Ship to Shore: Steve Maynard Leaves a Remarkable Legacy with Navies Around the World

If you were to describe someone you’d want commanding a 640-foot-long naval vessel with helicopters, weapons systems, and a crew and embarked staff of nearly 1,000 sailors, a few common characteristics might rise to the top. Disciplined. Experienced. A great decision-maker and leader.

GE Aerospace’s Steve Maynard is straight out of central casting for that role. He did, in fact, command a ship just like that. And according to his colleagues, Maynard, a senior applications engineer, does, in fact, possess those qualities. Combined with a wealth of naval experience, Maynard has helped secure GE Aerospace’s Marine Engines & Systems team a market-leading position in gas turbine propulsion. After 17 years with the company, Maynard will be retiring later this year. And when he does, he’ll be leaving quite the legacy.

A Distinguished Naval Career 

As it happens, Maynard has retired once before. When he joined GE Aerospace in 2008, it was on the heels of stepping down from the United States Navy after nearly 30 years of service. In his naval career, he spent time aboard six different ships and served as commanding officer on two: the USS Klakring, a guided-missile frigate, and the USS Blue Ridge, the 7th Fleet flagship and one of the oldest warships in the U.S. Navy. Maynard led missions in the world’s most critical waters and served ashore at both the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, D.C., and the Atlantic Fleet Headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia. In those capacities, he was instrumental in directing the U.S. Navy’s East Coast response to 9/11 and the U.S. joint force response to worldwide conflicts.

It was a rewarding military career, but after 30 years Maynard was ready to return home to his native southwestern Ohio. Thanks to some connections at the Cincinnati Navy League, he landed a technical sales role in GE Aerospace’s Marine division, which he started a week after leaving the Navy.

Learning the Ropes 

Although he didn’t necessarily have the typical experience for someone in sales, Maynard more than made up for it through the technical and operational expertise he gained as a former GE Aerospace marine gas turbine customer.

“[In the Navy], I had leadership roles on multiple GE Aerospace LM2500-powered ships, and later served on the board overseeing gas turbine inspections for the Atlantic Fleet,” he recalled. “So that’s something unique I was able to bring to the team on day one — being able to say, ‘I’ve been in your shoes’ to a Navy customer.”

Within GE Aerospace, his background warranted some close mentorship from fellow Navy veteran and well-respected sales leader Reed Tuddenham, whom Maynard credited with teaching him the role of the applications engineer. Meanwhile, Dave Nelson, another longtime leader in GE Aerospace’s Marine division, helped round out Maynard’s business acumen.

“I just tried to emulate what those guys were doing on a daily basis, because I saw how well regarded they were by customers and by our team internally,” he says. “It made the first five years with the company very formative for me. It really taught me how to approach customers the right way.”

A Trusted Partner 

The right way, as it turned out, was similar to the values the Navy instilled in Maynard — always acting with integrity and putting the mission first. In that regard, he sees himself as a technical consultant rather than a salesman.

“I’ve never grandstanded on my Navy background,” Maynard says. “But I do let customers know that I understand their operational requirements and understand what combat readiness is all about. Ultimately, I get what they value most when their life and their crew’s lives are on the line.”

Honesty about the products is another differentiator in Maynard’s approach. “No product is perfect,” he notes. “A propulsion system is a complex set of subsystems, and the way in which a customer operates a ship influences how their subsystems respond to the rigors of the sea. We know how to minimize risk and ensure the engine gets what it needs to be ultra-reliable, and we’re upfront about that with customers.”

It’s an approach that has resonated with the U.S. Navy. The LM2500 gas turbine engine, which is derived from the CF6 aircraft engine, powers about 95% of the U.S. Navy’s gas turbine–powered surface combatants. 

Allied navies around the world have also appreciated being able to tap Maynard’s experience. In his time at GE Aerospace, he’s traveled to 11 different countries to work alongside naval customers and share his technical expertise on the LM2500. His U.S. Navy background carries significant weight with those customers as well, given their preference to follow the Navy’s fleet trends in terms of both ships and propulsion.

“I’ve interacted with navies operating anywhere from the Pacific Ocean to the Mediterranean to the Baltics,” Maynard says. “No matter where I go, they’ve fundamentally got the same issue: finding a cost-effective solution that meets their operational requirements. Fortunately, we’ve got outstanding propulsion solutions and a team that’s built up trust with our customers over many, many years.”

Passing the Torch 

It has all amounted to a rewarding career for Maynard. Not only has he maintained a strong connection with his Navy career, but he’s also been able to work with some of the most advanced technology in marine propulsion. “Who else can say they help integrate jet engines onto ships?” he jokes. “It’s pretty cool when you really think about what we do.”

Even with just a few months left in his GE Aerospace career, Maynard is still hard at work with the Marine Engines & Systems team touting LM2500 power as the best choice for the Navy’s DDG(X) next-generation guided-missile destroyer program, the planned successor to the older Ticonderoga cruisers and current Arleigh Burke–class destroyers. With a new generation of leaders coming up within the team, he’s also made it a point to continue passing along his knowledge to help them win opportunities like the DDG(X). 

“There’s a newly hired employee that I’m working with now in the same way my mentors worked with me 17 years ago,” says Maynard. “He just came into the company, an ex-Navy captain. He’s come alongside me, and we talk about things every day — how to help our customers make propulsion decisions, how to support them once they’ve made that decision, and how to make sure their product integration is going well. The process never stops. It keeps going. That’s how this team has built its success.”

Come retirement, you might find Maynard back on the water — only this time it won’t be commanding a U.S. Navy amphibious command ship or making detailed inspections in a ship’s engine room. It’ll be with a fishing pole on the shores of Lake Superior, surrounded by family.