Fiona McKay —
A LEADING LADY OF ... AEROSPACE
By Fiona McKay
I would love to say I had a childhood dream of being in aerospace , but the truth is I ended up in aerospace by accident ! Well , perhaps not by accident , but more due to my personality . Since I was a little girl , I ’ ve always been driven by doing the unexpected and challenging the status quo . So I got quite a kick out of the idea of a female Oxford-educated biologist joining an aerospace company ! In my interview for the Rolls-Royce graduate program I compared supply chains to ecosystems and whipped out a photo of me as a premature baby to demonstrate my drive to progress in this world since my time in the womb – and it seemed to do the trick ! And so began my love story with aerospace .
Rolls-Royce provided me with a wonderful career opportunity . I began working in the supply chain and was fortunate to be exposed to many facets of the jet engine . Even to a non-engineer , engine technology is fascinating , and it had me gripped from day one .
64 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS