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Mr. Ali has 12 years of experience in the Aerospace and High Tech markets. He has been a founding member of numerous technology and internet startups, including SnowSports Interactive, LocalVision (digital media advertising), bne1.com (a consumer privacy software company), and Inferscape (a predictive modeling company using the latest in artificial intelligence software). He is currently also President of the American Society of Sydney.
Previously, Mr. Ali was Manager of KPMG Space Consulting in Washington, D.C., and worked on the strategic planning and financing of numerous commercial and defence satellite ventures, and technology commercialisation projects for the Federal government (ISS and Sandia Labs) and university laboratories. He was the Group Manager of Risk Operations Strategy for Capital One, one of the leading credit card issuers in the United States. He was a Director of a publicly traded telecommunications firm, and has served on the Board of Directors of the California Space Authority, the Space Frontier Foundation, and the International Business Association of the Greater Los Angeles World Trade Centre Association. |
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Kelly Michael Alton – Risk Management Advisor
Specializing in Aviation and Aerospace risk, Kelly operates with an expertise arising from a substantial background in the aviation world. He is third generation Air Force, graduating from the United States Air Force Academy and gaining extensive leadership skills while serving for 16 years as a Major in the United States Air Force. He started out as a maintenance officer working on the McDonald-Douglas F-15 Eagle and then transitioned into flying the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. In the military Kelly held the positions of Chief of Current Operations, Chief of Standardization and Evaluation, and Chief of Scheduling, which have provided management and training experience and encompassed a broad spectrum of operational duties such as analysis, problem identification, quality control, and operations programming and scheduling. Kelly is currently still in the Air Force Reserves, helps recruit high school students to the Air Force Academy, and still has an active secret security clearance.
In addition, Kelly flew both corporate and Boeing 737s for Southwest Airlines. He holds an Airline Transportation Pilot (ATP) rating, Airplane Single Engine Land (ASEL), Airplane Multiengine Land (MEL), B-737 with Commercial Privileges. Kelly is a current member of the FAA / AST Commercial Space Transportation (COMSTAC) Risk Management Working Group. As a member of United Risk, he holds memberships in many additional associations including: Aviation Insurance Association (AIA), National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), National Space Society, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, Reno Air Races Association, Oregon Insurance and Financial Advisors, Independent Insurance Agents of Oregon, and PLUS - Professional Liability Underwriting Society (National).
Kelly has written some very unique risks. He wrote the insurance for the X PRIZE Foundation's Wirefly X PRIZE Cup held in Las Cruces NM in 2006. This included aerospace liability insurance for the launch and in-flight operations of Armadillo Aerospace which was the first ever flight under an FAA/ AST Experimental Permit. He has handled risks from UAVs to Gulfstream V's to B-727s and everything in between. He currently handles the insurance for Zero Gravity Corporation, America's first and only parabolic flight operations where passengers can experience “weightless flight.” In addition to the above risks, he also specializes in aviation and aerospace product liability placements. Kelly has experience in both contract review and negotiations. He has been a guest speaker at various aerospace industry conferences and on the radio.
In addition to the above expertise, Kelly served as the Chief Operations Officer for an Oregon-based medical company that specialized in the development and management of surgery centers.
He is married with three children and loves coaching youth sports. |
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Born in 1974 in Denver, Colo., Mr. Eric Anderson, a leading astropreneur (as coined by Wired magazine), is currently the president and CEO of Space Adventures, Ltd. He is an outspoken advocate of commercial space transportation, private space exploration, and space tourism. Involved since its inception, he co-founded Space Adventures in 1997 with several former astronauts and leading visionaries from the aerospace, adventure travel, and entertainment industries.
Mr. Anderson's vision is to open the space frontier to everyone. It is his hope that through the development of the sub-orbital spaceflight program he helped engineer and the latest mission to take private explorers to the International Space Station, Space-Adventures 1, the company can benefit not only private individuals interested in space travel, but also the international space program as a whole. He shares in the belief that space exploration is vital to human progress and by opening the space frontier to private men and women from around the world, we can greatly enhance technological development and cultural understanding.
Previously, Mr. Anderson was the executive vice president and co-founder of Starport.com, an astronaut-endorsed space education and entertainment web site (Starport.com was sold to SPACE.com in June 2000). Mr. Anderson also worked as a business development lead for Analytical Graphics, a $30 million aerospace software firm. In addition, he held a research position with NASA.
Mr. Anderson has authored several technical papers and articles, on topics ranging from space tourism to infrared astronomy, from launch vehicle analysis to advanced space propulsion, from space sensor design to business and economic evaluations of various space-related ventures. He is also a guest speaker and lecturer on various topics in the aviation and aerospace industry. Mr. Anderson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Virginia, with a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, and was selected by USA Today as one of the nation's Top 40 graduating seniors. |
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Reda Anderson will be Rocketplane's first Spaceflight Customer. |
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Michael Belfiore began his career writing about the new space age in 2004, when he covered the launch of the first privately built spaceship for the New York Post. Since then he has written about the private spaceflight industry for Reuters, Wired.com, and other outlets, including Popular Science, for which he has written numerous feature articles.
His book Rocketeers: How a Visionary Band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots Is Boldly Privatizing Space (Smithsonian Books/HarperCollins, 2007) is the first book to chronicle the birth of the commercial space age. His blog, Dispatches from the Final Frontier, is a well-regarded source of news and commentary about the industry.
He became a full-time writer in 1995, first working as a freelance technical writer for the software industry, and then moving into the business world as a public relations writer for large corporations, still with a focus on technology.
He has also written scores of biographical encyclopedia entries on astronauts, business people, politicians, and other news makers for half a dozen reference publications from The Gale Group. His book Life Aboard a Space Station, published by Lucent Books in 2004, describes the experience of living and working in space for young readers.
Michael was born in 1969, the year of the first moon landing, and he has been a space enthusiast since the age of six, when he read his first novel, Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert Heinlein. He lives in Woodstock, New York with his wife, fellow writer Wendy Kagan, and their daughter Amelie. |
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Mr. Benzon began his aviation career in the United States Air Force flying EC-47s over the Republic of Vietnam. He later transitioned into KC-135 Stratotankers for two further stateside assignments. During his military service he was awarded two Air Medals, three Air Force Commendation Medals, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with V device, and the Republic of Viet Nam Cross of Gallantry.
Upon leaving active military duty in 1984, he joined the National Transportation Safety Board in its Chicago Field Office. There, he investigated 64 fatal general aviation accidents and numerous air carrier incidents. He transferred to NTSB Headquarters in Washington, DC, in 1987 and to this date, has been the Investigator in Charge of 29 major aircraft accident investigations within the United States and has been the U.S. Accredited Representative on numerous major overseas accident investigations.
Among his assignments as Investigator in Charge or U.S. Accredited Representative include the loss of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, the crashes of McDonnell Douglas DC-8s in Ohio and Florida, DC-9s in Michigan, Colorado, and Texas, DC-10s in New Jersey and Hong Kong, two Boeing 727s in Michigan, Boeing 737s in India, Afghanistan, England, Illinois and California, Boeing 747s in Holland and England, and an Airbus A340 in Canada. He was also Investigator in Charge of the loss of an Airbus A300 in New York City, the second worse aircraft accident in U.S. history.
He led the team of NTSB investigators at the World Trade Center site following the September 11 terrorist attacks and also was the lead NTSB investigator assisting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration investigation into the loss of space shuttle STS-107/Columbia.
And last, Mr. Benzon was the recipient of the Safety Board's highest annual honor, the Chairman's Award, for 2006. |
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Dallas Bienhoff is the Boeing Manager for In-Space and Surface Systems for the NASA Vision for Space Exploration. He is responsible for developing concepts and capturing contracts related to fixed orbital infrastructure systems (e.g., in-space propellant depots, orbiting assembly nodes, communications & navigation networks) and lunar surface systems (e.g., habitats, rovers, mining and processing equipment). Dallas is also responsible for identifying and creating commercial space opportunities in the Earth-Moon system.
Mr. Bienhoff has 33 years of experience in human space systems and space exploration activities; 25 of which have been in advance programs organizations where he led numerous contract and IRAD space transportation and exploration architecture studies.
During his career, Dallas has worked for Boeing, Rockwell, The Aerospace Corporation, Rocketdyne and Martin Marietta on the following key programs: Vision for Space Exploration, Space Launch Initiative, ISS Propulsion Module, Crew Return Vehicle, X-33 Single Stage to Orbit, International Space Station Russian Integration, Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Shuttle Facilities, Space Shuttle Main Engine Development, and Titan III.
