Paul Anderson
Orion Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) Director, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company
Paul Anderson has over 31 years of experience at Lockheed Martin and is presently the EM-2 Director for NASA’s Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Program. He previously served as the Avionics Director for the highly successful Exploration Flight Test-1 mission. Paul is currently responsible for the EM-2 mission, which will take four crew further from earth than any time in mankind’s history, and will serve as a major stepping stone in NASA’s Journey to Mars.
Paul has previous leadership experience on programs including GOES-R, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Mars Exploration Rover. He is Lockheed’s Executive to the Colorado School of Mines where he serves on the College of Engineering and Computational Sciences Advisory Board as well as Chairman of the Aerospace Industry Advisory Council. He is an Associate Fellow of AIAA, and recently served as the Rocky Mountain Section Chairman.
Paul attended the Colorado School of Mines where he competed on the varsity Basketball and Golf teams while earning his B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1985. He attained his M.S. from the University of Colorado in Engineering Management in 1991. Paul resides in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, has been married for over 25 years, and has successfully raised two daughters.
Michael Baine
Lead Design Engineer, Axiom Module
Mike serves as the Chief Engineer at Axiom Space, LLC which is focused on making living and working in Earth orbit commonplace as a means to sustained deep space exploration. Dr. Baine serves a co-appointment as the Chief of Engineering at Intuitive Machines in Houston Texas which builds and operates
autonomous intelligent systems. Prior to joining IM, Dr. Baine was the chief engineer of Project Morpheus at the NASA Johnson Space Center which developed a planetary lander with precision landing capabilities for human exploration.
Bill Bastedo
Director, Business Development and Strategy, Civil Space and Sea Systems, UTC Aerospace Systems
Bill is the director of Business Development and Strategy for the Civil Space and Sea Systems, which is comprised of multiple facilities across the country including locations in Texas, California, Illinois and Connecticut. The business provides environmental control, life support, electrical, thermal management, power generation and actuation system products and services for customers including the US Navy, NASA and Commercial Space partners.
Bill has over thirty years of experience in developing complex space systems as well as serving in key management roles of some of NASA’s most challenging human spaceflight programs. Prior to his current role, Bill was a Partner at Booz Allen Hamilton where he led business portfolios for both commercial and federal government clients. These included NASA, Air Force, Navy, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation and the FAA. As a civil servant, Bill held several key civil service leadership positions at three different NASA centers. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership for his role as the Launch Package Manager for the development, test and launch of the first 3 Space Station flight elements. He also served as the Deputy Director of the Payloads and ELV Management Directorate at the Kennedy Space Center and the Chief of the Systems Analysis Branch of the Space Station Freedom Program Office in Reston, VA. Bill holds a Bachelor and Master of Science degree in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
Thomas Berger
Head Biophysics Group, Radiation Biology, German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Aerospace Medicine
Thomas Berger studied physics at the Technical University of Vienna, Austria and graduated with a PhD in radiation physics in 2003. Already during his PhD thesis he worked together with colleagues from the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems, IMBP, Moscow, Russian Federation on radiation measurements on board the Space Station MIR. In 2003 he joined the German Aerospace Center, DLR, Institute of Aerospace Medicine were he became leader of the Biophysics Group in 2009. At DLR his main research topics include the development of radiation detectors as well as investigations for the radiation load received by humans for missions beyond Low Earth Orbit [LEO]. He is currently the Principal Investigator (PI) for the DOSIS 3D and Co-PI for the EAD experiments on board the International Space Station dealing with measuring the radiation environment on board the ISS. In the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment [MARE] project [NASA, LHM, ISA, DLR, Stemrad] which will fly on NASA´s Orion Exploration Mission 1 he is one of the PI´s investigating the radiation load on humans for missions to the Moon including research on the newly by Stemrad developed AstroRad radiation protection vest. He is the author/co-author of over 50 peer reviewed papers in the last 10 years.
