CTME Teaching Team

Mary Abbazia is a strategic marketing expert, TEDx speaker, co-author of The Accidental Marketer, and leads Caltech CTME programs for technology marketing. She is managing director of Impact Planning Group, where she coaches virtual and live workshops for Fortune 1000 technology companies. She leads business teams with an "outside-in" roadmap and toolkit to create robust strategies and develop critical marketing skills.

Ms. Abbazia has over 25 years of global experience working across a diverse group of industries, such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, high tech, specialty chemicals, industrial supplies, telecommunications, and financial services. Ms. Abbazia's clients include GE, Halliburton, Medtronic, NXP/Freescale Semiconductor, and Pfizer.

Previously, Ms. Abbazia was vice president at The BASES Group, a division of AC Nielsen. She utilized models to help technology clients launch new products and services, establish pricing strategies, and accurately forecast demand. As a consultant at Perry, Lawson & Associates, a full-service marketing company, Ms. Abbazia guided clients in implementing strategies. Ms. Abbazia was a marketing manager for Intel.

Ms. Abbazia holds an MBA and received her bachelor of science degree in managerial economics from the University of California, Davis.

Shreekant Agrawal, PhD, has over 32 years of aerospace industry experience. He is currently an engineering manager of the Flight Sciences department in Northrop Grumman Aerospace Sector. Earlier, he was a technical fellow in the Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T) division, working in strategic planning for technology development for future products. Prior to this assignment, he was Chief Operating Officer and Director of Operations for the Tata-Boeing Joint Venture in the Boeing Defense Military Aircraft Division where he was tasked to initially set up the joint venture and then execute its operation. As a program manager for the Boeing Defense Engineering common processes, he led the development of the common processes, implementation of CMMI, and institutionalization across all sites and new programs. Previously he worked in the Boeing Defense Air Force Space Systems engineering management organization, where he led the processes and tools effort (systems engineering, program management best practices, CMMI), and was the Sector Integration Leader for Technology.

Earlier, he led a High-Speed Aerodynamics Technology group within BR&T at Long Beach as a technical, program, and functional manager. His efforts focused on developing computational methods for supersonic commercial transport, hypersonic missiles, and space launch vehicles. He also worked at St. Louis where he developed advanced computational methods for military aircraft development programs. He has contributed to the development of military aircraft (F/A-18E/F, Adv F-15, T-45, and International Tanker), hypersonic missiles (NMD) and space launch vehicles (Delta), commercial transport, and military satellites (GPS).

Dr. Agrawal has authored over 100 technical reports and professional conference papers, and 11 archival journal articles. He was selected Engineer of the Year by the Chinese Institute of Engineers in 2004. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, his M.S. from the University of Maryland, and his B.Tech. with honors from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; all in aerospace engineering.

Patrick Alexander is currently a principal cloud solution architect at Microsoft who specializes in RMDBS, NoSQL, Big Data, AI and BI Solutions and has over two decades experience delivering for large enterprise and startup customers. His experience includes technical leadership for data services, technical oversight for artificial intelligence and business intelligence projects, leading architecture reviews, and managing technical risks for business. Mr. Alexander is passionate about enabling organizational success through digital transformation. As a principal architect, he combines both technical vision and business insight for Value Engineering to articulate the true total value of each technical solution and achieve overall business success.

Mr. Alexander specializes in Microsoft Azure services, Azure SQL, CosmosDB, Cognitive Services, AI, DW, BI, Big Data, IoT analytics and Azure Machine Learning technologies. For past 10 years, Mr. Alexander has been helping customers with cloud migration and cloud development efforts.

Mr. Alexander has a Masters in Systems Information and Productivity and B.S. in Applied Physics – Solid Sates. He publishes cloud technology related articles, has multiple certifications for cloud services, and is a Microsoft Certified Trainer. He also has a private pilot certificate and has been a board member with the Aero Association of the California Institute of Technology Flying Club since 2012.

Tim Boyd specializes in systems engineering, project management and organizational leadership development. He has experience in a wide variety of mission areas including space, air and ground systems, as well as the systems engineering life cycle.

Mr. Boyd is currently the system engineering lead for the ground segment of a new satellite program, which brings enhanced capability to the overhead persistent infrared domain. Mr. Boyd is responsible for several trade studies driving key program decisions, developing the initial set of requirements, and creating an initial system architecture for the overall system. Previously, Mr. Boyd has served as a regional software operations manager, systems engineer, project manager, cyber strategy analyst, business development, technical team lead and cost account manager. Mr. Boyd has also worked with The Bottom Three, an organization focused on training and developing the next generation of leaders in engineering organizations through the creation of workshops focused on applicable, real world scenarios.

Mr. Boyd was a professional coach and facilitator with the American Society of Engineering Education, B/E Aerospace, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly Pomona, IJK Controls, and Northrop Grumman.

He is credited with over 50 technical publications, trade secrets and workshops. Mr. Boyd received his bachelor of science in electrical and computer engineering and aerospace project management certification from the California Institute of Technology.

Chris Boydstun is an educator, full-stack web developer, and entrepreneur with a successful track record of project management. He began his career in technology by mowing neighborhood lawns, purchasing computer parts, and selling the assembled PCs for a profit as a boy. Chris continued to study computer science throughout high school and college before entering the professional workforce as an educator. He became a leader in the development of online asynchronous content, designing an original web-based learning management system, and delivering live remote lessons occurring across every time zone on the planet. He is currently the founder and owner of TeleCapable, a technology consulting firm specializing in web development, marketing, and education. 

Mr. Boydstun founded an English as a Second Language education-technology venture to develop an innovative learner-centric online platform for immersive and engaging skill development, where he gained experience in the end-to-end execution of a dynamic digital business. 

Mr. Boydstun is exceptionally passionate about teaching technology to empower people in the workforce. He has personally instructed thousands of fledgling engineers and written curricula used by over one hundred thousand learners. In addition to delivering masterclass lectures for Caltech CTME in their professional education programs, Mr. Boydstun serves as a technical training coordinator for the open-source system monitoring Netdata project. In addition, he continues to create technical content, lecture on web development, and facilitate the adoption of technology and rapid innovation with his clients. 

Mr. Boydstun graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Arts and Science. He completed the Bloom Institute of Technology Full-Stack Web Development Bootcamp. In addition, Mr. Boydstun holds a professional teaching certificate.

Michael Brenner is a senior systems engineer with nearly 30 years of experience in aerospace at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which Caltech manages for NASA. Mr. Brenner brings deep aerospace industry systems engineering and model-based system engineering (MBSE) experience from his work, where he supports space imaging systems in the Astronomy and Astrophysics division. Currently, he is the product delivery manager for an advanced mirror development and imaging system. 

Mr. Brenner's experience spans system engineering, electronics design, optical system design, integration and test, flight software development, product delivery management, and project management. 

Mr. Brenner has held many Systems Engineering and Product Delivery Management roles that have allowed him the opportunities to gain practical experience in systems engineering and MBSE implementation and process execution.  The following is a summary:

• Product Delivery Manager for advanced optical hardware and drive electronics for a flight demonstrator program

• Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) System Engineering/Requirements Development Task Lead responsible for the architecture of a visible/NIR space telescope

• Project Systems Engineer for the Advanced Mirror Development Project responsible for requirements development, ICD generation, Integrated Modeling, and project V&V process through completion

• Telescope System (TS) Systems Engineer on the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) Project

• Software Systems Engineer on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA)

• Project Delivery Manager for the Space Interferometer Mission (SIM) CMB Subsystem System Engineering and Electronics

• Electrical / System Engineer for the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES).  Cognizant Engineer of the Integrated Electronics Module (IEM) and Protoflight Instrument Electrical Test and Integration

• System Engineer for the Viewing Imager Gimballed Instrumentation Laboratory and Analog Neural Three-Dimensional Processing Experiment (VIGILANTE)

• System Engineer for Cassini Visible Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) Instrument

Mr. Brenner is a senior instructor in Caltech CTME’s programs where he teaches Model-Based Systems Engineering, Systems Engineering, Leadership and Communications, Advanced Project Management, and Managing New Product Development.

Mr. Brenner is active in engineering and commercial venture consulting for new product development, including home fitness machines, golf gaming system, ground-based imaging systems, and innovative electronics development. He has advised on advanced cryogenic and temperature-controlled packaging for medical applications, which required novel SE and MBSE solution development.

Mr. Brenner holds a Master's degree in Electronics Digital Design and Computer Architecture from California State University Northridge.

Jerry L. Brown has project management expertise specializing in financial management, risk management, project selection, scheduling, and project management professional certification preparation. He is principal of Project Methods, Inc. His clients include Applied Biosystems, The Boeing Company, IBM, Kimberly-Clark, Mobil, Motorola, Novartis, PacifiCare, Pfizer, Phelps Dodge, Sprint, Visa, and Walt Disney Imagineering.

Previously, Mr. Brown served as chief financial officer and vice president for Project Mentors, where he established a corporate infrastructure for growth including systems and processes for accounting, taxation, marketing projections, compensation, and operations. His corporate clients included Amgen, Eli Lilly, Hewlett Packard, Intel, and Trane.

Mr. Brown was the founder and president of his own wholesale supply company for industrial, commercial, and construction needs. He has over 25 years of executive experience in banking.

Mr. Brown has a B.S. from Ohio State University, a Masters of Project Management from George Washington University and an Executive Juris Doctor degree from Concord Law School.

Steven Cornford, PhD, is currently a senior engineer at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). In his 25 years of experience covering the entire mission life cycle, he spent the last decade pioneering MBSE ontologies, developing prototypes, and working as a PI with DARPA to assess complex trade spaces in spacecraft constellation performance through SysML models. Dr. Cornford has a gifted ability to convey the promise of MBSE and its connection to the big picture. He has authored over 100 papers and been awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.

He has a double major in mathematics and physics from UC Berkeley, an MS in mathematical physics and a PhD in experimental atomic physics from Texas A&M University.