He earned a MS Engineering at California State University Northridge in1985 and a BS Mechanical Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology in 1974. |
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Dr. Jonathan B. Clark is the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) Space Medicine Liaison at Baylor College of Medicine. He is a member of the Spacecraft Survival Integrated Investigation Team at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and on the Constellation Program EVA Systems Standing Review Board. Dr. Clark serves on the Board of Directors of Xtreme Space, Inc. and is Team Leader for Safety and Survivability for Orbital Outfitters Inc., medical advisor for Space Diver and Excaliber Almaz LLC, and is a consultant for Disney World Corporation. His interests are in neurologic effects in extreme environments and crew survival in space.
Dr. Clark worked as a Space Shuttle Crew Surgeon on six shuttle missions and was Chief of the Medical Operations Branch and an FAA Senior Aviation Medical Examiner at the NASA JSC Flight Medicine Clinic. Dr. Clark served 26 years on active duty with the U.S. Navy and qualified as a Naval Flight Officer, Naval Flight Surgeon and Navy Diver and U.S. Army parachutist and Special Forces Military Freefall parachutist. He flew as a DOD Space Shuttle Support Flight Surgeon and flew combat medical evacuation missions in Operation Desert Storm with the U.S. Marine Corps. Prior to joining NASA in 1997, he was Head of the Spatial Orientation Systems Department at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory in Pensacola, FL, Head of the Aeromedical Department at the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One in Yuma, AZ, and Head of the Neurology Division and Hyperbaric Medicine at the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute.
Dr. Clark is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association and the American College of Preventive Medicine. He has an academic appointment as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Dr. Clark is President of the Space Medicine and a reviewer for the journal Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine and served on the editorial board for the publication. He is on the Executive Council of the Aerospace Medical Association.
He received his bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., and his master's degree in public health from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. He completed his internship and residency at Bethesda Naval Hospital and is a board certified in Neurology and Aerospace Medicine. |
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Ken Davidian currently works for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) and the Innovative Partnerships Program Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Within ESMD, Mr. Davidian is charged with leading ESMD's space commercial development strategy efforts for the benefit of the Vision for Space Exploration, the Global Exploration Strategy, and NASA.
Mr. Davidian is also the program manager of Centennial Challenges, NASA's prize program modeled on past and ongoing prize competitions. Centennial Challenges was established to stimulate technology developments from private industry, universities, and individual innovators that support of the Vision for Space Exploration and ongoing NASA programs.
Prior to his current position, Mr. Davidian served as Director of Operations for the X PRIZE Foundation. Responsibilities in this position included managing the registration process, team information and relations, and many aspects of flight attempt validation, judging, and event coordination.
In addition to his prize-related work experience, Mr. Davidian has worked for Paragon Space Development Corp. as Program Manager and also as Director of Operations consulting to Cargo Lifter Development.
Finally, Mr. Davidian spent the first 18 years of his career working for NASA Glenn Research Center in the area of analytical and experimental research on the performance of liquid rocket engines. For a three-year period, NASA Glenn loaned Mr. Davidian to work at the International Space University as the Assistant Director of Operations for the 1997-1999 Summer Session Programs. |
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Ms. Deckard is CEO and owner of Space Policy Consulting, Inc, and the manager of the Space Frontier Foundation's Space Solar Power Project. In 2000, she was the principal investigator for a NASA-funded study that reintroduced SSP to the environmental community, and gathered input from this community on its perceived costs and benefits of this technology.
Ms. Deckard began her career as a field ecologist studying the dung beetle and armadillo. She managed a large-scale two-year study of blue-green algal toxins in raw and finished drinking water. She has served on the Board of Directors of several organizations, including the Space Frontier Foundation and the Sunsat Energy Council. Ms. Deckard has a B.S. in Genetic Engineering from Purdue University, a M.S. in Systems Engineering from Wright State University (WSU), and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at WSU in complex mixed-initiative systems. |
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James E. Dunstan is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Garvey Schubert Barer, where for nearly 25 years he has concentrated on issues of high technology, communications, and space law. Jim represents a significant number of burgeoning outer space companies: he drafted and negotiated the first commercial lease for the Russian Mir space station on behalf of MirCorp. He has drafted and helped negotiate contracts with several potential commercial space passengers. Jim was a founding board member of LunaCorp and assisted in negotiating with the Russian Space Agency and NASA to shoot the first television commercial onboard the International Space Station (ISS). He helped arrange for the first pitch of the 2002 baseball World Series to be conducted onboard ISS. Mr. Dunstan has also been involved in export issues (ITAR) related to experimental hardware launched on Russian rockets.
Jim is a member of the Virginia Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS) Aerospace Advisory Committee, and an active member of the Space Frontier Foundation's Teachers In Space project. |
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Steve Durst is Editor and Publisher at Space Age Publishing Company, since 1976, and operates its Hawai'i (1988) and California offices. Space Age publishes Lunar Enterprise Daily and Space Calendar weekly, supports pioneering ventures such as the International Lunar Observatory and the Stanford on the Moon and Ad Astra Kansas initiatives, and pursues a business plan consistent with establishing a third office on the Moon.
Steve's commitment to the lunar imperative and to see people on the Moon within the decade reflects his understanding of humanity's greatest advance, and of the quickest way to great wealth, and to the Stars. |
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Mr. French is currently chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rocketplane and both subsidiaries, Rocketplane Kistler and Rocketplane Global. Mr. French served as both President and Chairman of the Board of Rocketplane Global, as well as President of Space Explorers, Inc. Mr. French serves on the board of several aerospace-related organizations including Spaceflight Association of America, Inc., Lunar Research Institute, Inc. and Space Week International. Mr. French has also received a number of awards, including the 2000 NASA AMES Research Astrobiology Team Group Achievement Award, National Space Society, 1997 Entrepreneur of the Year award, and 1995 Aerospace State Association Achievement Award. Mr. French attended the University of Arizona from 1963 to 1967. |
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Ms. Garver serves as a Senior Advisor for Space at the Avascent Group, a strategic consulting firm, based in Washington, D.C. Lori Garver has been a full-time consultant since January 2003. Ms. Garver served as Vice President of DFI Corporate Services (the predecessor organization to the Avascent Group) from 2001 - 2003.
Until January 2001 Ms. Garver was the Associate Administrator for Policy and Plans at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Prior to this appointment, Ms. Garver served as a Senior Policy Analyst for the Office of Policy and Plans.
Before joining NASA, Ms. Garver was the Executive Director of the National Space Society, a space advocacy organization. She is a recipient of the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal as well as the National Space Society's Space Pioneer Award. Ms. Garver received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Colorado College in 2000.
Ms. Garver received her Masters degree in Science, Technology, and Public Policy from the George Washington University in 1989, and her Bachelors degree in Political Science and Economics from Colorado College in 1983. She resides in McLean, VA with her husband, David Brandt, and their two children, Wesley and Mitchell. |
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David Gump is President and Co-Founder of the Transformational Space Corporation.
In 1989, David co-founded LunaCorp, an entrepreneurial space company dedicated to commercial exploration and development on the Moon. While at LunaCorp, David arranged the filming of the first television commercial on the International Space Station. The advertisement, for electronics retailer RadioShack, showed the Space Station's crew receiving Father's Day gifts from their daughters. David also arranged for the crew to throw the ceremonial First Pitch for the 2002 World Series, on behalf of Fox Sports and Major League Baseball. LunaCorp also set up the sponsorships that provided Lance Bass of *NSYNC with all of his initial funding for his effort to visit the space station.
As co-founder of Pasha Publications in 1978, David created several newsletters such as Space Business News, Military Space and SDI Monitor. David also authored Space Enterprise: Beyond NASA, a book published in 1990 by Praeger Publishers.
David holds a Bachelor's degree in economics from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois. |
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Gary Hudson is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AirLaunch LLC. He formed the company specifically to address the needs of the DARPA/Air Force Falcon program to develop a small launch vehicle. He also co-founded Transformational Space (“t/space”) to revolutionize entrepreneurial space exploration activities. Previously, Gary Hudson was a founder of Rotary Rocket Company, serving as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors.
