Gabriella Lucchese

I'm an operations leader with 7+ years of experience running 24/7, safety-critical operations, first as a U.S. Navy officer and now in manufacturing. I'm at my best leading teams through complex, high-stakes work and turning big goals into plans that get done.

I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served seven years as a naval officer. As Chief Engineering Officer of the guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee, I owned all engineering operations for the ship. I led 300+ personnel and 11 contractor teams and managed an $88M maintenance budget that delivered major milestones 4 weeks ahead of plan. I also led 150 engineers through a 10-month drydock and returned the ship to operational readiness 2 months early for an Indo-Pacific deployment. Later, as Maritime Strike Officer at 1st Marine Division, I advised a two-star general and led planning for joint and coalition forces across 15 global exercises. I also helped bring the Naval Strike Missile into service. Earlier, aboard USS Essex, I led 70 personnel through two years with zero safety incidents.

While transitioning out of the Navy, I earned an MBA in Supply Chain and Operations from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, graduating with a 3.82 GPA. Today I'm a Production Supervisor in Nucor's Operations Leadership Program, leading an 18-person crew. I drove process implementation and commissioning for a $30M mill investment that increased production and line speed by 160%. I've also led site-wide updates to SOPs and safety documentation, and I brought in AI tools to make key documents easier for everyone to access.

My strengths are people leadership, program execution, process improvement, and cross-functional collaboration. I'm interested in remote mid-level roles in operations, program management, and supply chain, especially with mission-driven teams where I can build systems, develop people, and deliver results.