Nathaniel (Nate) Crews, EBAS, PMP, CBAP, ACP, CSP, PRINCE2, SPC 5.0, ATF, ACC, LITA, CAL, EMTM, SCPM, CBRMP, has over 40 years of experience as an application developer, systems integrator, project manager, program manager, PMO director, scrum master, and agile coach. He has managed over 130 projects, ranging from small projects to enterprise programs in aerospace, automotive, financial services, computer systems, software, and telecommunication. His specialties include team development, feasibility assessment, cost estimation, project risk analysis, project planning and staffing, stakeholder analysis, and vendor management.

Mr. Crews teaches at the Caltech Center of Technology and Management Education (CTME) and is an affiliate of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Mr. Crews was selected as a Technology Management Fellow by the Moore School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Stanford University Certified Project Manager. In addition, he holds several project management and technology certifications, including Agile Certified Professional, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Project Management Professional, Advanced Project Management Certification, and Certified Business Analyst Professional. He teaches on-site and virtually for clients worldwide like Toyota, EMC, St. Joseph Hospital, Southern California Edison, Alcatel Lucent, DIRECTV, Northrop Grumman, AT&T, JP Morgan Chase, and Citibank.

Mr. Crews holds an Executive Master’s in technology management from the Wharton School of Business and Moore School of Engineering, an MBA with an emphasis in finance from Widener University, and a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics/computer science from Clark University. He is currently completing his Ph.D. in management with an emphasis in information systems management.

Matthew Dartez, M.S., is the Director of DevOps and Infrastructure Engineering at Kyriba Software. He specializes in software and systems engineering, project management, DevOps adoption, process automation, and cloud-based implementations.

Mr. Dartez previously consulted for a wide range of industries which include Fortune 100, defense, state and local government, technology, financial, and energy companies. At EY, he lead DevOps engineering and public cloud adoption efforts, facilitating programs around migration, platform designs, micro-services and container adoption, orchestration frameworks, automated load testing, and infrastructure as code efforts.

Matthew has also worked at companies in construction services, financial software analytics, and healthcare systems design. He led modernization and automation efforts for DevOps initial adoption, HPC/Supercomputer adoption, build automation, expansion into the cloud, and large scale up/out application conversions.

He received his M.S. at Florida Institute of Technology, and his Bachelors at Louisiana Tech.

Rob led setting the John Deere Enterprise Systems Engineering strategic direction, developing, and sustaining Systems Engineering methods and tools to ensure rigor in the application and providing advanced expertise in leading Systems Engineering subject matter expert practitioners. His responsibility also includes managing academic relationships and programs with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and California Technical Institute (Caltech) and maintaining a relationship with INCOSE, the International Council on Systems Engineering, to keep up to date on Systems Engineering developments and provide input to guide the System Engineering initiative though out John Deere.

Rob Day has over 38 years of experience managing resources to exceed high-performing organizations' goals in System Engineering, System Architecture, System Analysis, Product Design, Six Sigma & Design for Six Sigma, Quality Management, Operations Management, and Project Management. Since joining John Deere in 1998, Rob has held increasingly responsible leadership positions in System Engineering, Product Design, Quality Engineering, Six Sigma services, and Test Engineering at the John Deere Harvester Works, JD Seeding, and in both Corporate and Advanced Technology Divisional organizations. Rob’s global experience includes an assignment as a Quality & Test engineer at the John Deere operations in Zweibrücken, Germany. Rob’s experiences include Global Systems Engineering Manager, Seeding and Tillage, and Manager of Enterprise Six Sigma, Metrology, and Dimensional Management. During this time, Rob has transitioned the enterprise through the design, development, and early execution of new strategies in the above areas and critical innovation projects.

Rob has been an ASQ member since 2002, ASQ CSSBB - 2003 to Current, and a John Deere Ag Division Certified Master Black Belt. There is an evolving capability at Deere in Systems Engineering to improve how we deliver new products and services to the market at an exceptional quality level. The company has a large body of trained Systems Engineers, pockets of Systems Engineering excellence, and robust EPDP. However, the Enterprise has much variability on how Systems Engineering is used and integrated into our core processes. Rob’s Enterprise Systems Engineering lead position was established in 2015 for these reasons.

Before joining John Deere, Rob worked at Hamilton Sundstrand (Formerly Sundstrand Aerospace), a UTC division in Rockford, Illinois, for 12 years, where he held both Design, Test, Systems Engineering and Leadership positions.

He holds a degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and Graduate Degrees and Certificates from Caltech and MIT in Systems Engineering & Management.

Rob is also an adjunct instructor in the Caltech/John Deere System Engineering Program, jointly developed to connect the academic with the practical application of System Engineering principles. He holds this as an honor and is humbled by the opportunity to instruct with Caltech. He also is a teaching assistant, guest lecturer, and adjunct professor in the MITsdm program. Rob has coached/mentored system development projects for Deere & Company, Chevron, Shell, and numerous others large fortune 500 firms.

Rob holds numerous patents, published papers at MIT, and in July 2019, presented in conjunction with PTC at the INCOSE IS2019. In 2023 he contributed significantly to the field of system engineering and management with his MIT Thesis on Operational Analysis and Mission Engineering: A strategy and framework to analyze any industrial ecosystem.

Rob represented John Deere on the INCOSE CAB.

Dave Di Pietro is a systems engineer with over 30 years in aerospace development with NASA, Navy, and Air Force systems, both human and robotic. Most recently as Senior Engineer for Advanced Concepts and Architectures at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), he led, or served as mission systems engineer on, over 20 advanced space mission designs from low Earth-orbiting to interplanetary. While at GSFC, he also served as Launch Service Manager and Systems Manager for Medium Delta II launch services and as a member of the NASA Headquarters (HQ) Office of Chief Engineer Systems Engineering Working Group that developed NASA’s system engineering policy requirements and the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook. Prior to going to GSFC, he was the Thermal Control System Manager for Space Station Freedom at the NASA HQ Space Station Freedom Program and Operations Office during preliminary and detailed design. Before joining NASA, he was an advanced design engineer for aircraft, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and propulsion systems at the Naval Air Systems Command.

Mr. Di Pietro has served in multiple interagency assignments including as lead for the NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture study at NOAA NESDIS, as NASA Representative to the National Security Space Architect within OSD, and as Foreign Affairs Officer and Science Advisor in Defense Trade Controls at the State Department. He also served as the NASA member of the Risk Assessment and Management Advisory Group for the Department of Homeland Security to assess the Secure Border Initiative architecture.

Mr. Di Pietro is a retired Air Force Reserve Colonel, serving most recently at the National Security Space Office (NSSO), where he authored the NSSO architecture development process. He had prior assignments in space launch operations and in air vehicle technology and space launch acquisition at Air Force HQ. He currently serves as a Senior Staff Engineer for Alcyon Technical Services JV, LLC and works with design teams at NASA/GSFC to develop new space mission concepts.

He holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Aerospace Engineering, with focus in propulsion, high speed aerodynamics, and high temperature gas dynamics, and is a private pilot. He is a recipient of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit.

Dr. George Djorgovski has been on the faculty at Caltech since 1987. He obtained his advanced degrees at UC Berkeley and was a Harvard Junior Fellow from 1985-1987. He has a broad range of scientific interests and is an author or coauthor of several hundred publications, with over 200 in refereed journals. He is one of the founders of the Virtual Observatory concept and is currently Professor of Astronomy and Data Science, Director of the Center for Data-Driven Discovery, and Senior Data Science Advisor of W. M. Keck Foundation, all at Caltech. More information can be obtained at his website, http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~george/.

Alan G. Dunn is a management expert whose clientele has included some of the world’s most recognizable brands, Fortune 100 companies across a variety of business sectors, and departments of the U.S. government. With 40 years of experience, he has established a reputation as a leader in his field, specializing in strategic planning, supply chain management, manufacturing management, operations management, cost management, and business finance. He has participated in over 240 manufacturing and distribution projects within over 150 companies in more than 20 countries.

As a recognized affiliate of Caltech, Mr. Dunn chairs the executive education programs for manufacturing, operations, and supply chain management within the Center for Technology and Management Education (Caltech CTME).

Mr. Dunn is the founder of the Manufacturing Executive Institute and former chair of the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS). He serves on the boards of directors of both public and privately held international companies, including Natural Alternatives International and Idaho Asphalt. In 2007, the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) recognized him with the Director of the Year Award. He is the president of GDI Consulting.

Previously, Mr. Dunn was a vice president at Gemini Management Consulting and a partner at Coopers & Lybrand, positions in which he led large technical manufacturing teams in innovative projects to enhance productivity. Prior to joining Coopers & Lybrand, he was president of ADI, a successful consulting and training company that he sold to Coopers & Lybrand in 1990.

He has built up a uniquely broad perspective as an adviser and educator. In addition to his executive and consulting experience, Mr. Dunn has an extensive background in most functions within manufacturing companies, including several years of direct experience in line leadership.

Mr. Dunn has worked with companies such as Amgen, Baxter, Daimler-Chrysler, Ford Motor Company, Johnson & Johnson, Northrop Grumman, Sony Corporation, and United Technologies.

He speaks internationally on finance and manufacturing topics. He has addressed APICS, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, the Product Development Management Association, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the National Association of Accountants, and the Young Presidents Organization. His articles have been published in several trade journals.

Mr. Dunn is an active member of ASCM/APICS, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the NACD. He was independent director of the Society of Cost Management.

He is qualified by ASCM/APICS as a Certified Practitioner in Inventory and Production Management (CPIM). Mr. Dunn has a degree in business management from California State University, Fullerton.

Ginny Ertl specializes in the effective change management. She has an extensive background helping businesses implement lasting change to achieve their strategic goals. Her experience includes strategy setting, leadership development, organization and team effectiveness, talent management, large scale culture change and executive coaching.

