Linda R. Gooden, MBA

Chair, Board of Regents

University System of Maryland

Linda R. Gooden has chaired the University System of Maryland Board of Regents since 2018, and has served on the board since 2009. She was previously executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services and an officer of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. She was the founding president of Lockheed Martin Information Technology and, over her 40-year career, one of the most respected business leaders in aerospace and defense.

A champion for inclusive, excellent education, Ms. Gooden has served on the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education and on several boards affiliated with Maryland public higher education, including the University of Maryland (UMD) Clark School of Engineering; the Center for Electronic Markets & Enterprises at UMD’s Smith School of Business; the UMBC Foundation; and the Prince George’s Community College Foundation.

Ms. Gooden is among Maryland’s—and the nation’s—most honored business and civic leaders. A member of the Maryland Business Hall of Fame, she’s been named one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology by Corporate Board, Executive of the Year by the Greater Washington GovCon Awards, and Black Engineer of the Year and IT Black Engineer of the Year by U.S. Black Engineer magazine. The magazine has since named its Legacy Award for Ms. Gooden. In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed her to the National Secure Telecommunications Advisory Council.

Ms. Gooden holds a bachelor’s degree in computer technology from Youngstown State University, and a bachelor’s in business administration and an MBA from the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). UMGC conferred on her an honorary doctor of public service, and Drexel University awarded her an honorary doctor of engineering.