Ken Crawford ‘77 graduated from the University of Arizona in 1980 with a degree in Electronic Engineering. After leading a successful career, Ken is now retired in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife Linda. He has three adult children of his own and sits on the Foster Care Review Board to advocate for the needs of children in the system.
Ken began his professional journey at Motorola where he held the titles of Design Engineer, Engineer Director, and finally Director of Space Electronics. When General Dynamics purchased Motorola in 2001, Ken continued his work providing communication and navigation hardware for satellites as Director of Space Electronics until his promotion in 2007.
Through his new role as Director of NASA and Civil Space, Ken’s professional focus shifted toward producing satellites for NASA and commercial enterprises. It was this experience that led him to become Vice President and General Manager of Viasat– a hotspot for cuƫting edge satellite communications technology. Before retiring, Ken grew the division from 60 to 600 employees.
Ken has remained loyal to his university and fraternity as an alumni. He advocates on behalf of the College of Engineering through the Dean’s Advisory Board and is currently an Alumni Board Member for Tau Kappa Epsilon. As one of the undergraduate chapter’s previous Vice Presidents and Hegemons, Ken has the following to say about his experience:
“KT helped develop me into an adult. The fraternity had leaders I respected and could learn from, men that became my lifelong friends, and I ended up meeting my wife of 40 years through the social activities. Get the most of your fraternity experience by engaging. Whether that's holding office or serving on a committee, it provides a solid foundation of working with teams to get things done. I personally found holding offices in the fraternity helped develop leadership skills that served me well throughout my career.