Ms. Ertl worked at General Electric for 24 years as an executive leading change management, leadership education, and organizational development at GE Crotonville, GE Corporate, and GE Capital. She was instrumental in driving the company’s top initiatives through the creation, development and implementation of: executive leadership education for GE’s top 200 leaders; company-wide culture change in the areas of innovation, simplification, risk management, leadership and acquisition integration; high potential leadership development programs; employee engagement and value proposition; leading edge training solutions; large scale mentoring and coaching; and global learning organizations. Ms. Ertl has expertise in WorkOut and the Change Acceleration Process (CAP).

Before coming to GE, Ginny spent seven years at KPMG, as an audit manager. She also was director professional recruiting for KPMG’s Stamford office.

Ms. Ertl holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Boston College and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Peter C. Evans has over 25 years of experience in enterprise transformation and platform strategy and design. He is the Chief Strategy Officer at McFadyen Digital, an advisory and technology company that specializes in platform strategy and building digital marketplaces. Over his career has specialized in helping companies see around corners, anticipate key market trends, and craft seminal thought leadership that framed major multi-year growth initiatives. Part of this professional career has been devoted to leading seminal research, thought leadership, and roundtable engagements with Fortune 500 CEOs. He was the Managing Partner of the Platform Strategy Institute where is worked with the world’s leading platform scholars on multiclient engagements. He also served as Vice President of the Center for Global Enterprise, a New York-based, nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution devoted to the study of global economic and technology trends, the contemporary corporation, and their impact on society.

Dr. Evans also has extensive experience at large global companies. He was a partner at KPMG where he was global leader responsible for internal innovation initiatives and client engagements. Prior to joining KPMG, he was an executive at General Electric, where he held roles as Director, Global Strategy and Analytics at GE Corporate and Senior Director, Global Strategy and Planning at GE Energy. He also worked as a Senior Associate and then Director, Global Oil at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consulting company that specializes in advising governments and private companies on energy markets, geopolitics, industry trends, and strategy.

Dr. Evans has been actively engaged with leading think tanks, international organizations, and professional associations. He is the co-chair of the MIT Platform Strategy Summit and the NTWRK Summit in Barcelona, Spain. He is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served on the board of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE).

He has also applied his experience and industry expertise to teaching and advisory engagements with startup companies. He was a visiting instructor for the graduate level course Platform Design, Management, and Strategy, Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College and as a course instructor at Caltech’s Executive Education program. He frequently advises startups and serves on the board of advisors to several early-stage companies building platforms. A prolific author, Dr. Evans’ reports and articles have been published by the Brookings Institution, American Enterprise Institute and the OECD/World Bank. He is also a contributor to publications such as the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Forbes, Inc. Magazine and Cointelegraph. Dr. Evans is a sought-after global keynote speaker in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Dr. Evans received his BA from Hampshire College and his master's degree and PhD degree from MIT. He lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife and two children.

Tony Freeman, PhD, is the manager of the Innovation Foundry at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Innovation Foundry is JPL's incubator for ideas, and helps between 100 and 150 formulation teams mature their innovative thoughts into mission concepts every year. These ideas span all of JPL's future space missions for NASA in Planetary Science, Astrophysics, Earth Science and Human Space Flight, and some work outside the NASA envelope. Recent highlights include the Psyche mission to explore a mysterious metal asteroid, a helicopter that will explore the surface of Mars, the MarCO interplanetary cubesats that served as relay for the Insight landing, an HF radio interferometer to study solar Coronal Mass ejections, and the Surface Biology and Geology mission architecture studies for Earth Science. He serves as a champion for cubesat and Smallsat projects at JPL, which has led to over 25 flight missions, leading towards a future where interplanetary cubesats are common. In a previous position, he was for several years the program manager of the Earth System Science Formulation office, leading the formulation of new ideas for Earth Science missions, which resulted in several major new flight projects at JPL.

His technical skills include (space) mission architecture and systems engineering. His technical interests include the architecture of innovative space missions, especially novel radar observing systems and techniques. He conceived of the 'Freeman method' for calibration of polarimetric imaging radars, the SweepSAR scan-on-receive technique for wide-swath radar imaging, which underpins NASA/JPL's NISAR mission, and is lead author of the 'Freeman-Durden Decomposition' for understanding the data produced by such systems.

His awards include the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for calibration of the SIR-C radar, which flew on the Space Shuttle Endeavour, the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for his work on Earth Science Mission Formulation, several NASA Group Achievement Awards and numerous NASA new technology awards. He holds two patents. In a technical career spanning over 35 years, he has authored over 200 original research contributions and is still active in publishing his ideas. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in 2000 for his work on calibration of Synthetic Aperture Radar systems.

Dr. Freeman is a native of Manchester, England. He has a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in mathematics and a Ph.D. in astrophysics, both from the University of Manchester.

Marshall B. Gibson, PMP, has extensive experience leading large and complex projects. He specializes in project management for information technology and computer infrastructure operations. He focuses on helping project management teams understand overall strategic objectives in addition to project management methodologies and best practices.

Mr. Gibson has over 25 years of experience in high tech industries. He is currently a program manager and security analyst for St. Joseph Health, a health care delivery organization, where he applies strategic project portfolio processes and streamlines IT service delivery and forecasting. He manages the suite of chartered programs and initiatives for St. Joseph security including asset and incident management, physical security, data protection, device and network security, business continuity, governance and security awareness..

He has also worked at 3Com, Hyundai, Tandem, University of Georgia, and The Walt Disney Company. He has managed over 25 medium to large projects including company acquisitions, corporate legacy system migrations, and SAP/ERP upgrades.

Mr. Gibson received his project management certificate from the University of California, Berkeley. He holds additional certifications in ITIL, Lean Six Sigma, and as a PMP® (Project Management Professional). His bachelor’s degree in computer science is from the University of Georgia.

Stephen Guine has over 25 years of experience in model-based systems engineering in product line development, human-centric systems, organizational process and technology strategy, and team building.

He is currently a systems engineering manager at Northrop Grumman Corporation supporting several model-based systems engineering activities. Previous positions at Northrop Grumman include guiding full lifecycle systems engineering activities on C4ISR, avionics, and directed energy programs. He worked as a project manager, cost account manager, section manager, and lead systems engineer.

Mr. Guine has worked in the healthcare industry with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Kaiser Permanente, PacifiCare and community-based nonprofit health organizations. He has also worked in public utilities and finance with Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and remains active in public infrastructure initiatives.

Mr. Guine has an MBA from the Drucker Graduate School of Management and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Southern California with a focus on the application of quantitative methods and modeling for the design of complex systems. He holds a bachelor’s degree in comparative systems analysis/political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Leroy Hanneman specializes in systems engineering. He has over 40 years of experience in national security research, government technology policy, and defense, space and commercial aerospace. Mr. Hanneman founded core organizations in large-scale requirements integration, strategy analysis and concept development in defense, space and commercial airplanes. He was the concept development process owner for Boeing Defense & Space and one of the first designated systems engineering function leaders for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. His recent work with Boeing has been focused on engineering outreach strategies and innovative techniques for strategic workforce development.

Previously, Mr. Hanneman worked with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Nuclear Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security and all elements of the intelligence community. As a career intelligence officer, he has worked as a foreign weapons systems performance assessment engineer and technology expert and been involved treaty formulation, verification and technical strategic employment policy revision.

Mr. Hanneman completed the CIA’s Intelligence Engineering Program and attended the Rand Graduate Institute/University of California Systems Analysis Program. He holds graduate-level certification from these programs and certification in aerospace engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. He holds bachelor’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics and in industrial engineering from the University of Washington.

John Hearing is a systems engineering specialist with over 40 years of experience in complex civilian and military systems. He is currently a consultant for risk management and systems engineering for many companies, teaches systems engineering classes for Caltech, and is an Adjunct Professor for the U.S. Naval War College. He serves with the U.S. Forest Service in his free time as a Wilderness Ranger and Forest Fire Lookout.

Previously, Mr. Hearing held a variety of positions in the commercial airplanes and defense divisions of Boeing including leading projects related to creating common requirements for future airplanes; creating databases to capture safety lessons learned; leading and teaching processes for finding Root Cause Corrective Actions (RCCA); establishing and managing core processes for systems engineering; managing software efforts for controlling unmanned vehicles; developing intelligence collection modifications to commercial airplanes; working on long-endurance, high-altitude unmanned vehicles; and developing software for decision support for military planners.

Mr. Hearing served 20 years in the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer, where he managed procurement programs related to space systems, including the first major introduction of wide-band commercial SATCOM on Navy ships (Project CHALLENGE ATHENA). He also served as a program auditor for the Secretary of Defense; led training operations; and served on deployed aircraft carriers, destroyers, and cruisers.

Mr. Hearing holds multiple patents on a wide variety of topics, ranging from methods of modifying airplanes to software architecture for optimizing the use of intelligence collection assets. In addition, he has published several articles on communications architectures and program management.

Mr. Hearing earned his Master's of Science in Systems Technology (Space Systems Operations) from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA where he graduated with distinction and with a Master’s Thesis focusing on satellite communications to afloat vessels. He has a B.A. in political science from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

Rick Hefner, PhD, specializes in systems development and maintenance; project management; Lean Six Sigma; process improvement, technology transfer; and risk management. His experience spans over 35 years.

Dr. Hefner recently served as director of process management at Northrop Grumman Corporation, where he managed corporate process initiatives related to Lean Six Sigma and program management. Previous positions at Northrop Grumman (formerly TRW) included managing technology process initiatives and helping to establish the corporate engineering and program management processes. Previously, at Aerospace Corporation, Dr. Hefner was the director of their software development department. He served as an engineer, technical specialist, project manager, and section manager.

Dr. Hefner has also worked with companies in the communications, electronics, and health sciences industries, including Applied Physics Laboratory, Ares Management, Boeing, DRS Technologies, Herbalife, Honeywell, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, John Deere, L-3 WESCAM, Maytag, Motorola, Pacific Bell, Raytheon, Schlumberger, Southern California Edison, St. Jude Medical, Toshiba, U.S. Navy, and Xerox.

Dr. Hefner is credited with over 200 publications and presentations. He earned his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, in applied dynamic systems control. He received his MS and BS from Purdue University in interdisciplinary engineering.

