Buffalo, NY - Maureen Kraus Athoe ’80 is the first and only female president at Moog in East Aurora, a publicly traded global manufacturer of motion control products that help guide everything from commercial aircraft to military equipment. While her expertise is firmly grounded in accounting and financial matters, Athoe leads the group in reaching for the stars … literally.
Athoe heads up the Space and Defense Group, one of the company’s three divisions (Aircraft Controls and Industrial Controls are the two others), and Moog’s fastest growing segment. She oversees 3,100 employees around the world, including more than 1,000 in Western New York. Athoe’s group makes products that cannot always be seen but are critical to the movement of military and commercial aircraft, satellites, space launch vehicles and missiles.
As a recent example, Athoe’s group designed and built thrust vector control actuators and controllers to steer each stage of the most powerful rocket ever built – NASA’s Artemis I. Moog’s precision components helped successfully launch the rocket this past November, the first uncrewed test flight of NASA’s mission to return to the moon. Athoe credits the people and culture at Moog for such stellar accomplishments.
“Our company is propelled forward by the energy of our people, not the numbers,” Athoe explains. “We are guided by the same principles I learned as a student at Canisius – give people a chance, work together and trust in one another.”
For Athoe, those principles were ingrained early on. Her mother earned a master’s degree and her father received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Canisius, going on to work in education. All six of the couple’s children then graduated from the college. Athoe majored in accounting with a minor in French and served as treasurer of the student assembly, one of several ways she stayed involved on campus after classes.
After graduation, Athoe went to work as a CPA for a Buffalo accounting firm for a few years. While looking for a new challenge, she saw a small newspaper ad seeking an internal auditor and she applied. She landed the job but had no idea of how it would set in motion a remarkable career trajectory.
“At that time, I didn’t know Moog, what the company did or even where it was located,” Athoe remembers. “But as soon as I was hired, I was drawn in by the culture and values of the company, how it operated and treated employees.”
Promotions soon followed, and Athoe ascended from finance director to vice president and general manager, and ultimately to president of the Space and Defense Group and corporate vice president for Moog Inc. Athoe says her Canisius experience provided the kind of well-rounded education that started the foundation for her career. The Jesuit influence also plays a part in the many ways she gives back to the community. She currently serves as chair of the board for Catholic Health in Buffalo.
“At Canisius, you learn from people who lead by example,” she concludes. “I am proud to have broken some barriers to become the first woman president at Moog – I hope I can be an example for others and an ally to give someone a little push in their own career.”