Mr. Hudson has worked in the field of commercial space for over 25 years with an emphasis on the development of innovative low-cost systems. His experience includes both management and engineering in high-tech, entrepreneurial settings. He is the designer of the Phoenix Vertical Take Off & Landing / SingleStage-to-Orbit (VTOL/SSTO) family of launch vehicles and has participated in many launch vehicle projects including support for both General Dynamics and Boeing Aerospace corporation during the Strategic Defense Initiative Program (SDIO). He has published numerous papers on space vehicles and systems and has authored several studies on low cost and advanced propulsion systems.
In 1994 Mr. Hudson co-founded HMX, Inc. which designs and develops innovative aerospace propulsion systems. In 1995 HMX developed a monopropellant rocket engine propulsion system, including engines, tankage and support systems, for Kistler Aerospace Corporation of Kirkland, WA. Mr. Hudson had previously been co-founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific American Launch Systems, Inc.; served as a consultant to the United States Air Force's Project Forecast II; designed the Percheron 055 experimental launch vehicle; and spent ten years as a consulting Systems Designer on low cost commercial space systems.
Mr. Hudson attended the University of Minnesota. He has conducted seminars for the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and the Institute for Space and Astronautical Sciences of Tokyo University, and has taught graduate-level launch vehicle design at Stanford University. He is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics. In January 1994 he received the Laurel Award from Aviation Week & Space Technology "for the vision, drive and competence that have pushed [single-stage-to-orbit and reusable launch vehicles] to the front of the U.S. launcher agenda." |
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John Gedmark is the Founding Executive Director of the Personal Spaceflight Federation. He previously served as the first Director of Operations for the X PRIZE Cup, where he managed a diverse array of rocket activities - including the first ever flights of a vehicle under an experimental permit by Armadillo Aerospace. Before that, John spent time as an engineer at TRW, Ball Aerospace, and Aerojet. John
has a BS from Purdue University and a MS from Stanford University, both in Aerospace Engineering, and while at Purdue he received the Herbert F. Rogers Scholarship, awarded each year to the most distinguished graduating senior of the Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. John is also co-founder and a board member of the Roosevelt Institution, a public policy think tank for students, which has chapters on more than 80 university campuses nationwide. |
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Rich Godwin is President of Apogee Books. |
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Jeff Greason has more than 15 years experience managing innovative technical project teams at XCOR Aerospace, Rotary Rocket and Intel Corporation. As president and a co-founder of XCOR, he leads the engineering team that has developed six different long-life, highly-reusable liquid-fueled rocket engines, the low-cost liquid propellant piston pump, and the manned reusable rocket aircraft - the EZ-Rocket.
Greason, a recognized expert in FAA/AST reusable launch vehicle (RLV) regulations, led XCOR Aerospace's licensing efforts until they were completed in early 2003, and remains deeply involved. He testified before the joint House/Senate subcommittee hearings on “Commercial Human Spaceflight.” Greason has maintained a close working relationship with AST since the 1998 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on RLV licensing and has been active in the COMSTAC RLV working group for five years.
Greason was cited by Time magazine in 2001 as one of the “Inventors of the Year” for his team's work on the EZ-Rocket. He holds 18 U.S. patents. He graduated with honors from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
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Doug Griffith is a Los Angeles-based aviation and spaceflight attorney who is experienced in litigating catastrophic aircraft accidents and advising the aviation, aerospace and commercial human spaceflight industries on legal risk management strategies. Mr. Griffith is a former U.S. Marine Corps aviator, safety officer and accident investigator with an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught courses as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and is a frequent lecturer under the Federal Aviation Administration's aviation safety program. He has spoken on the legal liability atmosphere confronting members of the personal spaceflight industry at Space Access 2007, the Aerospace Medical Association's 2007 conference, the 2007 International Space Development Conference (at which he chaired the Spaceflight Law & Insurance Track), and on “The Space Show.”
Mr. Griffith is currently a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, and is on the Board of Directors of Angel Flight West, a charitable network of volunteer pilots throughout the thirteen western States who provide free air transportation for those in need. |
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Mohanjit Jolly is a Partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a leading Venture Capital firm in Silicon Valley. Mohanjit has spent the last ten years working with and investing in technology startups. Most recently, Mohanjit was a Managing Director at Garage Technology Ventures, a seed and early stage venture capital firm. While at Garage, Mohanjit worked with over 30 companies, including LeftHand Networks, PureSight (BCGI), Jibe Networks (CTRX), Media Publisher, Xora, Razz, Kaboodle and SimplyHired. Prior to joining Garage, Mohanjit was part of the strategic planning group at Mattel where he helped launch the Mattel/Intel joint venture, Intel Play. He also spent several years in both engineering and business development roles with Itek Optical Systems, a manufacturer of high-resolution reconnaissance systems for both military and commercial use. While earning his M.B.A from the Anderson School at UCLA, Mohanjit helped launch ViaSpace, a technology incubator in Southern California in conjunction with Caltech and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Mohanjit earned a B.S. and M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, with a specialization in electric propulsion systems. |
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Kanayama received a BA in Commerce from Keio University in 1984 and MBA in Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder in 1988. After graduation, Kanayama joined Shimizu Corporation in 1989 and conducted extensive research of US space activities and provided preliminary decision of the strategic investment of $1M to U.S. firm. He later joined CSP Japan, an aerospace consulting firm, in 1996 and conducted and managed more than 80 research and analysis projects for Japanese government agencies and aerospace companies, as well as foreign and international aerospace firms. He currently serves as a director for aerospace policy and industry. |
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Kevin F. Kelly serves as Vice President at Van Scoyoc Associates, Inc. (VSA) and is the Chief Operating Officer of the Washington, D.C. law firm of Van Scoyoc Kelly PLLC. Kelly came to VSA after a dozen years of Capitol Hill experience in various senior positions in the House and Senate. At VSA, Kelly specializes in budget, appropriations and legislative issues for a range of high technology and Fortune 500 companies, institutions of higher education, governmental entities and national trade associations. Kelly's practice includes efforts to obtain annual funding for a range of programs and projects, as well as providing executive branch liaison on policy and budgetary matters. In addition, Kelly offers corporations and non-profit entities strategic advice and counsel on the capture and expansion of technology-based government contracts. Finally, Kelly's practice includes assisting universities and colleges in the development of creative solutions to secure additional research funds from a range of federal agencies and programs.
In his prior government service, Kelly served for eight years with the Senate Appropriations Committee. Six of those years included service as the Chief Clerk and Majority Staff Director for the Veterans Administration, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Subcommittee, the committee's second largest subcommittee, with a $90 billion portfolio in 25 federal cabinet departments and agencies. Serving in this role, Kelly was the principal advisor and counsel to the subcommittee chair and members on all major budget and policy issues affecting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans' Affairs. The other two years of Appropriations Committee service involved his role as appropriations counsel and legislative assistant for Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. In this capacity, Kelly managed Senator Mikulski's appropriations initiatives for 12 of the committee's 13 subcommittees, including Transportation, Defense, Commerce-State-Justice, Treasury-Postal Service and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
Most recently, Kelly served in the Senate leadership as Chief Counsel and Floor Assistant to the Secretary of the Democratic Conference, Senator Mikulski. In this role, Kelly served as a senior advisor to the Senate Democratic leadership on broad policy matters, including budget and appropriations strategy, regulatory reform, and welfare reform.
Earlier in his career, Kelly served as a professional staff member on the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, where he served as a subcommittee counsel on maritime commerce, water resources, marine pollution and regulation, and the Coast Guard. He also handled various transportation issues related to the Oceanography Subcommittee Chair's assignment on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Kelly holds a juris doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center, and a Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude from Borromeo College of Ohio. He is a member of the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and American Bar Associations (ABA). |
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Michael S. Kelly is a 26 year veteran of the aerospace industry, across the spectrum of land-based strategic missiles, missile defense, and government and commercial space launch. He is an inventor, entrepreneur, and advocate for capitalism in space.
Beginning in 1980 at TRW Ballistic Missiles Division, Mr. Kelly acquired an extensive background in system engineering, procurement, development, test, and deployment of large missile systems in the Peacekeeper and Small ICBM programs. In 1987, he began applying his experience to the commercial space launch field. In that field, he is best known as:
• Inventor of the TRW family of low-cost, modular, solid propellant launch vehicles
• Co-founder and Director of Engineering for the TRW Space Launch Services Organization
• Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Kelly Space & Technology, Inc., a pioneering company in the reusable launch and space applications fields
• Inventor of the tow-launch technique for space vehicles, demonstrated in an award-winning series of manned flights at NASA/Dryden Flight Research Center
• Chairman of the Reusable Launch Vehicles Working Group of COMSTAC
Most recently, Mr. Kelly ran the Flight Operations portion of the first two X PRIZE Cup events, which successfully pioneered the public space and rocket show.
