Kathy Warden and Simone Biles: Is There Actually a Connection?

By Areesha Fatima | Last updated: October 2026.

Kathy Warden and Simone Biles are not related. I’ll say that upfront because the two names keep showing up together in searches, and there’s no public record that links them. Autocomplete is the most likely reason. Warden is the chair, president, and CEO of Northrop Grumman. The company builds the B-21 Raider and the Sentinel missile. Biles is a gymnast, and a very good one: 11 Olympic medals, seven of them gold, across Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024.

Their paths don’t cross. What follows is a side-by-side look at their careers, honors, earnings, and backgrounds, based on Team USA, Olympedia, Fortune, and SEC filings. I also answer the questions people ask most, such as whether they’re family, whether Biles has any Northrop Grumman connection, and how old each of them is. 

The two of them at a glance

So, is there any link?

Are they family.

No reliable source says so. Warden grew up in Maryland. Biles was born in Ohio, spent part of her early childhood in foster care, and was then adopted by her grandparents in Texas. Different families, different states.

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Do they work together 

Not anywhere in the public record. No shared employer, no shared board, no joint project. Warden deals in defense contracts, cyber systems and space hardware. Biles deals in competition, training and brand deals.

Does Northrop Grumman sponsor Biles. 

This is the guess that sounds the most believable, since big companies sponsor athletes all the time. But I couldn’t find a press release, an ad campaign or a Team USA announcement showing any such deal. A real sponsorship gets announced somewhere. Until one is, I’d call it unproven.

Then why do the names appear together? 

Honestly, nobody can say for sure. My best guess is a dull one: search autocomplete is built from what people type, and plenty of sites publish posts pairing two unrelated famous names to catch that traffic. Once enough of those pages exist, the pairing keeps feeding itself.

Who is Kathy Warden?

Warden runs Northrop Grumman, one of the biggest aerospace and defense companies in the U.S. It builds aircraft, space systems and cyber tools for governments, and has roughly 97,000 employees.

She didn’t start in defense. She spent close to ten years at General Electric in commercial industries, worked at a venture-backed internet company, then moved into government technology at Veridian and General Dynamics. In 2008 she joined Northrop Grumman.

There she led the Information Systems sector and later Mission Systems. In January 2018 she became president and COO, and she oversaw the integration of Orbital ATK, the space and rocket company Northrop had just bought. The board picked her as CEO that July. She took over on January 1, 2019 and became chair on August 1 of that year.

That’s about twenty years of steady climbing before the top job. It’s quieter than an Olympic podium, and easy to overlook.

The company. Fortune reported that Northrop Grumman had $39.3 billion in sales for 2023 and a record backlog of $83 billion (backlog is work that’s been contracted but not yet delivered). Programs like the B-21 Raider stealth bomber and the Sentinel missile system are a big part of that.

Boards and recognition. Warden sits on the boards of Merck and Catalyst, belongs to the Business Roundtable, and is vice chair of the Greater Washington Partnership. She was also named to the Department of Homeland Security’s Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board. She won the Deming Cup in 2022 and made Fortune’s 2024 list of the most powerful women.

What does she earn? 

Public companies file a proxy statement with the SEC every year. Northrop’s filing puts Warden’s total pay at about $24.4 million for fiscal 2024, mostly in stock awards. As for net worth, I couldn’t find a verified figure anywhere. Her wealth is tied to company shares, which change in value daily.

Who is Simone Biles?

Biles is an American artistic gymnast, competing on vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor. Counting Olympic and World Championship medals together, she’s the most decorated gymnast ever, with 41 in total.

Early life. 

She was born March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio. She and her siblings went into foster care when they were young, and her grandparents later adopted her and moved the family to Texas. She tried gymnastics at six after a daycare field trip, and was homeschooled to make room for training. In 2013, at 16, she won her first world all-around title.

Her Olympic medals. 

Biles has been to three Olympics and won 11 medals: seven gold, two silver and two bronze. Team USA and Olympedia agree on that total.

One wording point that trips people up: Biles is the most decorated gymnast in World Championships history and the most decorated American gymnast at the Olympics. But in total Olympic medals, the Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina still leads with 18.

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Tokyo and the twisties. 

