People Category: AIAA Defense Forum 2019

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Mr. Chris Shank is the Director of the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), whose mission is to develop new and innovative ways to shape and counter emerging threats across all domains, bringing unexpected and game-changing capabilities to the Joint Force. Mr. Shank brings many years of military, government, and commercial industry experience to SCO.

Prior to directing SCO, Mr. Shank was Vice President at Van Scoyoc Associates, a well-respected, bipartisan strategic consulting firm, covering aerospace, defense, energy, and research and development issues.

In 2017, Mr. Shank served as the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force, assisting in the stand-up of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering as well as the White House National Space Council. Mr. Shank led the agency review teams of NASA and National Science Foundation for the President’s Transition Team. Prior to this, he was Policy Director for the Science, Space, and Technology Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with legislative and oversight jurisdiction of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, NASA, Department of Energy’s research and development, NSF, NOAA, EPA, and other federal research agencies. He worked previously on the House Science Committee from 2001 until 2005.

From 2005 to 2009, Mr. Shank joined NASA as the Director of Strategic Investments, responsible for the formulation and defense of the agency’s $17 billion in programs and institutional budgets. While at NASA Headquarters, Mr. Shank was also in charge of the Office of Strategic Communications, directing legislative, public affairs, and education initiatives for the agency. In 2009 until 2011, Mr. Shank worked at Honeywell, where he led military, intelligence, civil and commercial space business development efforts.

Mr. Shank served in the Air Force from 1991 to 2001, working at the Pentagon, National Reconnaissance Office and Air Force Space Command on GPS and other advanced systems and technology efforts. He earned a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame. He also graduated from a summer session at the International Space University in Stockholm, Sweden.

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Lieutenant General L. Neil Thurgood is the Director for Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Space and Rapid Acquisition, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology), Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. He assumed duties in March 2019.

In this position, LTG Thurgood is responsible for the rapid fielding of select capabilities to deter and defeat rapidly modernizing adversaries, including overseeing development of an Army Long Range Hypersonic Weapon. He leads the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office mission to rapidly and efficiently research, develop, prototype, test, evaluate, procure and field critical enabling technologies and capabilities that address immediate, near-term, and mid-term threats, consistent with the Army’s modernization priorities.

LTG Thurgood most recently served as the Director for Test, Missile Defense Agency, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. LTG Thurgood most recently deployed from 2017-2018, when he served as Deputy Commander, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, Operation Resolute Support/Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. Prior to his deployment, he served as the Deputy for Acquisition and Systems Management, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology), in Washington, D.C.

LTG Thurgood enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1983. Following his commissioning in 1986 as an Aviation Branch Officer, he served in multiple company grade and battalion aviation positions in both the U.S. and overseas, including multiple combat deployments. LTG Thurgood was then selected and served in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) as a Platoon Leader, Operations Officer and Company Commander.

After transitioning into the Army Acquisition Corps in 1995, he served in various program offices for conventional and special programs. As a Project Manager, LTG Thurgood served in the Utility Helicopters Office, and as a Program Executive Officer, LTG Thurgood led the PEO for Missiles and Space, at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. LTG Thurgood participated in operations supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq.

LTG Thurgood holds an undergraduate degree in Business from the University of Utah; a master’s degree in Systems Acquisition Management from the Naval Postgraduate School; a master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the Air University, Air War College; and a doctorate in Strategic Planning and Organizational Leadership from the University of Sarasota, as well as several professional certifications.

Colonel Charles E. Jones
United States Air Force
Branch Chief, Warfighter Requirements
JCS J8/Joint Integrated Air & Missile Defense Organization (JIAMDO)