Joshua Brost
Director of Government Business Development, SpaceX
Josh Brost manages SpaceX’s civil sales efforts. In this role, he focuses on deepening SpaceX’s relationships across each of the NASA centers and identifying opportunities for collaboration. Prior to assuming responsibility for civil sales, Josh led SpaceX’s North American commercial sales efforts and signed several notable contracts including Intelsat’s and ViaSat’s purchases of Falcon Heavy launch services. Before joining SpaceX, Josh worked as an Aerospace Engineer for The Boeing Company and as a Management Consultant for The Boston Consulting Group. Josh earned a Bachelor’s in Aerospace Engineering from Arizona State University; a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Washington; and a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Ian Christensen
Project Manager, Secure World Foundation
Ian Christensen has nine years of experience as a consultant and analyst focused on international and domestic commercial space, satellite, and aviation markets. He is responsible for leading SWF’s engagement activities with the commercial space industry.
Ariane Cornell
Head of Astronaut Strategy & Sales and Head of North American New Glenn Sales, Blue Origin
Ariane Cornell works on the Strategy and Business Development team for Blue Origin, LLC, a developer of vehicles and technologies to enable human space transportation. She is the head of astronaut strategy and sales as well as New Glenn commercial sales for the Americas. Ariane earned an MBA from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from Stanford University.
Frank DeMauro
Vice President and General Manager, Advanced Programs Division, Space Systems Group, Orbital ATK
Frank DeMauro is the Vice President and General Manager of Orbital ATK’s Advanced Programs Division where he is responsible for the execution, business development and financial performance of the company’s Human Space Systems and Space Logistics business areas. These business areas include some of Orbital ATK’s largest and most important programs such as NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) and Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) programs. A native of New Jersey, Mr. DeMauro holds a B.S. Degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Rutgers University.
John Elbon
Vice President and General Manager, Space Exploration, The Boeing Company
John Elbon is Vice President and General Manager, Space Exploration, a division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security at The Boeing Company. He is responsible for the strategic direction of Boeing’s civil space programs, and support of NASA programs such as the International Space Station (ISS), Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, and the Space Launch System. He assumed his present position on August 29, 2011. He holds a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Jeff Feige
Chairman of the Board, Space Frontier Foundation
Jeff is currently chairman of the board of the Space Frontier Foundation and has held this position for the last four years. SFF is a not-for-profit organization committed to the expansion of humanity’s presence in space. It is also the host of the NewSpace conference – the premier event in the world for entrepreneurial disruptive space companies.
Prior to his work with the Space Frontier Foundation, he worked as a strategy and policy associate at PoliSpace, a political consulting firm supporting space entrepreneurs in business development, government relations, and public affairs. Prior to joining PoliSpace, Feige was the Assistant to the Executive Director of the Aerospace States Association (ASA), an organization representing the U.S. States on matters relating to Aerospace policy. In addition to his work in the space industry, he sits on the board of directors of Talon Aerospace LLC., a lighting company focused on supporting the commercial aircraft industry through the replacement of incandescent lighting systems with LED products.
He lives in Washington DC, holds a BS from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, and is an avid SCUBA diver, sky diver, sailor, and private pilot.
Ven C. Feng
Manager, International Space Station (ISS) Transportation Integration Office, NASA JSC
Ven C. Feng serves as Manager of the International Space Station (ISS) Transportation Integration Office at the NASA/Johnson Space Center. He leads a civil servant and contractor team in integration and assessment of all launch vehicles and spacecraft which support the ISS Program. These spacecraft include the Orbital ATK Cygnus, Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser, SpaceX Dragon, Roscosmos Soyuz and Progress, and JAXA HII Transfer Vehicle. Mr. Feng has over 25 years experience in aerospace and human spaceflight with NASA and private industry supporting the ISS, Space Shuttle and Spacelab.
William Gerstenmaier
Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Directorate, NASA Headquarters
William H. Gerstenmaier is the associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. In this position, Gerstenmaier provides strategic direction for all aspects of NASA’s human exploration of space and cross-agency space support functions of space communications and space launch vehicles. He provides programmatic direction for the operation and utilization of the International Space Station (ISS), development of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, and is providing strategic guidance and direction for the commercial crew and cargo programs that will provide logistics and crew transportation to the space station. Mr. Gerstenmaier received a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University, in 1977 and a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Toledo in 1981. In 1992 and 1993, he completed course work for a doctorate in dynamics and control with emphasis in propulsion at Purdue University.
Derek Guyton
Sales Engineer, Barber-Nichols, Inc.
Derek manages partnerships, proposal development, marketing, and sales capture strategy for Colorado-based Barber-Nichols Inc (BNI). Derek has over 15 years of experience in the engineering and marketing of new technologies in medical electronics, machinery health monitoring, rocket propulsion, and launch vehicle systems. In addition to his role in Sales, Derek is responsible for leading the integration of Additive Manufacturing into all of BNI’s core processes.