He is currently developing new technology-based business ventures, and writing a book on a comprehensive solution to opening the NewSpace frontier. |
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John Kohut is the Senior Program Manager for Advanced Space and Missile Defense Applications within the Raytheon Missile Systems company responsible for developing system concepts and architectures for space exploration, national security space applications, and commercial space exploitation. He has held this position since September 2004.
Born in Greenwich, Connecticut, Mr. Kohut joined the United States Navy in 1977 and served as an F-14 Naval Flight Officer operationally deployed on various aircraft carriers. He is a graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) and the United States Naval Test Pilot School. He served as an acquisition professional in a variety of fighter aircraft and weapons programs, including the F-22 and the Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) programs. His final assignment in the Navy was as program manager of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) program, an international cooperative development program for command and control.
Mr. Kohut has a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering (1976) from the University of Connecticut and a Masters of Science in Computer Science (1988) from the Florida Institute of Technology. He is married to the former Martha Thompson of Stamford, Connecticut and they have two children, Kristyn and John Eric. |
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Jeff's direct space involvement began in 1979 with a summer job at NASA Headquarters. July 11th was a particularly exciting day, as Australia called to report the impact of Skylab debris. Jeff answered the phone, and feeling
somewhat unqualified to handle this he immediately delegated the task to someone else. Talk about leadership!
Jeff returned to NASA Headquarters in 1981, with a six-month graduate internship in the International Affairs Division. He was in the auditorium when the space shuttle Columbia was first launched on April 12th.
Returning to Houston and determined to participate in the space program, Jeff became an IBM Systems Engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Thus began the unraveling of Jeff's commitment to NASA, as he realized this wasn't the same agency that had brilliantly succeeded with its lunar challenge. His emotional commitment to NASA died a slow and painful death, and Jeff searched for a different way to support human space activity.
Returning to Houston and determined to participate in the space program, Jeff was hired by IBM and became a Systems Engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Thus began the unraveling of Jeff's commitment to NASA, as he realized this wasn't the same agency that had brilliantly succeeded with its lunar challenge. Instead, Jeff discovered that NASA had become just another government agency. His emotional commitment to NASA died a slow and painful death, and Jeff searched for a different way to support human space activity.
Invited to become a Space Frontier Foundation Advocate in 1990, Jeff spent several years conducting research for various projects. Combining his passions for space and writing, in the early 1990's he wrote a monthly column on space issues entitled "Think About It," which appeared in the Journal for Space Development and other space newsletters. He has also been published online and in Ad Astra, Space News, the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Business Journal, and Chelsea House published his first book essays in Spring 2005. Jeff is also a noted conference speaker and has been interviewed on radio and television news programs. Speech and interview excerpts and writing sampl demonstrate the breadth of Jeff's work around the world.
Jeff became a Foundation Board Member in 1995, and the first Director of Advocates the following year. In 1997 he vacated both Foundation positions to become a ProSpace Board Member and Director of the 1998 March Storm lobbying event. For the latter, Jeff received the 1998 ProSpace Activist of the Year Award. In 1999 he became Vice President and continued as Director of March Storm. Jeff became Chairman in 2002 and served until 2004. Since January 2005, Jeff has been Executive Director of the Space Frontier Foundation. |
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Alan Ladwig is currently serving at Whitney, Bradley and Brown, Inc. (WBB) as the Manager of Space Systems Consultancy. In this capacity he is responsible for developing a new business unit dedicated to technical and consulting services for the civil and commercial space sectors.
Prior to joining WBB Alan was the Manager of NASA and Civil Space Programs for the Integrated Systems Sector at Northrop Grumman where he directed marketing and sales activities in pursuit of contracts for NASA human space flight programs.
Ladwig served as the Chief Operating Officer for the ZERO Gravity Corporation, a space tourism and entertainment company offering commercial parabolic (weightless) flights to the public on a Boeing 727 aircraft. He was also the Assistant to the Chairman and Vice President for Washington Operations of Space.com, a multimedia company headquartered in New York City dedicated to space-related content.
Alan served at NASA Headquarters both as a political appointee and as a civil servant. From 1993 to 1999 he was an appointee of the Clinton-Gore Administration serving as the Associate Administrator for Policy and Plans. As a civil servant from 1981 to 1989 he managed a variety of programs including the Teacher in Space and Journalist in Space programs, and the Shuttle Student Involvement Program.
NASA awarded Ladwig the Distinguished Service Medal, the Exceptional Achievement Medal, and two Exceptional Service Medals. He is a Fellow of the American Astronautical Society.
Ladwig served in the U.S. Army, 558th USA Artillery Group, in Athens, Greece. He earned a M.S. in Higher Education Administration and a B.S. in speech at Southern Illinois University. |
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Mr. Lauer is a graduate of the University of Michigan College of Architecture & Urban Planning. He is a co-founder and Vice President of Business Development for Rocketplane Kistler, Inc. He is also a successful real estate consultant and developer, and the President of Peregrine Properties, Ltd. in Lansing, Michigan. Mr. Lauer has been responsible for negotiating, obtaining regulatory approvals and arranging financing for over $350 million in numerous successful real estate development projects. He has been researching and developing potential business opportunities in space since 1991, and has published numerous general interest articles and technical papers on commercial space development. Mr. Lauer has been a consultant to Boeing, NASA and several space start-ups on commercial space development. He is now actively involved in several new spaceport projects around the world; and is an Advocate and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Space Frontier Foundation. |
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Roger D. Launius has been chair of the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C., since 2002. Between 1990 and 2002 he served as chief historian of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Dr. Launius was born in Galesburg, Illinois, on May 15, 1954, and grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. He graduated from Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa, with a major in history in 1976 and received the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history in 1978 and 1982 at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, with major fields in American frontier and military history.
After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Launius became a civilian staff historian with the United States Air Force, serving in a variety of historian positions with the Air Force. Between 1987 and 1990 he was Chief Historian for the Military Airlift Command, outside St. Louis, Missouri.
Dr. Launius has lectured widely on historical subjects to military, scholarly, technical, and general audiences. He has also served part-time on the faculties of several colleges and universities. He has acted as a reader for publishers, as a member of the governing councils of several historical associations, and on the editorial boards of numerous journals. He is an active member of several professional associations, among them the American Astronautical Society, where he is a fellow and member of the board. He currently serves as president of the Society for History in the Federal Government.
He has written or edited numerous books and articles on aerospace history. Some of the more recent include: Space: A Journey to Our Future (Tehabi Books, 2004); Space Stations: Base Camps to the Stars (Smithsonian Books, 2003), which received the AIAA's history manuscript prize; Reconsidering a Century of Flight (University of North Carolina Press, 2003); Flight: A Celebration of 100 Years in Art and Literature (Welcome Books, 2003); To Reach the High Frontier: A History of U.S. Launch Vehicles (University Press of Kentucky, 2002); Imagining Space: Achievements, Possibilities, Projections, 1950-2050 (Chronicle Books, 2001). He is frequently consulted by the electronic and print media for his views on space issues. His research interests encompass all areas of U.S. and space history and policy history, especially cultural aspects of the subject and the role of executive decision-makers and their efforts to define space exploration. |
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Burton H. Lee, Ph.D. MBA, is Managing Partner of Innovarium Ventures, as well as an accredited angel investor and serial entrepreneur. Innovarium Ventures, located in Washington DC, provides senior strategic, financial and technical advisory services to technology startup companies, venture capital and private equity firms, angel networks, investment banks, major corporations and state economic development agencies in the areas of venture financing, corporate and technology strategy, competitive positioning, engineering design and architecture, new product development, technical due diligence, and emerging technology trends. He recently served as Chairman of the highly successful Space Venture Finance Symposium, which was held in Dallas in May. Complete program information on this important milestone event within the commercial space finance sector can be found at www.isdc2007.org/finance.
Dr. Lee's professional experience spans 15 years in strategy consulting, high tech industry, government and venture-backed startups working in corporate development and strategy, business development, technology commercialization, and advanced computing and space systems research. His management and technical experience includes senior positions with leading organizations such as GE Global Research, Hewlett Packard, DaimlerChrysler AG and NASA in the United States, Europe and Japan. His business and technical expertise spans the advanced computing/IT, commercial space, aviation, nanotech, alternative energy, clean tech, robotics and related global innovation sectors. Burton's space background includes an early tenure as Manager of the Stanford Small Satellite Program, working at NASA Kennedy Space Center as a Shuttle Thermal Protection Systems research engineer, advising NASA Ames on new venture development and spinouts, and serving as co-founder and COO of Orbital Recovery Systems, a commercial reentry capsule services provider.
