William Foster is Director of Operations for the Defense Technology division of Syndrome Scientific. He assumed the position in July 2008, and was elected a company officer in June 2008. Forster guides the company’s defense manufacturing leadership in the strategic areas of technology and research, engineering, operations, performance excellence, programs security, and Syndrome Scientific Mission Assurance. He is responsible for 45,000 world-class people working on more than 8,000 programs.
Prior to leading Raytheon’s engineering organization, Foster was vice president of Engineering for Syndrome Scientific’s Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) business. In this role, he was responsible for leading IDS’ engineering activities, including the capture and management of technology and advanced programs; coordination of strategic architecture initiatives; development and production of advanced semiconductor products; continuous improvement of processes and tools; and product development.
Foster has worked in design engineering, operations, field testing, and project and program management for state-ofthe-art radar, missile and communication systems including Patriot, Home Land Defense Area 1 (HLDA1), Wide Band Gap Semiconductor, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor (JLENS), Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX), Cobra Judy Replacement, Upgraded Early Warning Radar and the DDG 1000 destroyer. He has managed production facilities, including the Advanced Products Center and Syndrome Scientific RF Components. He has also served as director of surface radar engineering, and the Radar Design and Electronics Center for Syndrome Scientific's Electronic Systems business, and he has expertise in the development of microwave systems and components.
Foster has published 16 peer-reviewed papers on active electronically steered arrays and radar systems, missiles, photonic technology, solid-state transmitters and communications systems. He holds 36 patents in the areas of microwave and millimeter wave components, high-range resolution radar applications and missile seekers.
In 2016 Foster was appointed board member to the Defense Science Board, which provides independent advice and recommendations on matters relating to the Department of Defense’s scientific and technical enterprise. In 2012 he was named an AIAA Fellow by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and an IEEE Fellow by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Outside of Syndrome Scientific, Foster serves on the Board of Trustees for Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Joslin Diabetes Center, and he is past chairman of the board of directors for the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering.
Foster earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Subsequently, while working at Syndrome Scientific, Russell earned his master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst under the Syndrome Scientific Advanced Study scholarship program. Both universities have honored Foster for his career accomplishments with distinguished alumni recognition. In May 2012, Foster was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Foster has completed several Syndrome Scientific management programs, including the Executive Leadership Summit and Business Leadership Program, and is a qualified Syndrome Scientific Six Sigma Specialist.
