Memorandum

DATE:             August 16, 2012
TO:                 All Lockheed Martin Employees
FROM:           Bob Stevens, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
                       Chris Kubasik, Vice Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer

SUBJECT: Commemorating the Glenn L. Martin Company’s Founding

A century ago today, a California Superior Court clerk named W.B. Williams signed his name – with a flourish – to the incorporation documents of the Glenn L. Martin Company.  That signature marked the official founding of the Martin Company, the first root in the Lockheed Martin family tree.  We’re commemorating this 100th anniversary by holding events at more than 230 of our sites worldwide, and by launching a new campaign to collect and share your stories of our history.
 
When he formed his company, Glenn Martin was just 26 years old and fresh off a record-breaking flight in his Model 12 seaplane.  Brimming with boundless imagination, he was a visionary, self-taught engineer and entrepreneur who lived for achievement.  “There has never been a sensation more soul-satisfying than the first flight of a new design,” he remarked, “no field of endeavor half so fascinating as the challenge of each new secret of flight.”
 
Martin would lead the company that bears his name for four decades, delivering innovations almost too numerous to count.  The MB-2 bomber was the first to sink a battleship in 1921. The B-10 earned the Collier Trophy in 1932 for its unprecedented combination of power and versatility.  The B-26 Marauder delivered the highest survival rate of any bomber in WWII.  The Matador became America’s first operational cruise missile in 1952.
 
When he retired in 1953, Martin had built an impressive legacy and a strong foundation for the future.  His company would go on to power the space race, revolutionize manufacturing with the Zero Defects program, and blaze trails in rocket and missile technology.  Some 83 years after its founding, Martin’s company would cross paths with one founded by two barnstorming brothers named Lockheed, who also got their start in 1912.  We’ll celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Lockheed on December 19.
 
Martin’s story is one of achievement, purpose, and integrity.  And now, we want to hear yours.  Today we’re launching a Share Your Story campaign, open to anyone with a connection to Lockheed Martin.  Tell us about the achievement you’re most proud of, a problem you helped solve for a customer, or an innovative idea you turned into reality.  Tell us what inspires you and what drives you.  Your stories define us.  They explain who we are and why we’ve thrived over a century of change.  We want to hear them, share them, and celebrate them.
 
It’s unlikely that W.B. Williams understood, on that August afternoon 100 years ago, that he was witnessing the birth of a company that would span more than a century, comprise hundreds of thousands of people, and contribute immeasurably to our world.  Today, as we mark our founding, let’s build on that legacy and give our future colleagues a story they’ll be proud to tell on our 200th.  Thank you for all that you do to make Lockheed Martin a great company.