Prior to serving as a Sales Engineer at Barber-Nichols, Derek served as solid rocket propulsion engineer for Orbital ATK, Business Development Manager at XCOR Aerospace, Venture Capital Analyst at FundingPost, and as an International Marketing Manager for TerumoBCT.
Derek has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas and a MBA from University of Delaware.
About Barber-Nichols Inc: For more than 50 years, BNI has specialized in the design and production of turbomachinery for aerospace, cryogenic, defense, energy production, and a variety of commercial applications. Products include specialty compressors, fans, pumps, turbines, generators, motors, controllers, and more.
Wayne Hale
Director of Human Spaceflight & Energy Services, Special Aerospace Services
Wayne Hale is Director of Human Spaceflight & Energy Services for Special Aerospace Services of Boulder, Colorado where he consults with a variety of commercial space organizations. Mr. Hale currently serves as an Interim Chairman of the Human Exploration and Operations Committee of the NASA Advisory Council which by federal law gives direction and advice to the NASA administrator on policy and strategy for the nation’s federal space program. Mr. Hale holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
Dan Hicks
Chief Executive Officer, Spaceport America
Mr. Hicks began his 34-year career with the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in 1982 as a Test Conductor within the Materiel Test Directorate. There in 1991, he became the Supervisory General Engineer of the Patriot Missile System, leading the execution of all aspects of developmental testing and combined developmental/operational testing in the acquisition of a major military system. Dan went on to become the acting Division Chief, where he managed the activities of the three branches in the Division: Air and Missile Defense, Tactical Missiles and Targets, and Space, Sensor and Interoperability. These programs focused on theater missile and national missile defense, air defense battle management, U.S. Army directed energy and space programs, space related programs/applications under NASA, DoD, foreign and other commercial programs.
Later, Mr. Hicks was appointed by the Commanding General to stand up a new Business Development Directorate with qualified engineers and scientists responsible for the strategic planning, transformation, business development, marketing, and staff functions for U.S. Army WSMR. His responsibilities included leading the overall business development and instrumentation and test infrastructure development. Here he led the successful merger of two directorates into one, maximizing investment dollars based on customer requirements, which created direct cost savings for U.S. Army WSMR.
Following that assignment Dan became the Technical Director of WSMR, the Chief of Staff, and in 2013, the Deputy Executive Director. In these leadership roles, he was responsible for assisting the Commanding General and the Executive Director in the operations of the entire WSMR, with over eleven billion dollars of infrastructure and a noontime population of approximately twelve thousand personnel. At present, Mr. Hicks is responsible for the direct oversight of the command planning functions for the range where he has just completed “WSMR 2046” a 30 year strategic plan and maintains oversight for all external relationships; congressional and state legislatures; federal, state, and local agencies; and other community and business stakeholders.
Patricia Hynes
Curator, International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS)
Dr. Hynes serves as the Director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC), and NASA Established Program for Competitive Research (EPSCoR). In her role as NMSGC Director, she became involved in development of Spaceport America and commercial space programs in 1991. In 2005, she co-founded the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS) with Bill Gaubatz. In 2009, with proceeds from ISPCS, she founded the Student Launch Program which provides annual access to space from Spaceport America for research experiments. She is a graduate of New Mexico State University with a Ph.D. Business Administration, and graduate of the ISU Executive Management Course in 2014.
Bjarke Ingels
Founding Partner and Creative Director, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
Bjarke Ingels started BIG Bjarke Ingels Group in 2005 after co-founding PLOT Architects in 2001 and working at the Office of Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Through a series of award-winning design projects and buildings, Bjarke has developed a reputation for designing buildings that are as programmatically and technically innovative as they are cost and resource conscious. Bjarke has received numerous awards and honors, including the Danish Crown Prince’s Culture Prize in 2011, the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2004, and the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Award for Excellence in 2009. In 2011, the Wall Street Journal awarded Bjarke the Architectural Innovator of the Year Award. In 2016, Time Magazine named Bjarke one of the 100 most influential people in the world today.
Alongside his architectural practice, Bjarke has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, and Rice University and is an honorary professor at the Royal Academy of Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen. He is a frequent public speaker and has spoken in venues such as TED, WIRED, AMCHAM, 10 Downing Street, and the World Economic Forum.