Today, Dr. Lee sits on the MIT Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program Advisory Committee, and is a member of the FAA AST Comstac Working Group on Launch Operations and Support. Burton recently served as Technical Consultant to the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. In 2006, Lee was appointed a Senior Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C., where he worked on national IT sector innovation policy for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board.
Burton holds a PhD in Mechanical & Electrical Engineering from Stanford (2002), an MBA in finance and entrepreneurship from Cornell (2004) and an AB in Physics from Brown University. He also attended the International Space University and is a graduate of the inaugural class held at MIT in 1988. Burton's international experience spans over 10 years of professional and education-related positions in Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Austria, Japan and Jamaica. Additional professional and academic awards, credentials and background for this speaker are available on his profile at www.linkedin.com/in/burtonlee. |
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Debra Facktor Lepore is President for AirLaunch LLC. She is responsible for the external activities of the company, including development and execution of the company’s business plan, marketing plan, government relations and regulatory activities. AirLaunch is developing the low cost, responsive QuickReach TM launch vehicle under the DARPA / U.S. Air Force Falcon small launch vehicle program, and is currently executing a $17.8 M Phase 2B contract.
Prior to joining AirLaunch LLC, Ms. Lepore was Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning for Kistler Aerospace Corporation. In this position, she was responsible for identification and development of new business opportunities, as well as developing both short-term and long-term strategic planning. Ms. Lepore was a key player in the Kistler organization since joining the company in July 1997, previously serving as Director of Marketing and Manager of Payload Systems. She has a unique blend of technical, business, and international skills in entrepreneurial and established markets.
Ms. Lepore previously served as Chief of Moscow Operations for ANSER’s Center for International Aerospace Cooperation in Moscow, Russia, and as project leader and senior engineer at ANSER in Arlington, Virginia. She conducted technical, business, financial and policy analyses for clients around the world, including NASA, U.S. Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and National Space Council, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, European Space Agency, National Space Development Agency of Japan, and numerous commercial entities. Projects included government and commercial space launch systems, alternative launch concepts for defense systems, propulsion, human spaceflight, and aerospace technology. Debra Facktor Lepore was the Lead Engineer for the Technical Panel of the Congressionally-mandated Space Launch Modernization Plan; participated in the Advanced Launch System (ALS) program; and contributed to the ten-year Space Launch Technology Plan in response to a White House National Space Policy Directive and the Vice President’s “Final Report to the President on the U.S. Space Program.”
Among other distinctions, Ms. Lepore is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA); an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA); an alumna of the International Space University (ISU); and a member of the International Women’s Forum (IWF). She is an active leader in the community and in major professional organizations, including Secretary of the IAA’s Commission on Space Policy, Economics and Law, and the 2007 Chair and 2006 Vice Chair of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) Space Council. She is the former chairperson of the American Astronautical Society Washington DC section and former Vice President of the Board of Washington Works. In April 2005, Ms. Lepore was appointed by U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta to serve a two-year term on the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC).
Debra Facktor Lepore earned a Bachelor of Science degree (magna cum laude) in aerospace engineering and a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering, both from the University of Michigan. |
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John C. Mankins is the President of ARTEMIS Innovation Management Solutions LLC, a research and development management consulting start-up that solves tough innovation challenges for government, industry and not-for-profit clients. He is internationally recognized as a successful leader in space systems and technology innovation, as a highly effective manager of large-scale technology R&D programs, and as an accomplished communicator.
Mr. Mankins has 27 years of experience and knowledge involving NASA, the aerospace industry, academia and the international space community-as well with other U.S. Agencies, including the Department of Defense, (such as DDR&E, DARPA, NRO, NSSO), the National Science Foundation, and others. ARTEMIS Innovation provides consulting services to a range of clients, including the Department of Energy (for DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office, both the Solar Energy Technology Program and the Wind Program), the Office of Naval Research, the Applied Physics Laboratory, and a range of other organizations.
Mr. Mankins is well known as an innovator in R&D management, and was one of the creators of the widely used “technology readiness level” (TRL) scale for technology assessment. Mr. Mankins is an acknowledged subject matter expert in these fields. He has been consulted on both R&D management and space issues by the General Accounting Office, the Office of the Chief Technologist of the U.S. Navy, the U.S. National Security Space Architect, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and others.
He is also one of the foremost authorities on the subject of space solar power (SSP). Mr. Mankins led NASA's SSP “Fresh Look Study” in the mid-1990s, managed the SSP Exploratory Research & Technology (SERT) Program, and is the creator of several important SSP systems concepts, including the SunTower, the Solar Clipper, and others. He serves as the President of the Sunsat Energy Council (also known as the “Space Power Association”), a non-profit international group founded in 1978 by Dr. Peter Glaser, that promotes the potential of SSP for future application on Earth and in space. Mr. Mankins has authored numerous papers and articles on the topic of SSP and has testified before the U.S. Congress on the topic on several occasions.
Mr. Mankins holds undergraduate (Harvey Mudd College; B.S., 1978) and graduate (UCLA; M.S., 1983) degrees in PHYSICS and earned an MBA in Public Policy Analysis (The Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University; MBA, 1986). He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the Sigma Xi Research Society.
Mr. Mankins has received numerous awards and honors during his career, including the prestigious NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal (of which he was the first recipient). He has been recognized in “Who's Who” on various occasions and was named by SpaceNews as one of the “100 People Who Made A Difference In Space” (during 1989-2004)-a distinction he shared with NASA Administrators O'Keefe (former) and Griffin (current), as well as with former Congressman Robert Walker, innovator Burt Rutan, and others. He is a skilled communicator, including political, programmatic, technical and lay audiences, and has authored or co-authored more than 75 published papers, reports and other technical documents. |
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Mr. Miller is the President of Space Policy Consulting, Inc., a woman-owned small business that provides consulting services to the space industry.
Mr. Miller is also the President and Chief Executive Officer of Constellation Services International, Inc. (CSI) CSI was founded in 1998, and is an entrepreneurial orbital spaceflight services company that is focused on commercial opportunities in Earth orbit. CSI is developing, and patenting, a number of innovative space solutions for commercial and other markets. More specifically, CSI is developing the LEO ExpressSM Space Cargo System, an innovative, patented method for re-supplying space stations that uses over 99% existing technology. The LEO ExpressSM space cargo system completed a NASA system design review in July 2003.
Prior to CSI, Mr. Miller was the founding Chairman and President of ProSpace, where he served from 1996 to 1999. Known also as "The Citizens' Space Lobby," ProSpace was one of the most effective space policy groups working on Capitol Hill. Under Mr. Miller's leadership, ProSpace was instrumental in the passage of vital space-related legislative initiatives, including the Commercial Space Act of 1998, funding for NASA's X-33, Future-X and Space Solar Power programs, and the U.S. Air Force RLV Technology Development program.
Mr. Miller has received several awards for his work in the field, including the "Vision in Action" award from the Space Frontier Foundation, the "Space Pioneer" award from the National Space Society, and the "Exceptional Leadership" award from the California Space Development Council. |
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Edward M. Morris was appointed Director, Office of Space Commercialization (OSC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce in January, 2006. The Office of Space Commercialization (OSC) is responsible for implementing national space policies and promoting the capabilities of the U.S. commercial space industry. It acts as an industry liaison within the Executive Branch to ensure the U.S. Government maximizes its use of commercially available space goods and services, avoids legal and regulatory impediments, and does not compete with the U.S. space industry. OSC also supports the Deputy Secretary of Commerce in his role as a member of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Executive Committee and hosts the National Space-Based PNT Coordination Office (NCO). He is also the U.S. Government representative and co-chair of the U.S.-European Union Global Positioning System (GPS)-Galileo Working Group on Trade and Civil Applications. The working group is responsible for addressing non-discrimination and other trade related issues concerning civil satellite-based navigation and timing services and their augmentations. The objective of the working group is to ensure equal access to GPS and Galileo capabilities by worldwide government and industry users.
Prior to his appointment with NOAA, Ed worked with Orbital Sciences Corporation from 1991 to 2006. His most recent position was Senior Director of the Washington, D.C. Operations, responsible for development and implementation of White House, federal agency, and legislative actions and policies related to military, civil and commercial space matters, as well as, missile defense and tactical weapons programs. He received the Outstanding Management Award in 2001 for outstanding achievement of key company business development goals. In 1997, he was assigned as Director of Business Development for the Launch Systems Group, primarily responsible for technical and marketing roles for missile defense, international, and classified program new business initiatives. Other Orbital assignments included project management and systems engineering of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and commercial launch services valued at $100M.
