Implementation of a systematic enterprise approach to the acquisition and sustainment of Naval Aviation resulted in a fundamental change in the manner in which U.S. Navy aviation units were equipped, trained and sustained. This success led to its adoption across the entire Navy. From Sep 2005 through June 2007, Vice Admirals Massenburg and Zortman led the Navy through the most fundamental changes in acquisition and sustainment in over 40 years, employing a rigorous data driven approach to the allocation of all resources, breaking down artificial constraints imposed by legacy accounting systems. Their efforts returned over $100M annually to Navy accounts.

Dr Chris Urmson led the development of the autonomous automobile that won the DARPA Urban Challenge in November 2007. The accomplishment benefits the United States warfighter by inventing and proving new technology for autonomous vehicles on the battlefield. The accomplishment also benefits automobile occupants and pedestrians worldwide who will enjoy greater safety with the technology developed and proved by Dr Urmson. The challenge required system thinking beyond that usually practiced by a systems engineer. The scope of systems thinking included the traditional sensor selection and fusion, artificial intelligence techniques, vehicle control techniques, unit and system level software and hardware testing and crafting a race strategy to win against formidable competitors.