Montville-based Marotta Controls on Tuesday announced a reorganization designed to strengthen product development and manufacturing processes, in turn improving its customer experience. The new structure remodels the company’s business units — Marine & Aerospace, Space, and Power & Actuation Systems — to function as fully supported verticals that manage a program’s complete lifecycle.
“The restructuring of our business units has been in process for some time. It’s a natural evolution driven by our accelerated growth experienced in recent years,” Patrick Marotta, CEO and president, Marotta Controls, stated. “The changes well-position us for future expansion as well, as they establish repeatable operational and reporting structures that can more easily scale. We trust our customers will embrace the new model as it will only enhance our ability to continue designing, developing and delivering innovative solutions going forward.”
Prior to the reorganization, Marotta’s business units primarily focused on program management and business development. The Engineering, Quality and Operations (i.e., supply chain, production, machining, etc.) teams were horizontal in that they worked across all units.
The new vertical approach ensures the business units are now each equipped with dedicated engineering, quality and operations services. This will allow for engineers to become highly specialized in their assigned product market, rather than having to develop and keep current crossmarket skill sets.
Marotta Controls also views the reorganization as an opportunity to better support employees’ career progression. The vertical approach sets cleaner career paths for staff members as it gives them the ability to develop nuanced skill sets as well as access to more leadership roles. Employees can also pursue professional development plans that see them cross into new business units, thereby gaining new market knowledge as desired.
“Career progression is something our employees value, as does the executive leadership team. The restructuring benefits for our staff equal those for our customers. By implementing a business-unit-focused structure, we’re creating new career opportunities. We’re also opening channels for cross-unit best practice sharing, which again will strengthen our output for customers while advancing individual team member’s expertise,” Marotta said.
Per the reorganization, Marotta Controls also announced the following new appointments:
Steve Fox, currently the vice president, aerospace & tactical systems, will expand his responsibilities as the senior vice president, power & actuation systems. He comes to this role as an accomplished veteran of the aerospace and defense industries. Fox holds more than 20 years of leadership experience within Marotta Controls, where he transformed the engineering and operations organizations by nurturing a culture of performance excellence.
Marilyn Petite, currently the vice president of operations, will expand her responsibilities as the vice president, marine & aerospace systems. Having joined the company in 2002, she has been instrumental in developing a quality-focused culture across the organization. Throughout her tenure, Petite has overseen each of Marotta’s production cells — a responsibility that includes supply chain management, purchasing, and planning. She has also served as VP of contracts & customer service, giving her unique insight into the expectations and needs of customers.
Max Wolfinger will maintain his role as vice president of space systems, a position he has held since 2020. With nearly 10 years at Marotta Controls, Wolfinger has risen through the company to successfully evolve the business unit that supports government as well as commercial spaceflight. Under Wolfinger’s leadership, Marotta has notably expanded its market share in the emerging commercial space industry by leveraging the company’s legacy valve product portfolio.
Mike Heller, currently Marotta’s vice president, finance, and chief financial officer, will expand his responsibilities as the executive vice president & CFO. In addition to finance, he will now oversee human resources, quality systems, continuous improvement and marketing. To date, Heller has contributed to the development and implementation of Marotta’s business units and has helped scale the company, its support functions and capital structure for growth. He brings to this new role nearly two decades of experience in aerospace and defense, leading a variety of functions for middle-market and Fortune 500 firms.