Ed served in the U.S. Air Force from 1982 to 1991 in Space Acquisition, Launch Operations, and HQ USAF staff positions. He transferred in 1991 to the U.S. Air Force Reserve and continues to be active in his Reserve duties where he has served in a variety of staff and personnel assignments attaining the rank of Colonel. His military honors include the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, and Air Force Achievement Medal and is a graduate of Air War College, Air Command and Staff College, and Squadron Officer's School where he completed as a distinguished graduate.
Ed has a bachelor's degree in engineering from Rutgers University and a Master's in Business Administration from Pepperdine University.
Ed and his wife, Geary, live in Falls Church, Virginia. |
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James A. M. Muncy founded PoliSpace, an independent space policy consultancy, in early 2000 to help space entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs succeed at the nexus of business, public affairs, and technology. His clients have included several companies in the emerging private human space flight industry, firms offering commercial services to NASA spaceflight programs, and government managers of Air Force military space projects.
In 2004 and 2005 Muncy led two successful industry lobbying efforts: winning enactment of the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 (P.L 108-492), and securing an amendment to the Iran Nonproliferation Act to allow NASA to buy commercial space goods and services with Russian content.
Immediately prior to establishing PoliSpace, Muncy spent over five years working for the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1997 through early 2000 he served on the Professional Staff of the House Science Committee's Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee. In addition to being Chairman Dana Rohrabacher's staff designee, Muncy held the lead responsibility for issues and programs such as reusable launch vehicles, human space flight commercialization, military space technology, export control reform, range modernization, and future NASA programs. Prior to this, Muncy spent over two years on Rep. Rohrabacher's personal staff as his Legislative Assistant for Space.
Before joining congressional staff in late 1994, Muncy spent nine years as a space policy and marketing consultant for various clients including NASA, NOAA, several private firms, and the not-for-profit space community, while also securing a graduate degree. In the mid-1980's he worked for two and a half years as a policy assistant in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Reagan, where he served as the White House's Staff Liaison to the National Commission on Space. Muncy began his career in space policy in 1981 as a staff advisor in the Office of Congressman Newt Gingrich, where he helped Mr. Gingrich co-found the Congressional Space Caucus and develop visionary space policy legislation and initiatives.
A long-time leader in the space advocacy community, Muncy co-founded the Space Frontier Foundation in 1988 and served as its Chairman of the Board for six years. Earlier he had served on the Board of Directors of both the National Space Society and the L5 Society. He is a frequent speaker and writer on space policy issues.
Muncy holds an MS in Space Studies from the Center for Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota and a BA from the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar. |
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Gary E. Payton is the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Programs, Washington, D.C. He provides guidance, direction and oversight for the formulation, review and execution of military space programs. This includes oversight of all space and space-related acquisition plans, strategies and assessments for research, development, test, evaluation and space-related industrial base issues.
Mr. Payton earned his Bachelor of Science degree in astronautical engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy and his Master of Science degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Purdue University. As an Air Force officer, he served as a pilot, instructor pilot, spacecraft operations director and space technology manager. In 1985, he flew as a payload specialist on board the Space Shuttle Discovery in the first military flight of the space shuttle program. He was instrumental in the initiation and management of the Midcourse Sensor Experiment, the Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile, Delta-183, Talon Shield, Clementine and the DC-X launch vehicle technology project.
Mr. Payton has also served as NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Transportation Technology where he initiated, planned and led the Reusable Launch Vehicle technology demonstration program, which included the X-33, X-34, X-37 and DC-XA flight test projects. |
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Thomas Boon Pickens III |
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Mr. Pickens, a member of the Company's Board of Directors since 2003, became President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2007. He is also the Managing Partner and Founder of Tactic Advisors, Inc., a company specializing in corporate turnarounds on behalf of creditors and investors that have aggregated to over $20 billion in value. Concurrently, he is President of T.B. Pickens & Co. which has acted as both advisor and principal of corporate acquisitions now totaling over $10 billion and numerous transactions.
Throughout his professional career, Mr. Pickens has founded and served as Chairman and CEO for many companies during the startup, growth, and turnaround phases of a company's lifecycle, with an emphasis in value creation. From 1983 to date, Mr. Pickens has been the Founder and President of Beta Computer Systems; Managing Partner, Grace Pickens Acquisition Partners, L.P.; Managing Partner, Sumter Partners L.P.; Chairman and CEO of Catalyst Energy Corporation (NYSE); Chairman, United Thermal Corporation (NYSE); President, Golden Bear Corporation; President, Slate Creek Corporation; President, Eury Dam Corporation; Chairman, Century Power Corporation; President, Vidalia Hydroelectric Corporation; Managing Partner, Pickens Capital Income Fund, L.P.; Chairman, The Code Corporation; and President, U.S. Utilities, Inc.
Mr. Pickens has also served in the capacity representing the Office of the Chairman, Mirant Equity Committee (NYSE) and Director, Optifab, Inc. (NASDAQ). He is currently Director, Trenwick America Corporation and Director, Advocate MD. |
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Pomerantz holds a BA in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University, and a Masters of Science in Space Studies from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. In addition to his work on the X PRIZE Foundation's space prizes, Pomerantz also serves as a coach for the Zero Gravity Corporation, joining passengers in weightlessness on parabolic flights. He is a graduate of the NASA Academy at Goddard Space Flight Center and has formerly worked at Harvard University, Brown University and the Futron Corporation, an aerospace consultancy based in Bethesda, Maryland.
Pomerantz is a co-founder of SpaceAlumni.com, an online news and networking tool for young space professionals around the world, and served as Chief Editor for two years. He is currently Vice President of the ISU-USA Alumni Association. From 2006 through early 2007, Pomerantz proudly served on a National Research Council Federal Advisory Committee producing a report on "Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration." |
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Denis Poulos is the Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems Sector MilSpace Programs Business Area Lead. He is a retired Navy Fight Pilot and has over 30 years of experience in military aviation and space operations. Mr Poulos graduated from the Naval Academy with a BS in Physics and the Naval PostgraduateSchool with an MSEE in a Space Systems Engineering. Mr Poulos was a Space Defense Operations Center Commander in the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Complex as part of the U.S. Space Command. After retiring from the Navy, he served as a technical advisor to the Air Force Space Command Directorate of Requirements for the Military Spaceplane program. He has been with Northrop Grumman since 2003 where he has been the Hybrid Launch Vehicle (HLV), Force Application and Launch from CONus (FALCON), and now Fully Reusable Access to Space Technology (FAST) Program Manager. |
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Lon Rains has been the editor of Space News since 1993 and is responsible for all the news and editorial coverage in the weekly newspaper, the spacenews.com Web site and the Washington Aerospace Briefing newsletter. He joined the original staff of Space News in October 1989, as the Advanced Technology and Soviet Space Program reporter and was promoted to Senior Editor in 1991.
Mr. Rains came to Space News from the Journal newspapers, a chain of dailies serving the Washington, D.C. suburbs. He has written for The Washington Post, The Baltimore Evening Sun and Discover magazine. He has also appeared on a number of national television programs, including CNN Prime News, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly New and C-Span's Washington Journal as an expert on various space topics.
Mr. Rains has worked as a journalist since 1982 and has won reporting awards for editorial writing, spot news and public service journalism. He is the 2003 recipient of the National Space Club-Huntsville's Media Award. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of International Space University. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in government and politics. |
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Mr. Joseph D. Rouge is the Associate Director, National Security Space Office, Pentagon, Washington DC. He is responsible for leading a multi-agency, selectively staffed unit tasked by the Under Secretary of the Air Force/Director, National Reconnaissance Office (USecAF/DNRO) to create Unity of Effort across all of National Security Space. He was previously the Chief of the Integration Division prior to his June 2004 retirement and transition to SES status. This unit is specifically responsible for promoting synergy and integrating interagency space policy, strategy, acquisition, launch, planning, programming, strategy, and technology development.