Stephen Jurczyk
Associate Administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA
As Associate Administrator, Mr. Jurczyk manages and executes the Space Technology programs, focusing on infusion into the agency’s exploration and science mission needs, proving the capabilities needed by the greater aerospace community, and developing the nation’s innovation economy.
Jurczyk has spent most of his 25-year career in aerospace with NASA in various systems engineering, management, and senior leadership positions at NASA Headquarters, Langley, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He contributed to the development of several space-based remote sensing systems supporting earth science research including the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, Landsat 7, and the Clouds and Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Observations mission. As Director of Systems Engineering and later Director for Research and Technology at Langley, he led the organization’s engineering contributions to many successful flight projects including the Mach 7 and 10 flights of the Hyper-X jet engine powered vehicle, the Shuttle Program return-to-flight, the successful flight test of the Ares 1-X vehicle, and flight test of the Orion Launch Abort System.
He is a recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive. Jurczyk is a graduate of the University of Virginia where he received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering.
Fred G. Kennedy
Director, Tactical Technology Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Dr. Fred Kennedy joined DARPA in January 2017 after serving as the senior policy adviser for national security space and aviation in the National Security and International Affairs Division of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). In this role, Dr. Kennedy advised the President of the United States on matters related to space and aviation policy; co-chaired an interagency working group for Detecting and Mitigating the Impact of Earth-Bound Near earth objects (DAMIEN); and led the “Harnessing the Small Satellite Revolution” initiative focusing his efforts on the national security space community.
Dr. Kennedy served 23 years in the United States Air Force, where he retired as a colonel. During his tenure, he served as a Senior Materiel Leader in both the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s Remote Sensing Directorate and the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center’s Battle Management Directorate. Prior to that, he was the lead for Space Requirements with the Joint Staff/J-8 in the Capabilities and Acquisition Division at the Pentagon and a chief for Spacecraft Payload Development and Test and Satellite Systems and Acquisition at the National Reconnaissance Office.
From 2005 to 2008, Dr. Kennedy was a program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, where he created and managed efforts around spacecraft and satellite servicing, advanced space power and propulsion systems, and innovative space technologies.
Greg Kennedy
Founder and Managing Partner at Advection Growth Capital LLC
Greg Kennedy has 25 years of experience across client advisory, capital raising and business building, across a wide range of industries, with extensive focus on financial services, technology companies and increasingly aerospace. He has acted as an investor, an investment banker and as legal counsel. Greg is the Founder and Managing Partner of Advection Growth Capital, a merchant bank focused on investing in and advising high-growth companies. Before that, he was the Senior Financial Advisor to NASA, where he worked on, among other things, designing policies and operations to reflect that NASA sits within a robust ecosystem of aerospace companies funded with private capital. Greg served successively as the Head of the Financial Institutions Group and the Head of Private Solutions at UBS Investment Bank. The latter role entailed providing investment banking and wealth management solutions to private companies and their founders, owners and senior executives. Greg has also served in senior banking roles at Barclays, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley. Before investment banking, he worked as an Associate in the M&A practice at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP for six years. Greg has a JD with distinction from Stanford Law School and a BA in English from Stanford University. Greg is active across a number of charitable pursuits, including Stanford, The Windward School, ArtsConnection, The Healthcare Chaplaincy and Student Sponsor Partners. He lives in Manhattan with his wife Victoria Reese, the Head of the Legal Practice at Heidrick & Struggles, and two sons 17 and 12.
Kathryn L. Lueders
Program Manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA
Kathryn Lueders serves as the Program Manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. In this role, she aids in the execution of the agency’s goals to help private companies develop a new U.S. capability to carry astronauts into low-Earth orbit and eventually take crews to the International Space Station, or ISS. She oversees program facilitation of commercial spacecraft development and certification to enable the safe transportation of NASA astronauts. She has a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in industrial engineering from New Mexico State University.
Mike Moses
President, Virgin Galactic
Mike oversees the commercial human spaceflight program. He leads the team in all aspects of safe and successful spaceline operations, including WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo vehicle processing, flight planning, astronaut training, and flight crew operations.