Jim Hines has over 30 years of industrial experience in commercial, civil and military programs. He worked at the Boeing Company for 18 years. At Boeing, Mr. Hines was director of systems engineering at Huntington Beach. His department supported people, processes, tools and technologies for Shuttle/Space Station, Ballistic Missle Defense, Delta/Titan Expendable Launch Systems, Future Combat System, Homeland Security, X-37, Global Positioning Satellite, Phantom Works, Orbital Express, Space Exploratory Projects, Wave Rider (X-51A), Hyper X, and proprietary. Mr. Hines successfully championed a Capability Model Maturity Level 5 Integration certification at the site, mentored several award-winning employee involvement teams, and served as the Boeing enterprise systems engineering skill management team leader.

Previously, he concurrently led the Engineering Project Management and the Southern California Phantom Works Systems Engineering organizations. He held positions within Boeing as a chief systems engineer of a missile defense project, a senior manager within advanced engineering, and a project manager for the Space Shuttle and missile defense programs.

Prior to Boeing, Mr. Hines worked for LTV Aerospace Corporation, Colt Industries, and Alcoa. Mr. Hines earned his MBA in management (acquisitions and contracts) from University of Dallas; MS in industrial engineering (engineering management) and MS in metallurgical engineering from University of Pittsburgh; and MS and BS in ceramic science engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Carol Jacoby, PhD, specializes in mission analysis, systems engineering, decision analysis, and mathematical techniques. She has 28 years of experience in systems engineering at Hughes Electronics and Rockwell International. She led Hughes' Mission Analysis Center of Excellence in developing complex systems of systems for defense, transportation, and other areas. She was one of the first people to apply systems engineering to highway transportation. As a member of the National Automated Highway Systems Consortium, she led the development and evaluation of alternative concepts for driverless vehicles. She has recently worked with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Federal Highway Administration, Raytheon, and Boeing.

She co-authored the Systems Engineering Guidebook for the Federal Highway Administration and authored Simple Spreadsheets for Hard Decisions which brings many of the decision techniques of mission analysis to a general audience. Dr. Jacoby has been honored through the District One Toastmasters’ elite Speakers Bureau, multiple Hughes and Raytheon Achievement Awards, the Hughes Doctoral Fellowship, and Phi Beta Kappa.

Dr. Jacoby is an internationally recognized research mathematician, with several recent publications in peer-reviewed journals and a recent book, Abelian Groups: Structures and Classifications, written for advanced graduate students and researchers. She earned her PhD at the University of California, Irvine, her MS at Northeastern University, and her BA at UCLA, all in mathematics.

Ravin Jesuthasan is the global leader of Mercer’s Transformation Services business. He is a recognized global thought leader, futurist, and bestselling author on the future of work and workforce transformation.  He works with some of the largest, most sophisticated organizations in the world on the transformation of work and the workforce. He has led multiple research efforts on the global workforce, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the transformation of work. Ravin has led numerous research projects for the World Economic Forum including many of its ground-breaking studies on the transformation of work and the global workforce. He is a regular participant and presenter at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos and is a member of the forum’s Steering Committee on Work and Employment.

Ravin has been a featured speaker on the aforementioned topics at conferences in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America. He has also been featured and quoted extensively by leading business media including CNN, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Fortune, FT, The Nikkei (Japan), Les Echoes (France), De Telegraaf (Netherlands), South China Morning Post and Dubai One TV among others. Ravin was also an advisor to and featured prominently on PBS’s widely acclaimed documentary series The Future of Work. Ravin is a frequent guest lecturer at universities around the world including Caltech, Oxford University, Northwestern University, New York University, and the University of Southern California. Ravin is a facilitator of the executive education programs at Caltech.

Ravin was named to the Thinkers 50 Radar Class of 2020. He has also been recognized as one of the top 25 most influential consultants in the world by Consulting Magazine, one of the top 8 future of work influencers by Tech News, and one of the top 100 HR influencers by HR Executive. He is the author of the books Transformative HR (Wiley, 2012), Lead the Work: Navigating a World Beyond Employment (Wiley 2015), Reinventing Jobs: A 4-Step Approach to Applying Automation to Work (HBR Press, 2018), and the Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestseller; Work Without Jobs: How to Reboot Your Organization’s Work Operating System (MIT Press, 2022). Ravin has authored over 200 articles including 15 for the Harvard Business Review and the Sloan Management Review.

.Ravin holds a B.B.A. (with high honors) in Finance and Commercial Law and an M.B.A. (with high honors) in Finance. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) and a member of the CFA Institute. Ravin is a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce). Prior to joining Mercer, Ravin was a managing director and global business leader at Willis Towers Watson for over 26 years and a consultant with Accenture’s strategy consulting practice.

Arvind Kaushik is a proficient and versatile business technology executive, working in enterprise applications and data-rich environments that support vital functions, such as multi-channel sales and service retail operations, supply chain, finance, audit, and IT. Throughout his 25-year career, he has envisioned, designed, built, and deployed value-added solutions for business clients and stakeholders. Mr. Kaushik champions data-driven approaches and Lean Six Sigma techniques to create enterprise-scale application systems. In addition, he has led digitalization and process transformation initiatives providing significant costs savings and tangible benefits.

With a servant leader mindset, Mr. Kaushik leads and cultivates high-performing techno-functional teams. He has experience managing small and large program teams with over 30 cross-discipline members, spanning business, data, and technology departments. For example, he currently leads a finance analytics team of 45 data architects, data engineers, and data scientists focused on high-stakes intelligence.  

Mr. Kaushik's deep experience in business analytics spans technologies, tools, platforms, and methodologies: 

• Data - Oracle databases, Teradata (a Caltech spinout) data warehouse, and GCP/AWS Cloud and Big Data platform
• Data Science - R, Python, Knime, Alteryx, DataRobot, Domino. 
• BI Tools - Tableau, Qlik, ThoughtSpot, Looker. Enterprise 
• Applications - Oracle E-Business Suite ERP, SAP ECC + IS-Retail, Oracle Enterprise Performance Management 
• Infrastructure - Unix, Linux, SQL, PL/SQL, HTML, C/C++ 
• Process - Lean Six Sigma, DMAIC, DMADV/DFSS, Change Management, Project Management, Data Strategy, Architecture and Governance, SDLC, Agile, COBIT, COSO Framework

Mr. Kaushik has an MBA from UC Irvine, focusing on Strategic Information Systems, IT Management, Operations, and Decision Analysis. He has a BS in Computer Science and Computer Engineering, focusing on SDLC, Database Engineering, and enterprise-scale Applications. As a life-long learner, he has advanced studies in Statistics, Big Data, the Internet of Things, and Cybersecurity Certificate courses from Harvard. He is a Verizon certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, specializing in Consumer Retail Logistics and Reverse Supply Chain. He is passionate about leveraging data as a strategic asset and mining it for business value. 

Galina Knopman specializes in individual, team, and organizational change. She is the founder and President of Comskil and Best of Life. She is an executive and leadership coach, organizational development consultant, author, photographer, instructor, and guest lecturer. Ms. Knopman's background in software and systems development at NASA, the Air Force and at the Pentagon provides her with an affinity for working with technical individuals and specialized organizations.

Ms. Knopman developed OrGro, an organizational growth model for leadership, based on her 30 years of successfully leading organizations and commercial, federal and local government agencies to their developmental goals. Her clients include General Dynamics, SAIC, Northrop Grumman, JP Morgan, Kaiser Permanente, L-3, CACI International, Cisco Systems, SEI Investments, and Diagnostic Retrieval Systems.

Ms. Knopman is a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF) and holds a PCC (Professional Certified Coach) certification. She is an Atlassian Accredited Sales Professional. She was a certified Standard Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) Lead Appraiser for A, B, and C appraisal methods for Development and Services and a Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) for Development and for Services certified instructor.

Ms. Knopman is an author of an Amazon bestseller on personal change. She has published in technical journals internationally. Her work has received a commendation from the United States Defense Contracting Audit Agency (DCAA) and is recognized by clients for outstanding performance and service. She is a frequently requested speaker and has presented talks on leadership coaching at conferences sponsored by Brandeis University National Women's Committee, the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the Mid-Atlantic Region Woman in Technology.

Ms. Knopman has an Executive Masters with Merit in the Neuroscience of Leadership from Middlesex University of London, England and is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Leadership Coaching Program. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Temple University and attended SEA Semester at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Eugene Lai is an innovator in Information Technology and process engineering with over 20 years of experience in leading DevOps teams. He has served as Lead Software Engineer, Chief Scrum Master, Chief Product Owner, Principle Program Manager, Technical Consultant and Agile Coach/Trainer. Mr. Lai has orchestrated SDLC and Agile Engineering initiatives by applying a variety of methodologies including Traditional Waterfall, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and Scrum.

Mr. Lai has successfully applied process lifecycle frameworks and delivered complex solutions to numerous Fortune 500 and U.S. Department of Defense customers, including Encore Capital Group, FICO, InnovaSystems, 3E Company, GDIT/CSRA/CSC, Safety-Kleen, EDF Renewable Energy, U.S. Navy & DHS, and ASPE/cPrime. He has also worked with Project Management Institute (PMI), Scrum Alliance, Agile Alliance, and Scaled Agile Inc.

Mr. Lai holds several DevOps-related credentials including Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Professional, Certified DevOps Practitioner, Agile Certified Practitioner, Scaled Agile Program Consultant, Project Management Professional and Program Management Professional.

Kathleen Terry Manna, founder of Participative Management Systems, specializes in helping organizations develop and use teams for achieving bottom-line results. She has extensive skills in team building, facilitation, customer relations, employee participation programs, employee empowerment, and managing diversity in the workplace.

Ms. Terry has worked with Blue Cross, Computer Science Corporation, Hughes Aircraft Company, Mattel Toys, Mitsubishi, Northrop Grumman, Orthopedic Hospital, PacifiCare Health Systems, Southern California Rapid Transit District, Southern California Edison Company, Toro Irrigation Systems, TRW, and Xerox. She has trained professionals in the Philippines, England, Singapore, Belgium, and India.