Mr. Rouge graduated from the University of Southern California Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1973with a Bachelor's Degree in Aerospace Engineering, completed a Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1974, came on active duty in September 1974, graduated from Squadron Officers School and Armed Force Staff College in residence, and is a distinguished graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF). Mr. Rouge was twice a Research Fellow: in 1982, as a SAC sponsored research fellow at the Airpower Research Institute (ARI) at the Air University's Center for Aerospace Doctrine and Education (CADRE) where he authored a book on national military space strategy; and at ICAF where he authored a book on national strategy. Mr. Rouge is a Level III Certified Acquisition Professional in the functional specialty of program management and ET&C Development. Mr. Rouge is also a Joint Specialty Officer (JSO).
Mr. Joseph D. Rouge was the Deputy Director, Air Force - National Reconnaissance Office Integration Planning Group, Pentagon, Washington DC. He was responsible for leading a multi-agency, selectively staffed unit chartered by the SECAF to advise ASAF (Space), the Director NRO, and the USAF Assistant Vice Chief of Staff on the creation of initiatives for AF and NRO cooperation. This unit was specifically responsible for promoting synergy in interagency space policy, strategy, acquisition, launch, and technology development.
Mr. Rouge is married to the former Beverly Kay Roach of El Paso, Texas. They have four children: Carlton, Bradley, Juliette, and Nicholas. |
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Col. Michael “Coyote” V. Smith |
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Colonel (Select) Michael V. Smith is the Chief of the Future Concepts Branch, known as “Dream Works,” of the National Security Space Office. Dream Works develops advanced theories and concepts and advises national-level decision makers across the space community on how emerging technologies, transformational-architecture-level capabilities, and future operational concepts can be applied toward current and evolving space capabilities to meet national security needs into the future. He also serves as a Visiting Military Fellow at National Defense University where he is co-authoring a two-volume set on spacepower theory.
The lieutenant colonel was born in North Conway, New Hampshire. He entered the Air Force in 1986 through the Saint Michael's College Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He has served in various space and missile positions and as an instructor at the USAF Weapons School-Space Division. Most recently he was Commander of the 321st Missile Squadron at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne Wyoming, where his unit was recognized as the “Best ICBM Squadron in Air Force Space Command.”
During Operation ALLIED FORCE he served in the Combined Forces Air Component Commander's Strategy Cell and on the Guidance, Apportionment, and Targeting Team. During Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, he served at USCENTCOM Headquarters as a strategist on the Combatant Commander's staff and in the Space and Information Operations Element. He later served as the chief air and space power strategist in the Pentagon's Strategic Planning Council during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.
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Patricia G. Smith serves as Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation within the Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), heading the office responsible for overseeing and regulating the U.S. commercial space transportation industry.
In an era of unprecedented private sector progress toward commercial human space flight, Ms. Smith has worked hard to foster an environment where safety always comes first and innovation can flourish. During her service at the FAA, key milestones have been achieved that include the Mojave Air and Spaceport becoming the first inland Commercial Spaceport licensed by the agency, and the launch of the X-Prize winning SpaceShipOne, a launch licensed by the FAA. Ms. Smith has also overseen the development of rules for human space flight mandated by congressional passage of the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004.
Under her leadership at the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, the FAA has become the recognized global leader on private human space flight issues. She has also helped forge partnerships with the Air Force on common launch safety standards, and kept safety, regulatory matters and insurance issues constantly in the public forum. She has worked closely with FAA lines of business to draw on aviation expertise where appropriate to space issues and to address the impact of space flight on the National Air Space.
Ms. Smith began her career at the Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of Commercial Space Transportation (OCST) in November 1994, as Associate Managing Director. In 1995, she became OCST’s Chief of Staff. In November 1995, OCST was transferred from DOT’s Office of the Secretary to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an additional FAA line of business. With this transfer, Ms. Smith was named Deputy Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST). In June 1998, Ms. Smith was named FAA Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation.
From 1980 to 1994, Ms. Smith held important leadership positions within the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). She first served as Chief of FCC’s Consumer Assistance and Small Business Office, Office of Public Affairs and later as Deputy Director for Policy, Office of the Managing Director. In addition to her principle responsibilities, Ms. Smith worked on several major initiatives on behalf of the agency among them as executive committee team member for the FCC Spectrum Auctions Implementation Team that produced the very first and largest auction of U.S. assets in history. Ms. Smith, along with her team members, received Vice President Gore’s Hammer Award.
Ms. Smith also held positions at the Department of Defense, Defense Communications Agency, Acquisition Policy Office and the Senate Commerce Committee.
Ms. Smith received her B.A. degree from Tuskegee University and did graduate work at Auburn University, George Washington University, and Harvard University School of Business. In 1996, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Tuskegee University. She is the recipient of numerous other awards and has served on several boards. |
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Guillermo Söhnlein – Co-Founder and Managing Director, Space Angels Network
Guillermo Söhnlein has spent almost ten years in leadership roles with various technology startups in the Washington DC area as well as Silicon Valley. His recent East Coast ventures include an online service helping commuters to share rides, a mobile games distribution platform, and a Web-based communication suite for small and mid-sized businesses. Previously, he was co-founder of a San Francisco-based speech recognition application development firm that was acquired in 2001.
Guillermo is the Founder and Chairman of the International Association of Space Entrepreneurs, a membership trade association focused on promoting global entrepreneurship in the space industry, as well as Great Wall Angels, a network of angel investor groups in China. He served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps as a Judge Advocate and currently serves on various Advisory Boards and teaches entrepreneurship.
Guillermo earned an A.B. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of the Law. |
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Dr. Paul Spudis – Planetary Scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Commission Member, President's Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond. |
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Courtney Stadd is founder and President of Capitol Alliance Solutions, LLC, a Washington, DC, area-based management consulting services firm established in 1993 with a broad range of public and public sector clients in aerospace and high technology.
For the past 30 years, Mr. Stadd's career path has been a mix of senior government leadership and corporate executive jobs. In the government, he held senior policy and program management positions at the U.S. Department of Commerce, the US Department of Transportation, the White House and NASA.
In the commercial sector, he is associated with a range of pathfinder industry sectors including space transportation, GPS, high resolution satellite remote sensing, commercial inflatable space modules (Bigelow Aerospace), and integrated satellite/terrestrial 4G communications networks (TerreStar Networks). |
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Dennis Stone received a B.S.in Physics and B.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Hawaii.
Experience:
• NASA Johnson Space Center, 1985 to present
• Served in system engineering and program management positions of increasing complexity, all supporting the Space Station Program
• Served as Chief System Engineer of the Assured Crew Return Vehicle and has led several commercialization initiatives
• Served as Avionics Integration Manager, International Space Station Program Office
• Currently Assistant Manager for Commercial Space Development, Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office
• NASA Contractor, 1979 to 1985
• Designed software and digital electronic space systems with McDonnell Douglas and Ford Aerospace
• Supported Shuttle/payload integration with Rockwell International
• World Space Week Association Cofounder, elected Volunteer President in 1981 |
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Alex Tai, Chief Operating Officer, Virgin Galactic.
Alex performs a number of roles within the new Spaceflight industry. In addition to his role as Chief Operating Officer for Virgin Galactic (VG) he is Chairman of the Personal Spaceflight Federation (PSF) and an officer of The Spaceship Company LLC (TSC).
Trained as a pilot in the UK Royal Air Force he went on to fly executive jets and holds a number of World records for flights with the U.S. adventurer Steve Fossett, including around the world east and west about in class. Alex started his career within Virgin as an airline pilot for Virgin Atlantic, and remains in active service as a Captain of the Airbus A340 the longest airliner in the world at present. He then embarked on special projects for Sir Richard Branson. Alex has been working on the Galactic project from conception, standing next to Paul Allen and Burt Rutan in mission control at the first X Prize flight.
As Chairman of the PSF Alex believes that building the regulatory and legislative foundations for the emerging industry are his primary goals.
In his capacity as a company officer for TSC he is determined that the SS2 system and other systems to follow will mark a step change in levels of safety and affordability for human space access.
In his role as COO for VG Alex is responsible for bringing the SS2 system into commercial service. He will build the flight operations programme at Mojave in California before expanding operations to Spaceport America in New Mexico. Leading the way he will pilot the first commercial flight of SS2. |
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Named by Space News as one of the world's top "Visionaries" and one of the hundred most influential people in the space movement, Rick is a Texan and was a protégé of Gerard K. O'Neill at the Space Studies Institute, founder of the Space Frontier Foundation (whose first $50 came from the Heinleins), a founding trustee of the X Prize and a lead witness 6 times at House and Senate hearings on the future of NASA, the U.S. space program and space tourism.