Mike came to Virgin Galactic following a distinguished career with NASA. From 2008 through July 2011, he served at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the Launch Integration Manager, where he led all space shuttle processing activities from landing through launch. Mike also chaired the Mission Management Team where he provided ultimate shuttle launch decision authority. Other NASA experience includes working as a Flight Director at the Johnson Space Center, where he led teams of flight controllers in the planning, training, and execution of space shuttle missions. Before being selected as a Flight Director in 2005, Mike had more than 10 years of experience as a flight controller in the Shuttle Propulsion and Electrical Systems Groups.
Mike attended Purdue University, earning a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering. He also earned a master’s degree in space sciences from Florida Institute of Technology. He is a two-time recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, as well as other NASA commendations and awards.
John Mulholland
Vice President and Program Manager for Commercial Programs, Space Exploration, The Boeing Company
John Mullholland is Vice President and Program Manager of Boeing’s Commercial Programs; he leads the development of the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner system. Mulholland ensures that proven innovations and capabilities from across Boeing are used in the design, development and operations of Starliner vehicles to support NASA and other commercial customers. Mulholland led Boeing in its role as the major subcontractor to United Space Alliance in support of its operations contract with NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Mulholland is a graduate of New Mexico State University with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering.
George Nield
Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Dr. George C. Nield serves as the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the FAA. He has over 30 years of aerospace experience with the Air Force, at NASA, and in private industry. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, he holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University, and an MBA from George Washington University. He is also a Flight Test Engineering graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School. Dr. Nield is a registered Professional Engineer and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Richard Pruss
Vice President and Director of Aerospace and Government Programs, BRPH Architects-Engineers, Inc.
Richard Pruss, PE, is Vice President and Director of Aerospace and Government Programs at BRPH. He is responsible for business strategy, financial performance, successful execution and growth for his markets. He sets the strategic direction through the enhancement of the client service experience, management of current and prospective client relationships and capacity, as well as strengthening market position through the continuous development of efficient management processes. Mr. Pruss provides oversight to project managers and discipline directors. His leadership is based on an in-depth technical background and thorough understanding of aerospace and government facilities and project management.
Community and professional involvement is an integral part of Mr. Pruss’ life. He is on the Board of Directors for the National Space Club (NSC) Florida Chapter, a member of the NSC Huntsville Alabama Chapter, and a member of the AIAA.
He is a strong supporter of Gabrielle’s Place and Children Advocacy Center, which both help abused and homeless families in the Brevard County Community. In addition, he actively supports the Daily Bread and United Way of Brevard.
Benjamin Reed
Director of Commercial Crew Mission Management, SpaceX
Benjamin “Benji” Reed is the Director of Crew Mission Management at SpaceX. In this role, he is helping spearhead the company’s development and certification efforts for the Crew Transportation System, including the Dragon spacecraft, Falcon 9 rocket, ground systems, and operations. Prior to this position, Benji was a Mission Manager for Dragon cargo missions to the International Space Station, including the CRS-3 mission which carried the first science payloads in the Dragon trunk. A native of Boulder, Colorado, Benjamin graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Mathematics, working at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy on programs including the Far Ultraviolet Spectrographic Explorer and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. He lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and three children.
Robert Richter
Director of Human Support and Instrumentation, ORBITEC Business Unit/Space Systems Group, Sierra Nevada Corporation
Robert Richter is the Director of the Environmental Systems Product line for the Space Systems Group at Sierra Nevada Corporation. He has more than 25 years of experience managing and engineering space spaceflight systems with ORBITEC/Sierra Nevada. His previous work experience includes working on several of the initial commercial cargo & crew spacecraft. The majority of the work within his product line has been within Environmental Controls and Life Support and Thermal Systems, however also has been significantly involved multiple science systems as well. One of the more popular pieces of hardware he has managed was the VEGGIE system, which has provided the crew on the International Space Station (ISS) with the first fresh food grown on the ISS, as well as fresh flowers. Current efforts are focused on gateway technologies and systems for extended duration missions.
Tommy Sanford
Executive Director
Tommy Sanford is the Executive Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. Sanford leads the policy development and lobbying efforts at CSF, where he is focused on promoting policies that enable fair and open competition, spur innovation, and expand public-private partnerships.
