From a young age, Layne Lewis was fascinated by aerospace engineering and the vast frontiers of space.
After graduating college with a degree in the field, her dream came true when she landed a role at Booz Allen Hamilton supporting NASA’s Space Station Program.
For the next nine years, Layne gained invaluable experience working as a systems engineer on some of NASA’s most high-profile missions.
She was based out of offices in Reston, VA, Houston, TX, and Huntsville, AL – getting up close to various NASA centers’ operations and gaining diverse technical expertise.
However, it was not just Layne’s skills that grew during this time. Each new opportunity and relocation taught her important lessons about balancing her demanding career aspirations with responsibilities closer to home.
Re-evaluating Priorities
While Layne’s moves advanced her career, the distances from her family in Tennessee – particularly her father who faced ongoing health issues – took an emotional toll.
When tragedy struck and Layne lost her father in 1993, it prompted deep reflection on her priorities. By that point married with a young son, Layne realized she wanted a career path allowing greater proximity and flexibility for her loved ones.
Her supportive family then moved to Idaho so Layne could join Hewlett-Packard, hoping for a better work-life fit.
Founding the first company,
However, at HP Layne found herself performing repetitive tasks that failed to fulfill her entrepreneurial spirit. Determined to work at her own pace, Layne pursued an MBA with HP’s sponsorship.
Emboldened by newly acquired business skills, Layne co-founded her first company, TenXsys, breaking free of corporate constraints.
Here, Layne rediscovered the gratification of pushing boundaries through innovation – igniting her drive as a businessman committed to enabling progress both professionally and personally for others.
Willowview’s Mission is Rooted in Lewis’ Values of Work-life Balance, Flexibility, and Community Impact
Drawing from profound career lessons, Layne aimed to build a different kind of company through Willowview. Under Layne’s leadership, Willowview cultivates passion projects enriching lives beyond work.
Always prioritizing transparency and collaboration over targets alone, Layne ensures flexibility supporting varied circumstances. Ultimately, Willowview exists to uplift clients, employees, and communities through pioneering expertise and humility – as Layne herself was inspired.
Adaptable Solutions Driving Client Success
Range of engineering, program management, and training services provided
Willowview offers a full suite of customizable solutions. Their team of seasoned professionals provides expert engineering consulting to design complex technical systems.
Detailed program management ensures on-time and on-budget delivery. From initial planning and prototyping, through testing, deployment, and beyond – Willowview sees projects through from concept to completion.
Comprehensive training programs also equip clients with optimal usage of developed technologies. Courses are tailored to clients’ specific organizational needs, roles, and work environments.
Agile “Just Enough” Methodology and Prototyping Approach Benefits Clients
Rather than drawn-out hypothetical designs, Willowview’s agile methodology rapidly develops usable prototypes. This allows for real-world feedback much earlier in the product development cycle.
Any inefficiencies or misaligned assumptions can be identified and addressed cost-effectively.
Clients appreciate minimizing the financial risks of extensive pre-market research in favor of more quickly validating solution value. Resources are concentrated on refining demonstrated usefulness based on tester experiences, not conjecture.
Prototypes also facilitate productive stakeholder reviews showcasing progress in an interactive, tangible manner.
Successes like the Army’s Soldier Sync Program Leveraging Diverse Experience
When the Army needed a way to capture training performance data from soldiers’ wearable devices, they turned to Willowview.
Drawing on team members’ veteran status and combined aerospace, engineering, and military backgrounds, Willowview comprehensively understood the challenge.
Working closely with key stakeholders, Willowview created a customized solution within budget. By syncing data from devices automatically in real-time, Soldier Sync optimizes training effectiveness and safety.
This demonstrated project stands as a model of Willowview’s sector-agnostic talent pool and collaboration driving transformative results for clients.
A Unique Culture and Approach
Balance of Government, Business, and Commercial Experience Fuels Innovation
Layne Lewis ensures Willowview’s team brings together perspectives from diverse foundations. With specialists once serving in public sector roles and others from private industry, a healthy blend of viewpoints exists.
This ecosystem challenges preconceptions and encourages creative problem-solving transferable across areas. Unconventional thinking isn’t stifled but stimulated.
Candid discussions surface insights on any single background risks overlooking. As markets and technologies rapidly change, Willowview’s integrated culture readies them to invent solutions no single domain could achieve in isolation.
Promoting Diversity of Thoughts and Continuous Learning to Stay Ahead of Trends
Layne believes stagnancy risks obsolescence. At Willowview, employees are motivated to continually upgrade competencies and probe new frontiers. Formal continued education is subsidized, and on-the-job rotations explore alternate departments.
“Brown Bag” sessions allow employees to share topics of passion, dissecting emerging ideas while diverse presentations broaden worldviews.
This format offers fellowship and understanding as coworkers learn more about each other outside of work.
Together, these efforts cultivate an environment where fresh ideas and underrepresented voices can naturally emerge to propel the company forward.
Open and Direct Client Communication Builds Trusted Relationships
Layne makes transparency central to client partnerships. Assumptions are openly discussed and validated through engagement at all phases. Expectation-setting occurs to ensure objectives align on both sides.
Senior leaders are accessible for discussion bringing the same candor as Layne herself.
Two-way dialogue helps surface any disconnects early. Outcomes emphasize collaborative problem-solving over unilateral decisions.
This strengthened rapport builds confidence that Willowview truly understands and will fight for clients’ interests – a foundation for long-term alignment.
