Founder/CEO
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“I don’t like being told I can’t do something,” says Carol Craig, founder and CEO of Craig Technologies and Sidus Space, headquartered in Merritt Island, FL. Craig Technologies is an Engineering, Design, Technology and Manufacturing company that supports government and commercial customers nationwide with employees in over 20 states. Over ten years, Carol grew Craig Technologies from one person in 1999 to over 450 associates with steadily increasing revenues and diversification and has spent the last decade focusing on aerospace and defense with a concentration on commercial opportunities.

Carol’s story, is truly unique. Before becoming a self-described “astropreneur,” Carol was one of the first women eligible to fly combat aircraft in the U.S. Navy and the first female aviator in her squadron serving as an active-duty P-3C Orion Naval Flight Officer. She was responsible for all tactical communication and navigation aboard combat aircraft in this position. An engineer by trade, Carol provided software design and development for military aircraft cockpit systems before her Naval service and instruction of flight planning software for the U.S. Navy Strike Fighter Weapons School post service.

Carol earned a BA in Computer Science from Knox College, BS in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Illinois, and an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

In 2017, Carol received the 2017 “Making a Difference” award from The American Business Women’s Association Oceanside Charter Chapter. In 2016, Carol received a Special Congressional Recognition award from Congressman Bill Posey during Hispanic Heritage Month for her outstanding and invaluable service to the local community. In 2015, Carol was selected as the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Person of the Year for the State of Florida and South Florida District and was recognized as the national first runner-up finalist in Washington, DC. The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) recognized Carol with the Kathleen P. Sridhar Small Business Executive of the Year Award in 2013. She received the prestigious 2013 HENAAC Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Great Minds in STEM. In 2008, the Society of Women Engineers recognized Carol as Entrepreneur of the Year.

Carol has also been featured in several publications, including The University of Illinois Alumni Magazine, Florida Trend, Washington Technology, Entrepreneur.com, Orlando Business Journal, and Florida Today.

Over the past 10 years Carol has held positions on over 30 boards and currently serves as a member of the Knox College Board of Trustees, is the Enterprise Florida Executive Committee Military Business Unit Liaison, and is a board member with the Florida Tech College of Business, Advisory Board, Florida Chamber of Commerce, UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science, Dean’s Industry Advisory Board (IAB), Junior Achievement of the Space Coast, Florida High-Tech Corridor Council and for the Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne, FL.

Carol and her husband, CAPT John W. Craig, USN (RET), a former F/A-18 pilot who now flies for JetBlue Airways have two children in college. In response to her son’s diagnosis with Prader-Willi Syndrome in 2001, Carol founded the Danny Craig Foundation, aiming to raise and administer funds for multiple organizations that focus on researching children’s medical disorders and identifying interventions that help them lead independent lives.