Cerritos College News Releases -- March 2008

Photo of Ahmed Hussain with the Sukhoi's Superjet aircraft NORWALK, Calif. – March 4, 2008 – Ahmed Hussain always loved cutting edge technology and had a knack for business. Born in Sri Lanka and attended school there until 7^th grade, Hussain moved to Oman to finish high school. He came to the U.S. as an international student and attended Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN. and moved to California to attend Cerritos College, from 1998 to 2000. Majored in general studies with emphasis in business at Cerritos, he transferred to USC on a Presidential Scholarship. His major at USC was Business Science with emphasis in Operations and Information Systems.

Hussain has done it all as a Cerritos College student. He was President of Phi Theta Kappa, ASCC President, Student Trustee, President of the International Student Association, Vice President of Alpha Gamma Sigma, and a member of Student Senate. “Those Cerritos College activities gave me the confidence to compete aggressively and ethically in the corporate world,” reflects Hussain, now a Program Manager for Goodrich Corporation.

The young entrepreneur had established a software and dry cleaning businesses when he was in college. He sold the software business and discontinued the dry cleaning business to work in a corporate capacity at Honeywell International as a Business Strategist and Site Champion.

He was also involved in various community activities as Board Member for Torrance Chamber of Commerce, Torrance Cultural Arts Center, Rebuilding Together, etc. while he worked at Honeywell International.

Currently Hussain is the principal Program Manager for Superjet 100 program at the Aircraft Wheels and Brakes (AWB) division of Goodrich. He manages business jet programs for the aircraft manufacturers all over Europe such as Russia’s Sukhoi, Italy’s Piaggio and Switzerland’s Pilatus. Recently he successfully rolled out Russian Regional Jet (Superjet 100), which was the most complicated integrated project in the history of Goodrich AWB for a business jet program. It is also the first civil aircraft built in Russia that will be certified by American (FAA) and European (EASA) authorities.

He enjoyed his visit to Komsomolsk-on-Amur (in Russia) for the Superjet 100 Rollout ceremony. “Someday I can tell my children – ‘I had contributed to the first internationally certified civil aircraft built in Russia!’” says Hussain in excitement.

His ultimate career goal is to manage a Fortune 500 company or start his own international trade or strategic consulting business in the Aerospace industry.

He loves to travel and learn new languages. He is fluent in Sinhalese and Tamil, familiar with Arabic, Hindi and Japanese, and is currently learning Russian and Chinese.

“I’m also thinking of moving back to California and teach business part-time at Cerritos College, while continuing my corporate career,” says Hussain.

It may not be too long before we see the old familiar face of the accomplished entrepreneur training future executives in our classroom.

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Cerritos College

Releases 2008