MIKEL helping assure U.S. ocean dominance

NAVY TECH: MIKEL President Kelly Mendell, right, looks at a beacon in the prototype lab with software engineer Kayla Gandolfi. The company recently announced a  $23 million U.S. Navy contract for developing  advanced sonar and sensors technology. / PBN PHOTO/KATE WHITNEY LUCEY
NAVY TECH: MIKEL President Kelly Mendell, right, looks at a beacon in the prototype lab with software engineer Kayla Gandolfi. The company recently announced a $23 million U.S. Navy contract for developing advanced sonar and sensors technology. / PBN PHOTO/KATE WHITNEY LUCEY

Critical technology, helping assure U.S. naval dominance in the world’s oceans, is being developed at MIKEL Inc. in Middletown, a small, rapidly growing, high-tech powerhouse headed by Kelly Mendell, daughter of the company’s founder.

Only last month Mendell announced a $23 million U.S. Navy contract for developing advanced sonar and sensors technology – the largest in a series of contracts that MIKEL has received to date. The five-year contract calls for high-level systems engineering and hardware and computer science development for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport.

Sonar, invented in 1906 for detecting icebergs, first became the essential eyes and ears of undersea and surface ships in combat in World War II. Since then, it has been continually advanced as a critical element of the world’s navies – particularly in enhancing undersea warfare capability.

MIKEL was founded as a privately owned startup in 1999 by Mendell’s father, Brian Guimond, a veteran electrical engineer for Navy technical programs. Initially, MIKEL operated as a sole proprietorship based in Fall River, serving the U.S. Defense Department.

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Mendell, an industrial engineer, joined the company in 2003 as its second employee and managing director. She became president in 2008 at the age of 37. Guimond became chief technologist. It continued to be a family-owned company building on its growing internal resources.

Prior to joining MIKEL, Mendell held management engineering positions at the Gillette Co. Inc. and the Raytheon Co. She graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an MBA from Babson College.

Continually fueled by government contracts, MIKEL has rapidly expanded to 130 employees – mostly highly experienced engineers, computer scientists and software experts. Its products and services span three major areas: acoustic tracking and navigation, combat systems and performance assessment.

Besides its headquarters for technical operations in Middletown and administrative operations in Fall River, MIKEL has operations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Washington, D.C.; Groton, Conn., and Fairfax, Va. These operations include technical personnel assigned under subcontracts to various companies, including General Dynamics Corp., Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. and BAE Systems.

MIKEL’s Advanced Contact Management System gathers actionable sonar information for combat ship commanders. Its Submarine Acoustic Navigation System calculates a submarine’s position in real time over large areas from pings emitted by positioned undersea beacons. Its Standardized Metrics of Assessment of Readiness and Training delivers real-time and post-event analysis, essentially answering the question, “What happened?”

Mendell says the company also is expanding its work into cybersecurity and unmanned underwater vehicles. And she says it is exploring international defense business with Australia.

MIKEL, as a part of the U.S. defense industry, is optimistic about a significant growth of the U.S. Navy based on the coming change of government. A larger Navy would be expected to include more advanced weapon research and design, more Virginia Class attack submarines and faster and possibly increased replacement of Ohio Class ballistic missiles.

“One of MIKEL’s biggest challenges in growing our business today is recruiting experienced technical people,” Mendell said. “We haven’t been able to find the right candidates here in Rhode Island, which means we have to attract them to leave their present jobs elsewhere in the country and move here.”

She says Rhode Island’s concentration of universities is not “great recruiting ground for us because recent technical graduates may have a good education, but they don’t have the high-level experience that we require.

“MIKEL hires graduates as interns,” she said. “But they have to be trained. That’s expensive and takes time and doesn’t meet our immediate needs.

“In trying to fill those needs, we are fortunate in what we have to offer: many exciting advanced technological challenges, attractive compensation packages, stable jobs, a beautiful place to live and raise children. Most of all, I believe we offer a lot of special opportunities to do something truly worthwhile.”

And, she added with a smile, doing “something truly worthwhile” is a powerful incentive.

“For me, making great razor blades earlier in my life was certainly important,” she said. “But that never can match knowing that our sailors go to sea with the best, most advanced sonar and I help provide it.” •

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