Sanford has extensive experience in the aerospace sector including his most recent position at the Space Foundation, where he spent five years as Government Affairs Associate. At the Space Foundation, Tommy was responsible for analyzing and implementing policy strategies in the aerospace, defense, and international arenas. Prior to his position at the Space Foundation, Sanford worked at the Department of Commerce’s Office of Space Commercialization and on Capitol Hill for the House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee
Darren Samplatsky
Exploration Systems Program Manager, UTC Aerospace Systems
Darren Samplatsky is the Exploration Systems Program Manager for UTC Aerospace Systems, Civil Space and Sea Systems, which is comprised of multiple facilities across the country including locations in Texas, Connecticut, Illinois and California. The business provides environmental control, life support, electrical, thermal management, power generation and actuation system products and services for customers including NASA and multiple Commercial Space partners.
Darren has more than 20 years of experience working on environmental control and life support systems that have been used on multiple space platforms. During his career he has worked on the development of several key life support systems for the International Space Station and the commercial space market. These systems included critical items for oxygen generation, water production, and thermal control. Darren currently manages a portfolio of programs focused on the development of systems needed for deep space exploration.
Thomas F. Siems
Assistant Vice President and Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Siems is assistant vice president and senior economist in the Communications and Outreach Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In this capacity, he partners with other Fed economists and colleagues around the District to gather information on emerging trends and policy issues of interest to educators, business executives, and community and thought leaders in Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico, and to create opportunities to listen and learn from the regions’ constituents.
Siems teaches in the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University and is the Lyle School’s chief engineering economist. Siems earned a BSE in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan and an MS and PhD in operations research from SMU.
Siems has published over 60 articles in academic journals, books and Federal Reserve publications. His work has received extensive attention from leading publications, including Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, American Banker and Investor’s Business Daily. In 2015, he delivered a TEDx Talk at SMU on “The Wealth of Innovations.” Siems has also authored five children’s picture books, including The Dangerous Pet, which poetically challenges the way the next generation thinks about debt.
Mark Sirangelo
Corporate Vice President, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems
Mark Sirangelo leads Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems business area based in Louisville, Colorado. Sirangelo has helped to build and grow a SNC product portfolio including small satellites; space technologies that have enabled more than 450 planetary missions such as the Mars Curiosity Rover and New Horizons Pluto mission; he is responsible for developing the Dream Chaser® spacecraft, recently selected for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS2) contract, SNC’s Dream Chaser Cargo System will be providing cargo delivery, disposal and return services to the International Space Station through 2024. Sirangelo assumed his current role as head of SNC’s Space Systems business area in 2009, when SNC acquired SpaceDev Inc, where Sirangelo was chairman and CEO. Sirangelo served his country proudly and with distinction as a U.S. Army officer and has a multi-faceted personal background which includes being a long-term licensed pilot. He holds a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Business Administration and doctorate degrees.
Jeffrey Smith
Chief, Science and Technology Projects Division, NASA KSC
Dr. Smith is a leader and innovator for research and technology development at Kennedy Space Center. With more than 20 years of experience at NASA, as a research scientist and manager of scientists and innovative partnerships, and as lead for NASA research programs & projects, Jeff has worked across several NASA Centers and with NASA Headquarters to advance the research and technology missions of the Agency. Currently, Dr. Smith is serving as the Chief of the Science and Technology Projects Division in the Exploration Research and Technology Programs Directorate at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The Division consists of over 40 civil servant researchers, engineers and project managers working in a number of technical areas spanning launch systems, cryogenic propellant systems, applied chemistry, applied physics, spaceflight hardware development, automation and robotics, in-situ resource utilization and the innovative, rapid-development, capability of the KSC Swamp Works. He has published over 40 journal articles, proceedings, technical reports and abstracts in the scientific literature. Dr. Smith graduated from Miami University, Oxford Ohio, with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Engineering Physics and Bachelor of Arts degree in Zoology; he earned his Ph. D. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Scott Steffan
Deputy Director, Space Access & Integrated Systems, Moog, Inc., Space and Defense Group
Scott has over 19 years of experience in the aerospace industry and is presently the Deputy Director for Moog’s Space Access and Integrated Systems Business Unit. Over the past year, Scott has been focused on developing and leading Moog’s New Space business, managing all efforts related to this growing market segment including strategy, business development, and operations. Previously, Scott was the Engineering Manager for Moog’s Launch Vehicle business. Scott has supported product development and production in the Civil, Defense, and Commercial market segments of the space business over his career in design, project management, and leadership roles. Scott received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University in 1998 and his M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2001.