Technology-Driven Innovation
Adopting Technologies like AI, Robotics, and Immersive Simulations
Layne ensures Willowview explores cutting-edge advances. They currently experiment with applying computer vision and natural language processing to automate processes. Humanoid robots are also being tested to potentially execute dangerous tasks.
Increasingly, immersive reality tools are creating scenarios that can’t be physically recreated due to their complexity or cost. Willowview validates designs through virtual simulations and modeling before production to save costs and avoid risks.
Eventually, innovation is transferred to applicable sectors through continuous learning from pilot programs.
Applying Model-Centric Systems Engineering for Enhanced Decision-making
Digital twinning of proposed systems allows analyzing interactions and configurations that previously required physical construction.
Engineering models integrated with simulations deliver predictive analytics improving plans.
Automating documentation generation from models boosts efficiency. Stakeholders can now access easy-to-understand visualizations and reports accelerating reviews.
Deployment and lifecycle management are likewise optimized through model-based automation, integration, and verification of requirements.
Developing CIMBEO.com Platform for Next-gen Data-driven Solutions
CIMBEO will leverage cutting-edge technologies to deliver unprecedented insights through an intuitive interface. By compiling real-time streaming data from diverse sources into federated digital twins, rapid what-if scenarios can be evaluated.
Advanced analytics and artificial intelligence will synthesize patterns to surface otherwise hidden optimizations.
Leaders gain a comprehensive operational picture and decision support interface. When complete, CIMBEO is primed to reform how organizations strategize and resolve complex challenges through evidence-based guidance.
Giving Back Through Community Involvement
Encouraging Employees’ Passions through Flexible Volunteer Time Off Policy
Layne fosters a culture where purpose extends beyond work. Willowview’s progressive volunteer time off policy removes barriers to participation. Staff can fully devote time to important causes without dipping into paid leave.
This demonstrates valuing the whole person and amplifying community impact. Employees feel empowered to support issues aligning with their diverse backgrounds and values actively. Camaraderie also builds as colleagues volunteer together for shared interests.
Initiatives Like Supporting Girls on the Run and Women Innovators
Layne invests in developing future leaders through mentoring programs. She personally commits weekly to Girls on the Run coaching. This organization equips young women with confidence and life skills.
As a Women Innovators supporter, Layne advocates for gender diversity in technology. Networking and professional development workshops attended by Willowview spread this mission of inclusion. Direct engagement helps cultivate the next generation..
Partnerships with Universities and Non-profits to Develop Future Leaders
Collaborations provide hands-on training for students while applying technical solutions to benefit others. Interns gain real responsibilities alongside guidance from senior mentors.
Non-profits access pro-bono services maximizing community impacts. Capstone projects spark energizing ideas with the potential to scale.
Continuing the Journey
Maintaining Entrepreneurial Spirit and Curiosity as the Company Expands
Under Layne’s direction, Willowview prioritizes preserving qualities enabling success. Rapidly adapting to shifts remains core through a structure embracing flexibility. Calculated risks and bold ideas are still championed even as the organization grows in staff and scope.
An incubator-like environment spawns new business prospects. Layne leads with the same pioneering mindset establishing Willowview and empowers others to advance disruptive ventures. Pursuing the unknown remains just as energizing with increased reach.
Upholding a Culture of Life-work Balance Through Growth
Scaling poses risks of lost intimacy and responsiveness some founders dread. However, Layne expands judiciously while safeguarding cherished principles. Authenticity and empathy from inception are assured in evolving processes.
Value-driven decisions around human capital, talent sourcing, and decentralized oversight replicate Willowview’s supportive environment globally. Continued trust in staff to live fully outside the office upholds the original vision.
Ongoing Projects Pushing Innovation Boundaries like CIMBEO.com Platform
Ventures such as CIMBEO demonstrate how Willowview directs momentum from success into ambition. Best-in-class tools and strategies will enhance the experiences of evermore communities through clients.
Layne is unwavering in stimulating technical progress exemplifying Willowview’s imprint. Flagship initiatives establish leadership for the decades ahead, bound only by imagination. Clients and partners can depend on reliable progressiveness cultivated since inception.
Inspiring Leadership Through Passion and Balance
Lewis’ Fun Racing Hobby and Passion For Health and Well-being
While demanding in her career, Layne prioritizes well-rounded living. She finds joy in the thrill of competitive horseracing with her stead Atlas. Even recovering from injuries, Layne committed to regaining strength to ride again – modeling grit.
Layne openly discusses lifelong health battles and the importance of prevention. She actively promotes balance through challenge and rest. Employees respect her example of passionately seizing life alongside responsibilities.
Ranch Lifestyle Complementing High-paced Work Environment
Layne’s rural home provides solace from constant demands. Daily chores of feeding animals and land upkeep clear her mind. Surrounded by serenity, she gained new lenses seeing challenges from afar.
This harmony fuels Layne’s equilibrium driving Willowview. Seeing the big picture revitalizes focus. It nurtures Layne’s growth-oriented yet down-to-earth leadership keeping priorities seamless.
Authenticity and Drive Behind Willowview
Through candid storytelling, Layne builds trust. Tales of setbacks like injury disclose her imperfect yet persevering character. Passion for continued learning despite academic successes is relatable.
Layne’s charisma attracts like-minded souls to the enriching culture. Clients feel understood, as Layne leads with both professionalism and shared humanity.
