She told me, ‘You could become an engineer and solve really complex problems and make the world a better place,’” Hudson recalled. “It’s funny how something like that can really shape a life.”