MIKEL Expands Operations in Rhode Island

 

MIKEL, Inc., a small women-owned defense contractor, is expanding its existing operations in Rhode Island.  Annual growth rates of over 50% for two consecutive years have driven the need for new employees and additional office and laboratory space.  

Founded in 2000 by Brian Guimond, the current Chief Technology Officer, the company is now headed by Kelly Mendell who, as President, provides the strategic vision and tactical leadership that has fueled the company’s aggressive growth. Indeed, under Mendell, the company is positioned to double its size over the next few years. Mendell’s goal is to motivate her existing employees and attract new ones by keeping her company small in feel, where everyone is encouraged to enhance their technical edge regardless the company’s size.  While maintaining a collaborative, fun culture is a priority, pursuing highly challenging, technical jobs is also at the heart of Mendell’s growth strategy.  “The type of work we do at MIKEL is very challenging. We tackle and solve tough engineering problems.  We make conscious decisions to pursue these technical challenges which excite our employees and provide continuous motivation to keep them energized when they come to work every day”, says Mendell.

Headquartered in Fall River, Massachusetts, MIKEL has offices and staff across the country, including in Middletown, Rhode Island; Bangor, Washington; and Honolulu, Hawaii.  The decision to expand its Middletown office was driven mainly by its close proximity to NUWC and the abundant local talent needed to help grow the company.  Mendell states: “We are thrilled to continue to build our company in Middletown within close proximity of our valued Navy customer and our highly prized local workforce.”  The strong support of the Rhode Island congressional delegation, particularly Senator Jack Reed and Congressman Patrick Kennedy, also influenced Mendell’s decision to grow the company in Rhode Island.

MIKEL has been providing Undersea Warfare (USW) solutions to the Department of Defense and civilian organizations since its inception. Their solutions include the development of fixed and portable underwater tracking ranges, submarine sonar signal processing and combat system data processing improvements and tactical analysis and training evaluation tools. MIKEL’s products are integrated into existing underwater platforms and are used in submarine attack and analysis centers. Some examples of their technology include underwater acoustic detection, discrimination and tracking of undersea vehicles, including threat submarines and torpedoes, localization and positioning algorithms used to improve the navigation accuracy of unmanned undersea vehicles, target motion analysis algorithms used to determine undersea tactical picture and automated performance measurement/analysis systems.

MIKEL is located at 2 Corporate Place in Middletown. Mendell can be reached at 508-675-2681 or by email at kbmendell@mikelinc.com.