Ms. Terry graduated with honors from the University of Illinois in psychology and education. She has a certificate in managing in multicultural work environments and has done graduate work in multicultural relations.

Rob Manning is Chief Engineer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as well as Chief Engineer for JPL’s Engineering and Science Directorate. An Engineering Fellow, he has been designing, testing and operating robotic spacecraft for 40 years including Galileo to Jupiter, Cassini to Saturn and Magellan to Venus and many Mars missions.

In the early 1990's, Rob became the Mars Pathfinder Chief Engineer where he also led the Entry Descent and Landing (EDL) team. After successfully landing and operating the first airbag lander and rover on another planet, he co-conspired the idea to modify the Pathfinder and Sojourner Rover designs to become the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER), Spirit and Opportunity. On MER he led the rover system engineering team as well as the EDL team. At this time, he co-conceived the idea of skycrane landing that was later used by Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

After MER he became the Mars Program Chief Engineer where he helped plan and integrate the various Mars missions like Phoenix Lander, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MSL and beyond.

In 2007, Rob became the Chief Engineer for the MSL Project that successfully landed Curiosity Rover on Mars on August 5, 2012. Rob was responsible for ensuring that the design, the test program and the team, working together, would result in a successful landing and a productive rover. Rob wrote about his experiences in a book called “Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity’s Chief Engineer”.

Most recently Rob helped create a team to design and build an emergency use ventilator specifically for the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of his luck at JPL, Rob has received four NASA medals, is in the Aviation Week Magazine Space Laureate Hall of Fame in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, has received two honorary PhDs, has a minor planet named after him, and is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 2004, SpaceNews magazine named Rob as one of 100 people who made a difference in civil, commercial, and military space since 1989.

Rob is a graduate of Caltech and Whitman College where he studied math, physics, computer science, and control systems. Rob frequently teaches systems engineering and related topics for client organizations of Caltech CTME. He makes his home in Pasadena, CA with his family.

Bryan W. Mattimore specializes in ideation and innovation process, front-end marketing research, branding, creating and developing new products and services, and innovation strategy planning. He is cofounder and "Chief Idea Guy" of the Growth Engine Company, a fifteen-year old innovation agency specializing in creative problem solving, and strategic leadership innovation. Prior to co-founding Growth Engine, he was president of the Mattimore Group, a twenty-year-old company specializing in ideation facilitation and creativity.

Mr. Mattimore has facilitated over a thousand brainstorming sessions, moderated over five hundred creative focus groups and consumer ethnographies, and managed over two hundred successful innovation projects, leading to over $3 billion in new sales for a wide variety of Fortune 500 clients including AT&T, BNY Mellon, Eaton, Ford, Kraft, LVMH, Merck, Pepsi, SONY, and Unilever.

He has worked with Accenture, AstraZeneca, AT&T, Black & Decker, BNY Mellon, City of New York, ConEdison, Danaher, Dun & Bradstreet, Eaton, Esselte, Essilor, Ford, Grumman Data Systems, IBM, ITT, Johnson and Johnson, Lexis-Nexis, Lockheed Martin, Lucent, LVMH, Microsoft, Pepsi, Philips, Proctor and Gamble, Sony, State Farm, Time-Warner, United Technologies and Unilever.

He speaks frequently to organizations and associations on innovation and best practices. He has addressed or co-chaired conferences for the Industrial Research Institute (IRI), Product Development Managers Association (PDMA), American Marketing Association (AMA), American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), Visage, Young President's Association (YPA) and the World Innovation Forum.

He has authored articles and webinars, and three books on business creativity and innovation process: Idea Stormers, How to Lead and Inspire Creative Breakthrough; 99% Inspiration, A Real World Guide to Business Creativity; and 21 Days to a Big Idea. He is also the inventor of the creativity training game, Bright Ideas.

Mr. Mattimore graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College, where he majored in psychology.

Jim McGinnis has over 40 years of project management and systems engineering experience. He has management experience in development, test, integration, qualification and deployment of complex systems. His executive experience includes work as president of Real-Time Laboratories LLC, manufacturing hydraulic and pneumatic components for defense systems. He was senior vice president, business development of GeoFocus LLC, responsible for development and delivery of integrated communications and electronics for rail transit systems. At DynCorp International, he was deputy project manager for the 17,000-person Logistics Civilian Augmentation Program in Iraq and Afghanistan for 26 months.

His previous positions with Northrop Grumman Corporation include Program Manager for Inertially Aided Munitions and Program Manager for GPS/Inertial Weapons. As Program Development Manager of Advanced Weaponization for the B-2 Bomber, his integrated product team provided several enhancements for B-2 weapon delivery capability including development and integration of the 5,000-lb GBU-37 "bunker-buster" bomb, integration of the 1,000-lb Joint Stand-off Weapon (JSOW), and a 2/3 reduction in B-2 weapon integration cost through implementation of the Generic Weapons Interface System. He led the early design for the 30,000-lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator, now added to B-2 delivery capability. As a career Army Field Artillery officer, Mr. McGinnis served as Army Project Manager, Cannon Artillery Weapons Systems, and Joint Project Manager, Army/Navy Guided Projectiles, responsible for development and production of laser-guided artillery projectiles. He led the design and development team for the multi-disciplined 155mm Self-Propelled Howitzer Improvement Program, obtaining Army development approval for the M109A6 Paladin Howitzer, still the backbone of today’s artillery.

Mr. McGinnis served three years on the engineering faculty at West Point and two years in command of a nuclear-capable artillery battalion in Germany. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

He received his BS in military science from the US Military Academy and MS in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech. He is also a graduate of the Army War College, Naval War College (Command and Staff), and Defense Systems Management College.

Steve McNamara has over 40 years of experience in supply chain management, major subcontractor management and supplier quality, specializing in the management of technically-complex development and production subcontractors on defense and communication space satellite systems, air combat systems and ground communication systems. He has worked with Alcatel, Ball Aerospace, Boeing, Eastman Kodak, Eaton, Hamilton Sundstrand, Hughes, Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas, Motorola, Northrop Grumman, Parker Hannifin, TRW, and the United States Air Force.

Mr. McNamara most recently served as director of supplier quality and supplier quality operations manager for Northrop Grumman, where he developed the supplier quality management system and processes for the sector and led the design and development of the supplier rating system and counterfeit parts alert management system. Previous responsibilities include Material Program Manager for the F/A-18 program, Subcontract Project Manager for the Milstar Satellite Payload and Project Manager for the Defense Support Program Laser Communications Subsystem.

Mr. McNamara received an MSEE degree from Columbia University, an MBA from California State University Dominguez Hills, and a BS in Engineering Science from Hofstra University. He has also received extensive training in the AS9100 quality standard, Lean Aerospace practices, and Six Sigma.

Mr. Medina’s expertise is in system development, requirements engineering, model-based methods, human factors, quality engineering, and risk management. 

Mr. Medina is a senior instructor Caltech’s MBSE corporate and government client programs, including Northrop Grumman, Bell Flight, AeroVironment, Precision Optical, NOBLIS, and John Deere.  He is also responsible for teaching in Caltech’s open-enrollment MBSE fundamentals for industry professionals.

As a principal in SE Design, Mr. Medina focuses his consulting practice on the implementation of MBSE and SE methods, including skills training for a variety of client organizations, where he regularly advises on skills and capability development for emerging and advanced practitioner teams alike. 

As a practicing engineer in industry, he held roles in systems engineering and quality engineering for precision medical devices with Medtronic (fmr Covidien), Terumo BCT, and JustRight Surgical. His experience in product development spans automated stem cell growth, patient monitoring, pulse oximetry, blood collections, electro-surgery, and therapeutics. 

Mr. Medina holds 12 patents for medical devices and has another six patent applications pending approval. Prior to designing medical devices, he led the creative development team for Zed, Inc, where he served as chief engineer. 

Mr. Medina regularly contributes to INCOSE chapters and conferences where he provides tutorials and adoption workshops.  He has a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Denver.

Allan Middleton is a principal engineer at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, The Skunk Works, in Palmdale, California. He specializes in aeronautical engineering, systems engineering, flight testing, project management, airworthiness, flight safety and certification.

His current project involves the development of a supersonic business jet at Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Projects (The Skunk Works). He is the program manager for the JSTARS recapitalization acquisition. Previously, he was the air vehicle engineering manager for the development of the presidential helicopter and several special mission aircraft. He also was flight test director and mission commander aboard special mission aircraft and project lead for autonomous rotary wing UAS. He led the development of the F-35 Cooperative Avionics Test Bed, a flying laboratory for development of F-35 Mission Systems.

Mr. Middleton has worked for Lockheed Martin for 38 years in Fort Worth Texas, Marietta Georgia, Owego New York, Littleton Colorado, Goodyear Arizona and Palmdale California on projects ranging from the C-130, C-5, and C-141 transport aircraft to HH-71, UH-1N, Boeing 737, U-2, Learjet 35A, Hawker 800XP, and F-35. He has worked with other aerospace and aviation electronics companies including Honeywell, Pratt and Whitney, Rockwell Collins, Augusta Westland, Bell Helicopter, Hawker Aircraft, Learjet, Bombardier, Gulfstream, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, DRS Technologies, Boeing, and Airbus.

He is a private pilot flying fixed wing general aviation aircraft. Mr. Middleton earned his BSME degree at Kennesaw State College, formerly called Southern Technical Institute, a unit of Georgia Technical Institute. He completed further coursework in rotary wing technology at Penn State, State College, PA.

Michael Onuoha, Jr. is an IT executive with over 16 years of experience focused on digital transformation, enterprise architecture, application development, cloud computing, infrastructure engineering, and project and program management. Mr. Onuoha has served in various technical roles, including Director, Enterprise Technology Strategy & Innovation; Director, Enterprise Architecture; Sr. Technical Program Manager; and Systems Development Manager. He regularly works industries and business verticals such as Management Consulting, Public Sector, Healthcare, Finance, Hi-Tech, and Education. He has worked with Grant Thornton, Department of Veterans Affairs, Federal Emergency Management Agency, US Patent and Trademark Office, US Treasury, University of Minnesota, and Cornell University. He was charged with leading high-performing teams to deliver business and customer value and mentoring and developing the next generation of leaders.