In Tokyo, Biles pulled out of the team final after one vault and skipped several individual finals. She had the “twisties,” a mental block where a gymnast loses track of where her body is in the air. It isn’t a confidence issue, and it can lead to serious injury. She returned for the beam final and won bronze. Her openness pushed athlete mental health into the mainstream conversation, and afterward she stepped away from international competition for about two years.

The Paris comeback. 

At 27 she came back and helped the U.S. win team gold, then took the all-around and vault titles and silver on floor. That made her a two-time Olympic all-around champion, in 2016 and 2024.

Worlds and named skills. 

She returned to the World Championships in 2023 after four years away and won a record sixth all-around title. She has at least 30 world medals, more than any other gymnast. Five skills carry her name in the Code of Points, the sport’s official rulebook, because she was the first to perform them at a major international meet. Two are on vault (including the Yurchenko double pike), one is a beam dismount, and two are on floor, including the triple-twisting double tuck fans call the “triple double.”

Outside the gym. 

President Joe Biden gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. She married NFL safety Jonathan Owens in April 2023, and her family owns a gym in Texas. Online net worth estimates for her range from about $16 million to $90 million. A gap that wide tells you they’re guesses, and no official source confirms any of them.

What a CEO and an Olympian share

They live in very different worlds, but the comparison isn’t empty.

Both work under public pressure. Warden answers to shareholders and government customers on programs worth billions, while Biles performs for a global audience and gets scored in seconds. In either job, a bad day is visible to everyone.

Both put in years before anyone noticed. Warden spent about two decades climbing before she became CEO, and Biles trained for over a decade between her first class and her first Olympics.

And both took on harder work when staying comfortable was an option. Warden led a major merger with Orbital ATK. Biles changed her sport by landing skills nobody else had attempted.

Where they differ is mostly the clock. Biles peaked early, and her sport judged her in every routine. Warden’s results show up over years, in contracts, sales and backlog. Biles’s career depends on her body and a rulebook; Warden’s depends on teams, markets and government budgets. Biles is known through sport almost everywhere, while Warden is known mostly in business, defense and policy circles.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Are Kathy Warden and Simone Biles related?

No. No reliable source shows any family relationship between Kathy Warden and Simone Biles. Their biographies describe separate families, hometowns, and careers.

Do Kathy Warden and Simone Biles work together?

No. Kathy Warden and Simone Biles share no employer, project, or board role publicly. Warden leads Northrop Grumman, while Biles competes in gymnastics.

Is Simone Biles connected to Northrop Grumman?

No. No sponsorship or partnership between Simone Biles and Northrop Grumman has been announced. Kathy Warden’s only tie is her role as CEO.

What is Kathy Warden known for?

Kathy Warden is known for leading Northrop Grumman as CEO since 2019, after years in cyber, mission systems, and operations. She also sits on Merck’s board.

What is Simone Biles famous for?

Simone Biles is famous for her record-setting gymnastics career: 11 Olympic medals, at least 30 World Championship medals, and five skills named after her.

How old is Kathy Warden?

Kathy Warden’s exact age is unclear because public sources list her birth year as 1970 or 1971, so she is in her mid-fifties.

How old is Simone Biles?

Simone Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio. That makes her 29 years old in 2026, having turned 29 in March.

How many Olympic medals does Simone Biles have?

Simone Biles has won 11 Olympic medals across three Games: seven gold, two silver, and two bronze. Team USA and Olympedia list the same total.

How much does Kathy Warden earn?

Kathy Warden earned about $24.4 million in total pay for fiscal 2024, according to Northrop Grumman’s SEC proxy filing, mostly in stock awards.

What is Simone Biles’s net worth?

No verified figure exists. Online estimates for Simone Biles’s net worth range from roughly $16 million to $90 million, but none are officially confirmed.

Final word

Kathy Warden and Simone Biles are not related, do not work together, and have no sponsorship link through Northrop Grumman. Their names appear together mostly because of search autocomplete and content sites pairing famous names. Warden is chair, president, and CEO of Northrop Grumman, which she joined in 2008 and has led since 2019. She earned about $24.4 million in fiscal 2024.

Biles is a gymnast with 11 Olympic medals, including seven gold, and at least 30 World Championship medals. She has five skills named after her and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. Both women built careers through years of pressure, persistence, and taking on harder challenges.