Colonel Jones is the Warfighter Requirements Branch Chief on the Joint Staff, J-8 Joint Integrated Air & Missile Defense Organization. Colonel Jones graduated from Emory and Henry College in 1997 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant following Air Force Officer Training School the same year. He was then qualified as an Air Battle Manager. His professional military education includes the initial Air Battle Manager Qualification Course, Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College and Air War College via Correspondence. Colonel Jones holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law and Politics from Emory and Henry College and a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Technology from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Colonel Jones’ first duty assignment was with the 965th Airborne Air Control Squadron, 552nd Operations Group, 552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, where he served as an Air Weapons Officer on board the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). From there he deployed to Operation SOUTHERN WATCH, Operation NORTHERN WATCH and counter drug operations in South America. He was then assigned to the 325th Air Control Squadron, 325th Operations Group, 325th Fighter Wing, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, where he served as an Air Weapons Officer Instructor and Flight Commander. Colonel Jones’ next assignment was North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Airborne Early Warning and Control Force, Geilenkirchen Air Base, Germany, where he served as an E-3 Weapons Controller, Fighter Allocator and Chief of Squadron Weapons and Tactics. He was then assigned to the 552nd Operations Support Squadron, 552nd Operations Group, 552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, where he served as an E-3 Mission Crew Commander, Deputy Chief of Current Operations and Assistant Director of Squadron Operations, while also deploying in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.

Colonel Jones was then assigned to Headquarters Air Combat Command, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, where he served as Airborne Command and Control Systems Branch Chief and Executive Officer to the Air Combat Command Director of Operations. Following this tour, he was assigned to the 607th Air Control Squadron, 56th Operations Group, 56th Fighter Wing, Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, where he served as Director of Operations and Squadron Commander. Following Command, Colonel Jones was assigned to the Warrior Preparation Center, Headquarters United States Air Forces in Europe, Einsiedlerhof, Germany, where he served as Deputy Commander, while also deploying to Headquarters US Central Command in support of Operation INHERENT RESOLVE and Operation RESOLUTE SUPPORT. He was then assigned to Headquarters United States Air Forces in Europe, where he served as Deputy Division Chief of Integrated Air and Missile Defense Operations.

Colonel Jones’ awards and decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (w/3 OLCs), Aerial Achievement Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal (w/2 OLCs), Joint Service Achievement Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal (w/1 OLC), Air Education and Training Command Master Instructor and Master Air Battle Manager Wings.

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Dr. Fred Kennedy is the inaugural Director of the U. S. Department of Defense (DOD) Space Development Agency (SDA), established by Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan on 12 March 2019. The SDA mission is to define and monitor the DOD’s future threat-driven space architecture and to accelerate the development and fielding of new military space capabilities necessary to ensure U.S. technological and military advantage in space for national defense.

From 2017 until he became the SDA Director, Dr. Kennedy was the Director of the Tactical Technology Office (TTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Prior to joining DARPA, he served as the senior policy advisor for national security space and aviation in the National Security and International Affairs Division of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). In this role, Dr. Kennedy advised the President of the United States on matters related to space and aviation policy.

Dr. Kennedy served 23 years in the United States Air Force, where he retired as a colonel. During his tenure, he served as a Senior Materiel Leader in both the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s Remote Sensing Directorate and the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center’s Battle Management Directorate. Prior to that, he was the lead for Space Requirements with the Joint Staff/J-8 in the Capabilities and Acquisition Division at the Pentagon and a chief for Spacecraft Payload Development and Test and Satellite Systems and Acquisition at the National Reconnaissance Office. From 2005 to 2008, while in the Air Force, Dr. Kennedy was a program manager in TTO, where he created and managed efforts around spacecraft and satellite servicing, advanced space power and propulsion systems, and innovative space technologies.

Dr. Kennedy holds a Ph.D. in electronics and physical sciences from the University of Surrey; a Master of Arts in organizational management from George Washington University; a Master of Arts in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College; and a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science, both in aeronautics and astronautics, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Liran Goldman is an Intelligence Specialist at Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), currently at the Washington DC Field Office. Due to the high density of government agencies, research facilities, and cleared contractors in the region, Dr. Goldman’s primary focus is providing counterintelligence analytical support to facilities and programs with applications to military technology. Previously, Dr. Goldman provided direct support to the Glenn Defense Marine Asia investigation, one of the largest fraud cases within the US Navy, where she helped to identify individuals involved in the scheme. Before joining NCIS, Dr. Goldman worked at the Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC), a fusion center in Los Angeles, CA, where she led an initiative to design and implement a process to help the JRIC transition from a counterterrorism to an all-crimes, all-hazards center. This involved establishing a bi-yearly threat assessment process to ensure the most relevant needs of the JRIC’s customer base (i.e., state, federal, and local law enforcement agencies) were being met; the process she designed and established is still used today.