Mr. Onuoha currently serves as the Head of Engineering & Architecture - Risk, Fraud & Collections for US Personal Banking North America at Citigroup. Partnering with business and technology leaders to deliver on disruptive strategies and champion the reuse of shared capabilities. He serves as an Adjunct Instructor and Online Course Facilitator at Cornell University’s eCornell Executive Program focused on business and technology. Additionally, Mr. Onuoha sits on the board of the Executive Advisory Council for SincUSA and the Advisory Council on Digital Transformation, Strategy & Marketing at the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business.

Recognized as an exceptional technologist, innovator, and thought leader who excels in solving complex problems and implementing organizational vision that achieves business goals, Mr. Onuoha had led IT implementation and integration projects of over $35MM a year. His transformation-centric work centered on cloud computing, data analytics, database and data warehousing, and software infrastructure engineering. He is passionate about creating technologies that benefit everyone.

Mr. Onuoha holds a Master of Business Administration with a dual concentration in Healthcare Management and IT Management from Herzing University. He has executive leadership certifications from Cornell University SC John College of Business. He lives with his wife and family in Atlanta, GA, and enjoys hiking, cooking, biking, gardening, and traveling.

Ash Pahwa, Ph.D., is an educator, author, entrepreneur, and technology visionary with three decades of industry and academic experience. He has founded several successful technology companies during his career, the latest of which is A+ Web Services. His expertise includes search engine optimization, web analytics, web programming, digital image processing, database management, digital video, and data storage technologies.

Dr. Pahwa has worked for General Electric, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Xerox Corporation, and Oracle. He founded CD-Gen, Inc. and DV Studio Technologies, LLC., which introduced successful products for CD-Recording (CDR) and MPEG encoding. His book, CD-Recordable Bible was published in English, Japanese, and German.

Dr. Pahwa earned his doctorate in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He is listed in Who’s Who in the Frontiers of Science and Technology. He is also a Google Certified Analytics Consultant.

Chris Phillips is an Engineering Director for Northrop Grumman based out of Roy, UT. An Experienced Systems Engineer with a strong background in Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), Mr. Phillips' greatest professional joy is seeing people and organizations grow. In his current role, Mr. Phillips is responsible for enabling and developing a large multi-disciplinary staff supporting various programs. 

Mr. Phillips has been at the forefront of MBSE standup efforts since 2016, providing technical and team leadership in standing up these capabilities across multiple domains and lifecycle phases. This work has led him to being a three-time recipient of the Northrop Grumman's Simon Ramo Systems Engineering Excellence Award, an annual Corporate award that celebrates the highest achievements in Systems Engineering. 

In addition to MBSE execution and advocacy, Mr. Phillips has also held various roles including software lead / developer, electrical engineer, project manager, and systems engineer. This experience has guided him towards an overall approach to Systems Engineering (and subsequently MBSE) that focuses on communication and effective decision making focused on enabling capability delivery. 

Mr. Phillips holds a Masters in Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Bachelors in Engineering (Electrical Specialty) from the Colorado School of Mines, and a Masters in Business Administration from Western Governors University.

Dr. Kenneth L. Preston has 35 years of aerospace and defense industry experience, with 25 years in Project Management. He is a Sr. Project Engineer, Technical Lead Engineer (TLE), and Boeing Designated Expert (BDE) on the Boeing C-17 Program. He leads the technical oversight of parts management obsolescence and project support, and he is a member of the site Innovative team charged with discovering and generating new, creative value in technical products.

Dr. Preston worked on the Space Shuttle program in technical and management positions, such as Project and SRQA. As a program project lead, his responsibilities included the Shuttle Return-to-Flight Safety Engineering team’s computational foam fracture mechanics assessment.

A champion of developing engineering talent, Dr. Preston has made significant contributions to the community. He mentors college engineering students and early career professionals as part of Boeing’s outreach initiatives. For Caltech’s Center for Technology and Management Education, he teaches systems engineering, predictive analytics, and aerospace project management. Additionally, he serves as Vice-Chair of the Cal State LA Industry Advisory Board (IAB) for Mechanical Engineering. Finally, he serves an Ambassador for the California State University (CSU) system/Faith-Based partnerships. Dr. Preston was a NASA/American Society for Engineering Education Faculty Fellowship Program recipient.

He authored the book “Growth Options for Martial Arts.” In addition, he has published and presented papers through the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), including “Big Data Analytics/Role of Analytics in Systems Engineering,” “Customer Analytics for Service Excellence in Systems Engineering,” and “Systems Thinking as a Competitive Advantage for Suppliers.”

Dr. Preston received his Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) and MBA in Project Management from Columbia Southern University. He holds an MS and BA in Physics (Laser Spectroscopy) from Hampton University/Institute. In addition, he holds a California Community College Lifetime Teaching Credential in Physics. Dr. Preston has been married for over 35 years and resides in Southern California with his family.

Rob Renner is a retired Raytheon executive. Assignments included the in-country program director for the Saudi New Additional Patriot (SNAP) program, Raytheon Middle Eastern Systems (RAYMES), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Other positions included: Capture Executive for Intelligence and Information Services; Distributed Common Ground System Executive for Tactical Intelligence responsible for strategic growth, contract performance, overseeing internal research and development activities. He was also the business development executive, Raytheon Space Systems.

Mr. Renner is a retired US Air Force Colonel. Colonel Renner's assignments included the USAF Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), Air Force Space Command, and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), He is a decorated veteran and is a life member of Disabled American Veterans. He is level three DoD Acquisition Certified in both program management and systems engineering.

Mr. Renner earned his bachelors of science from the US Air Force Academy in engineering and middle eastern studies/arabic and holds a MS in engineering and a MBA in finance, both from the University of Southern California. Mr. Renner also attended the executive management program at the Anderson School of Business, UCLA, Directors College at Stanford Law School, and Air War College. He is a Certified Program Manager, PMP, ITIL certified and published IEEE author. Mr. Renner currently teaches for the California Institute of Technology, Caltech Center for Technology and Management Education.

Dr. Robinson is a leader in global digital transformation and secure IT modernization efforts for mission-critical systems. Dr. Robinson specializes in cybersecurity and global-scale IT operations. 

Dr. Robinson served as the CEO of Craxel Inc., which created a high-performance, secure distributed ledger technology for modernizing financial and supply chain markets. Based in Silicon Valley and Washington DC, Craxel has focused on the issuance, custody, settlement, and operations of distributed ledger systems for the capital markets. In addition, Dr. Robinson has led the engineering efforts for various projects for cryptocurrencies, securitized assets, custody and settlement, and other disruptive opportunities in the financial markets. 

As the Chief Technology Officer for CSRA and General Dynamics IT, he led the development of technical solutions that won over $4B of next-generation IT opportunities in the last two years for the Federal Government. Dr. Robinson focused on complex mission-critical IT solutions in national security, intelligence, and other government services. Dr. Robinson has also been responsible for the technical innovation in crucial programs and the overall technology strategy. Dr. Robinson led a team of the company’s top experts in multiple areas to achieve strategic objectives and ensure CSRA continually delivers superior next-generation technical solutions to its clients. 

Formerly he was the principal technologist for cybersecurity for the $10B Information Systems Sector within Northrop Grumman. Working for the Chief Technology Officer, he was responsible for directing internal technical investments, defining technology roadmaps, investment strategies, and business development in cybersecurity and cyberwarfare. Previously within Northrop Grumman, Dr. Robinson was a capture manager for the cybersecurity portfolio successfully winning multiple programs. As an engineer, he developed architectures for advanced command and control systems for the U.S. Navy, developed distributed classified development environments, and designed interfaces between operational C2 systems of record and national intelligence collection systems.

Dr. Robinson has delivered technically advanced and profitable IT enterprise services and cybersecurity solutions for military and international clients. Dr. Robinson has worked on missile defense, cyber operations systems, radar and sensor systems, space systems, battle management command and control, and UAV systems. Each of these projects involved direct advocacy to the Pentagon, international governments, and Congressional stakeholders. 

Dr. Robinson has five Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Management Economics, and Applied Mathematics from Hampden-Sydney College. He also has a Master’s of Science degree in Statistics specializing in data mining and artificial intelligence systems. He earned a Doctorate in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia focused on large-scale computational statistics analysis. He also attended Oxford University and executive programs at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of business. Dr. Robinson is the Director for Cybersecurity at Caltech’s Center for Technology and Management Education. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and a Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP). 

Peter Sairafian has broad project organization and management experience, spanning strategic planning, enterprise governance, PMO development, project management, business process management, and ERP implementation. He has led the development of several IT systems, applying best practices in change control, risk management, action item tracking, budgeting, and project management.

At Southern California Edison, Mr. Sairafian led teams managing business cases and financial controls for project portfolios in excess of $300 million/year. He helped set up a PMO project organization. In addition, he performed strategic planning for the start-up of a non-regulated subsidiary, specializing in the operation and maintenance of power and non-power plant operations. At Molina Healthcare, he developed a governance framework for the Enterprise Project Management Office of Molina Healthcare, including identifying initiatives and programs, generating estimates, business cases, portfolio prioritization, benefits validation, stakeholder management, and decision body charter and composition..

Mr. Sairafian has managed programs in healthcare, utilities, engineering, and construction. He has worked with Sempra, Belkin, Kaiser Permanente, Memorial Care Health Systems, United Health Group, The Irvine Company, The Capital Group, Cisco, TransUnion, and Zodiac Aerospace. He has held certifications as a Project Management Professional, CGEIT, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Enterprise IT, COBIT, and ITIL governance.

He holds a BS in civil engineering and a Master’s in Business from the University of California, Irvine.

“Dr. Dave” retired after 35 years of industry experience in engineering and marketing at three advanced database solutions companies. Most recently, at Teradata, he was a recognized subject matter expert for big data, where he developed thought leadership, value propositions, and case studies of exemplar customers using technology in leading practices. 

