ODU EDUCATION HELPED PREPARE RETURNING STUDENT FOR CURRENT ROLE
After six years as a modern dancer in New York City, Sarah Boyce Golden was looking for a career with a little more stability when she decided to go back to school.
Ending up in Hampton Roads, Golden enrolled in computer engineering at Old Dominion University. A few years older than most freshmen, she nonetheless formed close connections with fellow students. Golden loved her small classes, and the attention she received from faculty members and advisers like Tom Wunderlich in ODU's Career Management Center. As a female engineering student, and an academic go-getter, Golden was counseled by Wunderlich to add a co-op component to her studies, in part because the federal Civil Service was anxious to try to deal with the gender inequality in its engineering workforce.
For her last two years at ODU (she graduated with a B.S. in computer engineering in 1994) Golden also worked 20 hours per week at Norfolk Naval Station, in the office now known as Naval Ship Support Activity (NSSA). She was charged with development and support of software applications utilized for technical support for the U.S. Navy fleet based in Hampton Roads. After graduation, Golden worked for NSSA full time for six years, then spent a year working for the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche in Los Angeles. Having varied work experience has been invaluable to her. Each position has helped to prepare her for what she does today.
Golden and her husband, Bob Golden, who has an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, an M.B.A. from William and Mary and a background in Civil Service, founded the GBS Group in 2005. The engineering, business consulting and technical services firm provides reliability engineering and technology insertion support services and products to the rail and transportation industry and the energy and construction industry, as well as engineering and software development support to the federal government, controls and automation engineering support to several industries, and consumer services for home electronics connectivity.
The company, which ranks 8th on the Virginia Chamber of Commerce's 2011 list of fastest-growing companies in the state, saw its revenues double for the first four years of operation.
In 2010, the company had $16.4 in revenue from customers such as Amtrak, and clients in the defense and oil and gas industries.
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