Chapter Meeting

Topic Safety Culture – Building Advocates

Speaker Mike Shaw, Vice President of Quality and EH&S at Bell Helicopter Textron

Michael Shaw has been Vice President of Quality and Environmental Health and Safety since May of 2015. In his current role, Michael is responsible for Bell Helicopter’s Global Quality and Safety Initiatives.

Previously, Michael was General Manager of Production Engineering, responsible for Manufacturing Engineering, Planning, and Tooling in the fabrication and assembly centers.

Prior to his Manufacturing responsibilities, Michael established the Engineering support organization in Amarillo, TX, providing timely and effective liaison engineering services to the V-22, UH-1Y, and UH-1Z production lines. While serving in this capacity, Michael created a bridge with Integrated Operations that provided clear lines of communication to both our internal and external military customers.

Michael has had the distinction of being Chief Engineer for both the United States Marine Corps (USMC) major programs, the H-1 Upgrades, and Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey.

Michael has enjoyed a long career at Bell, including fifteen years of service at Bell’s Flight Research Center. There, he was an established telemetering and data operations engineer supporting the development and flight test teams for the V-22, BA609, and 412 aircraft. He took a key assignment as an Integrated Product Team Leader and built the BA609 Vehicle Management System Laboratory. Subsequently, he served as Chief of Avionics Systems, Electrical Design, R&M Engineering, and H-1 Avionics Systems Lead.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington. He serves as Director at Large for the American Helicopter Society, AIA Quality Group Member, and Chairman of the Textron Quality Council.