He currently lectures in Caltech's Center for Technology and Management  Education data science bootcamps for professional development.

Dr. Dave frequently lectures in university programs instructing students on the power of big data analytics and how it goes beyond the capabilities of typical enterprise data warehouses.

As a “hobby” in 2015, he added sports analytics to his repertoire and began fostering “Moneyball Projects” at universities so that analytically-minded students can advise their college sports teams. Since 2020, he has coached a team of analyst-volunteers engaged in data analytics for political candidates and campaigns.

He received his Ph.D. from Purdue University, his Master’s in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University, and his Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Illinois State University. 

Dennis Schwarz leads business pursuits for Advanced Tactical Systems at The Boeing Company. At The Boeing Company, he has been director of systems engineering for the C-17 program, director of product processes and tools for Air Force Systems and director of technical and functional processes for advanced systems. Recent responsibilities include network systems and system of systems. He has held assignments spanning the product life cycle including parts fabrication, aircraft manufacturing and tool engineering, product engineering, advanced programs and technology development, and aircraft fleet modification.

Mr. Schwarz specializes in the development and deployment of strategic initiatives: NCO, systems engineering, project management, affordability; systems engineering: architecture development, applications, management and control, processes and metrics; project management: manufacturing, affordability, enhancements, aircraft modifications, technology development; program management: process management, IMP/IMS, analysis and integration, program war room, and inter-component.

Mr. Schwarz is pursuing a PhD in systems architecting and engineering from the University of Southern California. He has an MBA in finance from Loyola Marymount University, and a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Utah.

Michelle Selberg has 20 years of systems engineering and project management experience.in defense and commercial aviation. She has worked in aircraft design, development, management, and maintenance. She currently specializes in requirements development, system architecture, project planning, DO-160 and DO-178 certification, agile development, data analytics, acceptance testing, integration, change management, and risk management.

Ms. Selberg led complex technical integration design projects at GE Aviation and at Northrop Grumman Corporation. She was responsible for the onboard avionics system design for the iJet Onboard startup venture which provides a flexible, software-defined infrastructure based on big data concepts to facilitate data and analytics services in the airline industry. She has worked with Smiths Aerospace, GE Aviation, Esterline (Korry Electronics), Boeing, L3, Honeywell, Rockwell Collins, Bombardier, and Learjet, where she helped them restructure, both organizationally and technically, towards large data-driven business models.

Her avionics team at Northrop Grumman Corporation received the Distinguished Engineering Project Achievement Award by the San Fernando Valley Engineers' Council. Ms. Selberg received her BS in applied mathematics from Northern Arizona University.

Dr Andrew Sharman has a safety career spanning over two decades. He coaches global leaders in their commitment to zero accidents and toward safety excellence. He is based in Switzerland and works globally with leaders and teams in Fortune 500 corporations – including the world's coolest technology brands, the fastest Formula One racing team, and some of the world's largest businesses in construction, mining, pharmaceuticals, energy, and fast-moving consumer goods sectors. His experience spans more than 130 countries across five continents. His clients are a ‘Who’s Who’ of industry leaders including Amazon, the American Chemistry Council, Apple, Arkema, Bayer, Balfour Beatty, BASF, Bekaert, BHP Billiton, Boliden, BP, BT, Burberry, Carlsberg, Coca-Cola, DHL, DuPont, EDF, Engie, Glencore, Grundfos, Heineken, Honeywell, the Institution of Occupational Health and Safety, the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management, Interserve, International Labour Organization, Jaguar Land Rover, LafargeHolcim, Laing O’Rourke, L’Oreal, Maersk, Mars, Mercedes Benz, Merck, Molson Coors, Mondi, Nike, Novartis, PepsiCo, Sanofi, Sodexo, Solvay, Swissport, Tata, Total, Tyco, Vattenfall, Veolia. He also works with non-government and intergovernmental organizations including the United Nations, the International Labour Organisation, the International Trade Centre, and the World Health Organization. Prior to opening his own consulting practice, RMS, he was Global Principal Consultant at DuPont Safety Resources, and previously led safety departments for large global corporations.

Dr. Sharman is a chartered fellow of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), a fellow of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management, a fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management, and a fellow of the Institute of Directors. He is the 53rd President of IOSH, the world's leading association for health and safety professionals, with over 50,000 members worldwide. Dr. Sharman is also the chairman of the board of the One Percent Safer Foundation He has received several international awards for his work, including from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, Green Apple, Zurich Municipal, SHP and the prestigious DuPont International Safety Award for Innovative Approach.

Dr. Sharman speaks globally on risk management, safety culture, leadership, and organizational behavior. He has chaired or given keynote papers at over 500 professional events worldwide including TED conferences. He is the author of 11 books on safety culture, leadership, and wellbeing including the global best-selling book on safety culture, From Accidents To Zero: A Practical Guide to Improving Your Workplace Safety Culture. He holds master's degrees in international health and safety law, occupational psychology, and organizational behavior, and a doctoral degree in cultural transformation.

David Shostak is a world-class senior program manager with versatile and dynamic leadership team building, interpersonal, and team motivation skills. He has led every aspect of high technology programs, engineering, marketing management, business development, and system engineering programs. He has over 40 years of experience in many technical diversified fields. A developer of program plans, market strategy, analysis, marketing roadmap development, and documentation for product plans. He has presented to senior business executives, government officials, three-star generals, and customers. Mr. Shostak has focused on worldwide product launches, including interaction with European, Mideast, and Asian counterparts.

Mr. Shostak's career experience in aerospace was with Hughes Aircraft Company, Rockwell International, Interstate Electronics / L3 Communications. He has led Magellan, RF Micro Devices, Semtech, and Microsemi Corp, teams.

Mr. Shostak is one of the fathers of GPS for vehicle navigation. He led a team of people and drove handheld consumer products to market. He generated over $150 million first year and $350M in a second year with Magellan RoadMate GPS Telematic Vehicle Navigation Product, making Oprah Winfrey's Favorite Things List. Mr. Shostak led the team for the first one-meter dish antenna for Hughes Aircraft, which later became the Dish TV antenna.

Mr. Shostak has been a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) for over fifteen years. He is a highly accomplished professional and has authority in public speaking. Mr. Shostak wrote a book called "Project Management in the Real World…Explaining all the nonsense about Project Management in Plain English." His book is about real-world Project Management, Leadership, and People Skills. He says, "dealing with a team of people is very hard, and knowing how to get the best out of them is even harder."

He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y. and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Clark Smith is an airworthiness engineer in the Office of the Chief Engineer F-35 Lightning II at Lockheed Martin Corporation. He is responsible for assessing and establishing initial airworthiness for all major design changes. Previously he was flight test director and aircraft certification lead engineer for Program IX where he directed aircraft flight test activities with the Flight Test Wing of the Finnish Air Force's Air Combat Center. He was aircraft certification lead engineer for the K-Max Cargo Unmanned Aerial System responsible for establishing airworthiness and risk management plans and processes appropriate for civil derivative cargo UAS prototype development. He was weapon system integrity lead engineer for the HH-71 Combat Search and Rescue. Previously, he was airworthiness certification engineer for VH-71 Presidential Helicopter and requirements manager for Project Eagle.

Mr. Smith worked for The Boeing Company Integrated Defense Systems as regulatory compliance lead engineer for 767 tankers and as maintenance engineer and avionics lead of maintenance and ground operations systems. He worked for TRW as a supervisor / manager for a team of six instructors. He has participated in many global airworthiness authority engagements.

He is a manager / instructor flight line operator and aircraft mechanic and a recognized global aircraft airworthiness regulations expert. Mr. Smith is a FAA commercial pilot and holds his FAA Mechanic Certificate. He has a BS Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

A clear communicator, forward-thinking strategist, and high-energy facilitator, Tom Spitale has spent the past 25 years demystifying the keys to successful marketing strategies for his executive clients in the semiconductor, hi-tech, and medical product sectors. He guides some of the world's most respected organizations in their efforts to create a culture of marketing excellence. Mr. Spitale has led the strategic marketing executive programs for Caltech CTME for nearly a decade.

In addition to his client work as a partner at Impact Planning Group, he is also spearheading the firm's expansion of digital/virtual strategic consulting and education offerings.

Tom's specialty is in creating strategy tools that help inexperienced—"accidental"—marketers quickly gain proficiency, and which also help experienced practitioners enhance their critical thinking and build upon their past successes. In his book, The Accidental Marketer, he describes these tools while highlighting how they helped launch some of the most remarkable product achievements in recent business annals. Readers have lauded the book as a step-by-step guide for outperforming competitors.

Previously, Tom held senior strategic marketing roles at GE, Walmart, and the Peppers and Rogers Group, a leading international customer-experience consultancy. He received his degree in marketing with postgraduate studies in mathematics from the University of Akron.

Michael Sturgeon has over 29 years of experience in systems/software acquisition and development. He is currently the technical director and Certified Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Master Black Belt for the Air Force's 309th Operational Excellence organization, where he is responsible for quality and process improvement for a portfolio of 80 programs. His core competencies include Lean Six Sigma, project management, systems engineering, data analysis, and team facilitation.

Mr. Sturgeon previously served as the manager of mission assurance of Northrop Grumman Information Systems' Command and Control Division, where he was responsible for driving improvement in the business acquisition process focusing on risk reduction and affordability. At NCR Corporation, he was director of quality and Lean Six Sigma services. He was responsible for quality and process improvement implementation, supporting worldwide development and deployment of quality hardware, software, and services. Mr. Sturgeon also served as technology adoption lead of the Air Force’s Software Technology Support Center consulting services, and has been a visiting scientist of the Software Engineering Institute.

Mr. Sturgeon is a certified Lean Six Sigma master black belt, a lean facilitator, and a Capability Maturity Model Integrated authorized lead appraiser. He has his B.S. in electrical engineering (magna cum laude) from the University of Utah.

