logo
about masthead

Employees

Amanda Eddy - President

amanda eddy

Norm Jr.'s daughter, Amanda (Sousa) Eddy, graduated from Simmons College (Boston, MA) in 1997 with a BS in Environmental Science. Amanda worked part-time at The Sousa Corp. after school during her senior year of high school and then summers from 1993 through 1996. Upon graduating from college in May of 1997, she worked at the shop full-time for a year. Then in April 1998, she decided to pursue a new opportunity at The Torrington Company in Torrington, CT.

At The Torrington Company, Amanda worked in the Corporate Materials Laboratory as a technician, performing metallurgical tests on bearings and other components. In May 2000, she was promoted to Materials Laboratory Supervisor, overseeing 5 technicians and supporting 20 manufacturing plants in North and South America, Europe and Asia. While at Torrington, Amanda attended two ASM courses, Metallurgy for the Non-Metallurgist and Elements of Metallurgy, at Materials Park, Ohio. She also attended a Steel Heat Treatment seminar at SAE in Troy, Michigan.

In 2003, after nearly five years at The Torrington Company, she decided to rejoin her dad and brother in the family business. She manages the office, alongside her sister, Kate, and many of the business functions that accompany it.

Amanda is married to Eric Eddy, who also joined the business in 2005, and has 2 children. She is active at her kid's schools as well as various activities they are involved in.

Andrew Sousa - Vice President

andrew sousa

Andrew, Norman's son, grew up in The Sousa Corp. He worked for his father during high school and college. Andrew graduated from Central Connecticut State University with a degree in finance in 2001. He was hired full time in '01 as General Manager. In 2005 he took over the quality department as Quality Manager. In 2008, Andrew was promoted to Vice President and continues to oversee Quality Control, among other responsibilities. Andrew enjoys, and feels blessed, to have the opportunity to work every day with his father, two sisters and two brother in laws.

Eric Eddy - Vice President

eric eddy

Eric grew up in a small farming community in upstate New York. He attained a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Clarkson University and immediately accepted an engineering position at the Torrington Company. There he worked as a product and application engineer in the heavy bearings group. While working at the Torrington Company he received a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He later accepted an engineering position at FAG Bearings working in their industrial bearings group. He has been working at The Sousa Corp since 2005 and is responsible for process control and special projects.

Kate Sousa - Vice President

kate sousa

​Norm Jr.'s youngest daughter, Kate (Sousa) Desjardins, graduated from Central Connecticut State University in 2007 with a degree in Business Management. Kate began her career at the Sousa Corp at an early age by learning how to alphabetize through filing orders for her Dad. She continued to be involved in the business through high school and worked in the shop during the summer in 2003 between graduating high school and beginning college. In 2006 she took the opportunity to shadow Amanda and fill in for her during her Maternity leave while simultaneously taking classes at CCSU full time. What was supposed to be a temporary situation to help out in the office turned into a full time position.

Kate married her husband Damon in 2011 and they welcomed their first child, Owen in 2012.

Norman Sousa - Chief Metallurgist

norman sousa

Norm's son, known both as Norm Jr and Warren helped fill the experience gap left by his father's retirement. Norm Jr. is a Mechanical Engineer from WPI and a Metallurgical Engineer from RPI. Norm Jr. worked at the shop for several summers before graduating college and working full time in 1971. Beside the college training and his father's tutelage he completed two ASM home study courses and taught some parts of the ASM heat treating course offered by the Hartford Chapter of ASM. Norm has added computerized order entry and billing and advanced pyrometry. Butch and Norm complement each other and run a tight ship.

Norman joined The Sousa Corp in the fall of 1971 after completing a BS in Mechanical Engineering at WPI and serving four months active duty for the MA Nation Guard.

Previous work experience included summers at The Sousa Corp since 1966, and college jobs including dishwasher, part time night watchman and lab technician for Mass Materials Research using WPI facilities for tensile and xray diffraction testing. In college Norman was fraternity Comptroller and Treasurer, Spring Weekend Chairman and member of the winning WPI Hybrid Electric entry in the 1970 Clean Air Car Race sponsored by MIT and Cal Tech.

Norman's mechanical engineering degree include an emphasis on materials and he completed a MS in Material Science from RPI at the Hartford Graduate Center by attending evening classes. Theory was supplemented by practical home study courses from ASM in heat treatment, furnaces, and tool steels.

Norman held several positions in the local ASM chapter, taught ASM courses in the local chapter, and is a member of SAE. He served 8 years on the West Hartford Board of Education, coached local and travel soccer and served on the St. Brigid Parish Council.

While attending East Catholic High School he had two unique opportunities. First he attended Nutmeg Boys State, and then The National Youth Science Camp in beautiful West Virginia.

Norman has used technology in all phases of the business to keep it modern. Starting from simple on off temperature control, upgrading to modern computer and microprocessor based temperature, carbon and vacuum/pressure control. Fourteen furnaces and three dataloggers are on the local area network, accessible by quality and process control. Order entry, jog cards, shipping, certifications, pricing, invoicing and AR are all integrated using a cloud based DBMS. Inspection technology includes modern metallurgical specimen preparation, Clemex automated microhardness, all digital hardness testing and a Niton EDXRF material identification system.

Norman is fortunate to have learned his craft by working with his father for 23 years and proud to have his three children, and two son in laws as vital parts of the business.

Norman's precious "spare" time is spent with his wife, three grandchildren, his father and five sisters and brother-in-laws.

Damon Desjardins - Lab Technician

damon desjardins

Prior to Graduating from Middletown High School in 2000, Damon Desjardins enlisted in the National Guard and completed Boot Camp at Fort Benning in Georgia at the age of 17. Upon graduating high school Damon completed his Advanced Individual Training for the military. After September 11, 2001 Damon served on guard duty for local landmarks such as Millstone Nuclear Power Plant, the Groton Sub Bridge and West Point Military Academy. During this time he also worked as the produce night clerk at Stop & Shop and took classes at Tunxis Community College. In 2005 Damon extended his contract with the Army so that he could serve in Afghanistan under Operation Enduring Freedom with his unit. He returned in 2007 and continued taking classes and began working at Sikorsky where he worked as a mechanical and electrical installer on Blackhawk and Seahawk helicopters.

Damon began working for the Sousa Corp. in February 2012. Damon works on the vacuum heat treat line and is currently serving as a lab technican for the quality department.