Rick helped create or find funding for many NewSpace firms and projects and ran the $25 million Foundation for the International Non-governmental Development of Space (FINDS). He co-founded LunaCorp, which produced the first commercial to be shot in space, signed up Dennis Tito as the first commercial space flight participant and led the team which leased the Russian Mir space station for a year (the world's first commercial space facility.)
He helped kick-start the Lunar Prospector project which discovered water on the Moon, was a member of the Air Force's DC-X single stage rocket team, produced the first paid political announcement for space, was the Sci Fi channel's founding space expert, and did the core media used to fund the International Space University, the X-33 and other projects. Rick was one of only 20 outsiders invited by the White House to witness President Bush's announcement of his space exploration initiative to return to the Moon and go to Mars.
Rick has been quoted around the world, from China's People's Daily to the front page of the New York Times, and appears often on news shows from CNN to the BBC. His book, "Return to the Moon" was recently published and he was a part of NASA's prestigious Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, helping lay out the framework for the first human outpost on the Moon. He recently co-founded the Institute for Space Law and Policy in Washington and has two Major NewSpace projects underway: Orbital Outfitters, a fully funded space suit leasing firm whose motto is “Have Spacesuit - Will Travel.” and SpaceDiver, whose goal is to bring humans back from space without spacecraft a la Starship Troopers. |
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Dr. Valentine is the Executive Vice President of the Space Studies institute. He is a director of Space Studies Institute, ProSpace America and Orbital Outfitters. He is an angel investor in SEEGRID Corp, XCOR Aerospace, Orbital Outfitters and Constellation Services International. |
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Eddie M. Van Pelt is Managing Partner of Desert Sky Holdings, LLC and co-founder of 62 Mile Club.
A co-founder of DSH, Eddie's professional experience includes government finance, corporate finance, real estate management, business development and publishing. Before creating Desert Sky Holdings, Eddie was Vice President of JRK Asset Management in Los Angeles where he managed over $200 million in real estate assets. Eddie studied Business Management at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio and earned his MBA from Case Western Reserve University. With great attention to detail and a talent for cultivating and managing professional relationships, he works systematically to have the initiatives he undertakes succeed creatively, financially and interpersonally. |
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William Watson is presently Associate Director of the Space frontier Foundation (SFF) and serving as Chair of their annual NewSpace conference. This year the conference takes place in Washington D.C., from July 18-21st. Will was part of the SFF's management team during NewSpace 2006 in Vegas and organized their X-Prize Cup closing event. He is also the Editor of NewSpace News, the Foundation's monthly newsletter and premier NewSpace portal, listing the top entrepreneurial space stories and links to over seventy NewSpace companies.
Before the Foundation, Will worked for the Tauri Group as an analyst on the Space Foundation's The Space Report and on spaceport related business development. Mr. Watson's professional involvement with the NewSpace industry started with his graduate placement at the Transformational Space Corporation, LLC (t/Space) during the Summer of 2005.
Will received his Master's in Space Management from the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France. The year long MSM graduate program focused on aerospace business, marketing and law. Prior to ISU, Mr. Watson received a BA in Russian Literature & History from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He has studied in Moscow at Lomonosov University and as part of the Institute for Biomedical Problems' Summer space program. |
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Dr. Werbos has core responsibility for the Adaptive and Intelligent Systems (AIS) area within the Power, Controls and Adaptive Networks (PCAN) Program of ECS, and for the new area of Quantum, Molecular and High-Performance Modeling and Simulation for Devices and Systems. He is the ECS representative for the CLEANER initiative, for biocomplexity (MUSES), and for Collaborative Research in Computational NeuroScience. He is one of the two ECS representatives for cyberinfrastructure. He has special interest in efforts to exploit higher levels of true computational intelligence in these areas, and in efforts which can seriously increase the probability that we achieve global sustainability. In 1994, he initiated an SBIR topic on fuel cell and electric cars which he coordinated for several years. He was part of the group which proposed and led NSF's earlier initiative in Learning and Intelligent Systems, and assisted the follow-on in Information Technology Research. He has at times handled the ECS areas in electric power and wireless communications when there were gaps in those areas.
Dr. Werbos is an elected member of the Administrative Committee (AdCom) of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, which he represents on the IEEE-USA Energy Policy Committee. (See www.ieeeusa.org/policy/energy_strategy.ppt.) He also serves on the AdCom of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, and the Governing Board of the International Neural Network Society (INNS). He was one of the three original two-year Presidents of INNS. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and has won its Neural Network Pioneer Award, for the discovery of the “backpropagation algorithm” and other basic neural network learning designs. He also serves on the Planning Committee of the ACUNU Millennium Project (see www.stateofthefuture.org), whose annual report on the future tends to lead global lists of respected reports on the long-term future. In 2002, he and John Mankins of NASA initiated and ran the NASA-NSF-EPRI initiative on enabling technologies for space solar power (search on “JIETSSP” at www.nsf.gov). In 2003, he participated on the interagency working group for the Climate Change Technology Program. At the 2005 Space Development Conference in Arlington, he was invited to present a new strategy for sustainable exploration and development of space, drawing in part on previous work funded by NSF.
In addition to his core interests at NSF, Dr. Werbos has interest in larger questions relating to consciousness, the foundations of physics, and human potential; see his personal web page, www.werbos.com for details. |
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Loretta Hildago Whitesides |
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Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides is on the Board of Directors for the Space Generation Advisory Council. Space Gen is a non-profit dedicated to training and developing the next generation of space leaders. She is also the President of the International Space University USA Alumni Association. Loretta and her husband George are the Co-Creators of Yuri's Night, the World Space Party, which earned wide acclaim this year for the very successful event at NASA Ames. She is an FAA certified in-flight crew member for Zero-Gravity Corporation and has over 30 flights. Loretta traveled 2 miles down to the bottom of the ocean in the Russian Mir Submersibles for James Cameron's 3D IMAX documentary, "Aliens of the Deep." Whitesides is a Virgin Galactic Founder and she and her new husband George have bought tickets to be the 1st couple to celebrate their honeymoon in space. |
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Lawrence is a technology executive with a unique combination of international experience in technology, regulation, strategy and business. Lawrence has help found numerous technology start-up ventures, successfully built organizations and completed private equity financings.
Lawrence currently serves as the Vice President for International and Government Affairs for Space Exploration Technologies (“SpaceX”), which is developing a family of new, low-cost satellite launch vehicles. His responsibilities include managing governmental affairs and developing the base of international customers and strategic partners. Since he has been at SpaceX, Lawrence has assisted the company's efforts in greatly expanding its revenue base, specifically leading the effort of diversifying its customer base into NASA and the international market.
Prior to SpaceX, Lawrence served as Senior Vice President for Business Development for the satellite communications company ICO Global Communications, a global communications company that is using satellite and terrestrial networks to deploy third-generation (3G) wireless services. Prior to ICO, Lawrence was a founding team member in charge of securing market access for Craig McCaw and Bill Gates' “Internet in the Sky” system, Teledesic.
His government experience includes having served as a special assistant to the administrator of the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a member of the Presidential transition team for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and a legislative assistant to U.S. Rep. Ray Thornton on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
Lawrence has served on the Boards of numerous startups and is currently on the Board of the Washington Space Business Roundtable (WSBR). He also a member of the U.S. Council of Foreign Relations (CFR). In the past, he has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) and the Satellite Industry Association (SIA), as well as on the Executive Committee of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC).
He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado and Masters in Business Administration with honors from Georgetown University. |
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Neil Woodward graduated from MIT in June 1984, with a degree in Physics. He attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, working in the Center for Relativity and then the Fusion Research Center. His thesis research involved using optical spectroscopy to investigate neoclassical plasma rotation in the Texas Experimental Tokamak fusion reactor. He received his Masters degree in 1988 and joined the US Navy, reporting to Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida. He was commissioned in January 1989, and earned his wings as a Naval Flight Officer in March 1990. Woodward has logged over 1,700 flight hours in more than 25 different aircraft and has 265 arrested landings.
Selected by NASA in June 1998, he reported for training in August 1998. Astronaut Candidate Training included orientation briefings and tours, numerous scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training and ground school to prepare for T-38 flight training, as well as learning water and wilderness survival techniques. Woodward is currently on detached duty to NASA HQ as the Deputy Director for Constellation Systems in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.
Neil has received a number of awards: Distinguished Graduate, U.S. Naval Test Pilot School; Empire Test Pilot School Award for Best Developmental Test Thesis, USNTPS. Awarded two Navy Commendation Medals; two Navy Achievement Medals; various other service awards. |
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