Dave Todaro is a software visionary, entrepreneur, and agile project management expert. Even from an early age, Dave had a knack for technology. At age 11, he wrote his first program. At age 13, he shipped his first worldwide-distributed application. And at 15, he started his first software company. Since then, he and his teams have designed and built award-winning products across a wide range of industries. He is currently founder and CEO of Ascendle, a software consulting firm in the Greater Boston area that specializes in custom web, mobile, and platform development.

Prior to Ascendle, he was the technical co-founder of BID2WIN Software (now B2W Software) in Portsmouth, NH, where he drove the technology vision as the chief technology executive. He built the teams, designed the process, and produced multiple award-winning products.

Dave has taught agile software development techniques to thousands of people around the world and regularly advises companies on a wide range of product strategy, project management, and software engineering topics. He published The Epic Guide to Agile in 2019, a 500-page handbook detailing the software development methods he's perfected over last 35 years. His book has since been adopted as an internal reference for multinational corporations and as a text for university classes, and Dave has appeared as a guest lecturer at numerous institutions.

Dave graduated from the Honors Program at the University of New Hampshire and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Steve Wall is currently program manager for advanced system modeling and analysis at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he originated early MBSE efforts. He is responsible for creating and maintaining laboratory excellence in advanced architectures and engineering design processes for the coming decade. He is also the deputy team leader of Cassini Radar Science team. He formerly served as the manager and facilitator of the Project Design Office and the Advanced Projects Design Team (Team X).

Mr. Wall served on six NASA planetary and earth sciences remote sensing missions including Viking, Magellan, Cassini, and the Spaceborne Radar Laboratory. He performed in the roles of mission operations director, instrument system engineer, science team member, and others. He has been a program manager for the National Reconnaissance Office and served as a member of the Air Force Science Advisory Board.

Mr. Wall has been awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, Exceptional Achievement Medal, and 12 NASA Group Achievement Awards. He earned his MS in optical engineering from the University of Rochester. He received his BS in physics from North Carolina State University.

John Wetsch, Ph.D., PMP, has over 30 years of experience working in industry, government, and higher education. He is a recognized industry leader in large scale information systems development and deployment, software engineering, systems analysis and design, cybersecurity, cloud migration, risk management, and related technologies.

Dr. Wetsch has served in various technical capacities, including Program Director for Cloud Computing and senior roles as a Project Manager, Program Manager, Principal Engineer, and Systems Engineer. He has worked with Northrop Grumman, United State Air Force Space Command, United States Postal Service, the United States Courts, the State of North Carolina, and Wake Technical Community College in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. He also holds certifications in Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), Cloud Computing, and is a Project Management Professional (PMP).

Dr. Wetsch has received numerous awards and recognitions including appointment as a Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow, recipient of Computerworld Magazine's 100 Premier IT Leaders, and Trustee Emeritus with Excelsior College. He has a Ph.D. from Nova Southeastern University in Information Systems, a Masters of Astronomy from University of Western Sydney, a M.A. from Antioch University in historical astronomy, a B.S. from Excelsior College in physics, and a B.S. from the University of North Dakota in interdisciplinary studies in physics and philosophy.

Pam Wiedenbeck is an experienced project manager with more than 40 years of experience leading projects of all sizes, as well as training the next generation of project managers. She is currently an instructor of The Caltech Center for Technology and Management Education concentrating in people management challenges and skills. Her most recent book on Amazon is 'Pam, You Not Doing Job!'

She is a Project Management Professional (PMP) and an active member of the PMI Los Angeles Chapter. She is currently serving as Treasurer for The La Canada Flintridge Tournament of Roses and as a member of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Float Construction Committee.

Ms. Wiedenbeck earned a B.S. in Physics from the University of Michigan and an M.S. in Planetary Science from The California Institute of Technology. She later completed the Executive M.B.A. program at The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at The Claremont Graduate University.

Dr. Williams has 15 years of experience in the aerospace field and is currently a senior systems architect in the advanced development team on the C-17 program at Boeing Long Beach. During the last several years he has designed and implemented several predictive algorithms that enhance the mission capability of the aircraft. He also designed and implemented several applications for the Secure Communication project on several platforms which augment the pilots, crew and mission team with situational awareness cues that drastically enhanced their real-time mission planning. Prior to Boeing, Dr. Williams worked at Thales Avionics in Irvine California as a systems engineer, where he architected and designed 3D maps and cabin crew user interfaces.

Dr. Williams achieved his PhD from Colorado State University in Systems Engineering with emphasis in object tracking and recognition using deep learning. He achieved his Master’s degree in Computer Engineering in 2011 from California State University Long Beach and his BS (Summa Cum Laude) from California State University Long Beach, majoring in Computer Engineering and minoring in Computer Science. He has received certificates from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the areas of Systems Engineering, Data Analytics and Cybersecurity.

Dr. Ron Williamson is a Principal Engineering Fellow at Raytheon, focused on model-based systems engineering and architecture for advanced C4I systems in DoD, International, FAA, and civil domains. With over 30 years of experience, he's led MBSE standards work for Unified Profile for DoDAF, MODAF, and SysML v2, and is a recognized subject matter expert for systems engineering. He served as the architecture and design director within the Communications and Transportation Systems Engineering Center and represented the California Region as a member of the Architecture Review Board, supporting Raytheon’s strategy to govern architecture deployment on programs and to train the next generation of resilient-systems architects. He also served as the MSI (Mission Systems Integration) Technology Area Director, where he led the initial concept development of the model-based engineering initiatives for all of Raytheon.

Ron has expertise in systems and software architecting, engineering, design, and implementation across the full systems lifecycle, including concept development, customer interaction, proposal development, requirements analysis, systems architecture and design, software architecture/design and integration, verification and validation. He has worked across several domains including DoD air/space sensing, DoD logistics simulation and modeling, DoD command and control, DoD energy surety, NASA earth science, NASA space exploration, FAA flight simulation and modeling, international customer C4I systems, commercial wireless communications, and mobile applications development.

Ron received his PhD in Computer Science at USC, Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from UCLA, and Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from UCLA.

Ronald A. Wingfield is a recognized expert in the Airworthiness Certification and System Safety of civil, public, commercial derivative, and foreign commercial/military aircraft. He has over 30 years of demonstrated industry and government Systems and Airworthiness engineering team and leadership experience successfully planning, leading, and executing a multitude of manned, unmanned, fixed, and rotary-wing air vehicle system major and minor acquisition (ACAT I, II, and III), modification, and sustainment programs directly with the US Army (SRD), the US Navy (NAVAIR), the USAF (AFLCMC), DARPA, the UK MoD, and the FAA.

Mr. Wingfield has served as the US Army’s Fixed Wing Project Office (FWPO) Special Electronic Mission Aircraft (SEMA) Airworthiness Sustainment Engineering Lead (EO-5C, RC-12X/N, RO-6A, Saturn Arch, EMARSS S/M/V/G, C-12), the Director of Engineering - Airworthiness for Leonardo DRS (T-X, T-100), the Office of Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) Airspace Integration, Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Task Force Airworthiness Sub-IPT Lead, the Lockheed Martin Airworthiness Certification Lead for the VH-71 VXX Presidential Helicopter Program, the US Army Special Operations Aircraft Division, US Army Systems Readiness Directorate (SRD) Technical Lead for the MH-47D/E/G Chinook Helicopter and has held multiple Senior/Principal leadership and Team Airworthiness positions, such as but not limited to working with General Atomics (UCLASS, MQ-20 Avenger), US Falcon/Boeing (KC-46 Pegasus), Viking Air Ltd (DHC-7), Bombardier (DHC-8), Leidos/Dynamic Aviation, Beechcraft/King Air (350/350ER, Model 300), Rolls Royce, Pratt and Whitney Canada (PWC), and Airbus.

Mr. Wingfield is the lead/primary OUSD coordinator and a co-author of the published and current Department of Defense Handbook, MIL-HDBK-516C, Airworthiness Certification Criteria, which establishes certification criteria, standards, and methods of compliance used in the determination of airworthiness of all manned and unmanned, fixed and rotary-wing air systems. He is the key contributor to the NASA contracted MTSI 2012, “Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Classification Schemes Study Final Report,” 31 August 2012, used as citation for NASA/TM-2013-217969, Perspectives on Unmanned Aircraft Classification for Civil Airworthiness Standards, Langley Research Center, Feb 2013. He has been a keynote panel speaker at the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) on Verification, Validation, and Certification of Autonomous Safety Critical Functions, Ground Collision Avoidance, Airborne Collison Avoidance, and Obstacle Avoidance.

Mr. Wingfield is currently a Lead Airworthiness Engineer for Bell/Textron in Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programs and specifically for the V-280 Valor, the 360 Invictus, and the DARPA TTO Bell High-Speed Vertical Take-off and Lift (HSVTOL) Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) X-Plane Project.

He has a BS in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and holds an FAA Mechanic License. He is a US Army Aviator/Veteran with ten years of service. He is a member of the Vertical Flight Society and the Army Association of America (AAAA).

Doug Wood has extensive experience in complex aerospace system development, integration, and test, and in leading large teams and functional organizations. His program experience includes Space Shuttle, Tacit Blue, B-2, Pegasus, and Crew Exploration Vehicle. Mr. Wood’s expertise includes: digital fly-by-wire control system development, integration and test; avionics architecture development; complex system integration lab design, implementation and operation; and real-time pilot/hardware-in-the-loop simulation. As director of engineering for Northrop Grumman, Integrated Systems Western Region (ISWR), Mr. Wood established an organization with 2100 engineers at three sites supporting all ISWR programs, advanced design, and technology development. His responsibilities included development and deployment of engineering tools and processes across all programs.

As IPT leader for B-2 software, he was responsible for all B-2 on-board and lab software. He managed an organization of approximately 400 people plus four major subcontractors that achieved a Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Level 4 assessment. As director of test and evaluation, Mr. Wood was responsible for managing a variety of technology labs, including system integration, materials, structures, wind tunnels, and electromagnetic labs and ranges.

He holds a MS in systems management from the University of Southern California and BS in aeronautical engineering and mathematics from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.