Dr. Goldman earned her Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology at Claremont Graduate University. Her research focused on recruitment to and radicalization in violent groups, such as terrorist organizations and gangs. Specifically, her research explored social and behavioral factors that increased an individual’s willingness to participate in violent, aggressive, or “antisocial” behaviors on behalf of a group or organization.

Peter Mitchener is the FBI’s Senior National Intelligence Officer for Cyber, acting as the FBI’s lead analyst for cyber matters. As part of the FBI’s Bureau Intelligence Council, he collaborates with all FBI operational divisions to provide senior leadership with a consolidated, integrated perspective on cyber issues. He develops cross-programmatic approaches to support the FBI’s cyber mission, and facilitates a broader understanding of how cyber threats are mitigated across all operational programs. He serves as the FBI’s chief analytic liaison between the FBI, the broader intelligence community and the private sector on cyber issues. Prior to joining the Bureau Intelligence Council, he was detailed to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, National Intelligence Manager for Cyber, where he served as a Program Mission Manager. Over a 20 year career in the FBI, he has served as a manager or senior analyst on a number of cyber and counterintelligence issues, spanning multiple regions and technology issues. He has a Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Captain Moran currently serves as Commanding Officer of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). As a career naval aviator, he completed multiple combat tours flying the EA-6B Prowler aircraft, culminating with operational command of a carrier-based Electronic Attack Squadron. He gained experience across a broad spectrum of defense acquisition career fields with shore tours in program management, requirements generation and test & evaluation specialties. Additionally, he served as Deputy Commander for a joint unit in Baghdad, Iraq that fielded, maintained and tested systems designed to protect against Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Devices. Captain Moran earned a BS degree in Aero/Astro Engineering from MIT. He completed a Naval Postgraduate School/United States Naval Test Pilot School Cooperative Program, receiving an MS degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He earned a second masters degree as a distinguished graduate of the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy (formerly the Industrial College of the Armed Forces). His military decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal (two awards) and Air Medal (Individual with Combat “V” and 4 Strike/Flight awards).

Andy Gerber is vice president of Innovation and Strategic Pursuits for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS). Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2017 sales of $25 billion and 64,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

In this role, Gerber will partner with leaders in IDS and across Raytheon to develop new business solutions that provide integrated and advanced capability to our customers. He will also provide insight from his business relationships with our customers — including with leaders in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Navy, Army, Missile Defense Agency and other defense agencies — to help us better understand their needs and desires.

Before joining Raytheon, Gerber was the director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and senior vice president of the Georgia Institute of Technology. As director of GTRI, he led a team of about 2,000 researchers, staff and students in accomplishing applied research solutions to complex problems for sponsors in federal and state government and industry. Prior to coming to GTRI, Gerber served as Associate Head of the Air and Missile Defense Technology Division of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory.

Gerber joined Lincoln Laboratory as a staff member in 1988. In 1991, he took an assignment at the Kwajalein Missile Range in the Marshall Islands, where he was responsible for space surveillance programs and later served as leader of the ALTAIR radar (ARPA Long-range Tracking And Instrumentation Radar). He returned to Lincoln Laboratory in 1996 as assistant leader of the air defense techniques group, where he helped build the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program. In 1997, Gerber became an Intergovernmental Personnel Act appointee with the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Theater Surface Combatants. Gerber’s efforts were focused on development and implementation of a plan for the next generation of radars for the Surface Navy.

In September 2001, Gerber returned again to Lincoln Laboratory as assistant head of the sensor systems division and led the sensor systems division in 2002. In 2004, he assumed his position as associate head of the air and missile defense technology division. Gerber earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Duke University, and a master’s and doctorate in applied physics from Yale University.

Rear Adm. Jon Hill, USN, is a native of Texas, born and raised on Fort Bliss. A surface warfare officer designated as an engineering duty officer, he is a graduate of Saint Mary’s University and earned a Master of Science in Applied Physics and Ordnance Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School.

Hill’s first flag officer tour was program executive officer for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS). In this role, he was accountable for developing, delivering and sustaining all surface ship combat control systems, radars, missiles, launchers, electronic warfare, naval gunnery systems and surface and subsurface anti-submarine warfare mission capabilities.

Other leadership and acquisition engineering positions include AEGIS Shipbuilding (PMS 400), Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division and Port Hueneme Division, PEO Theater Surface Combatants and on the Assistant Secretary of the Navy staff for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RD&A).

He also served on the Joint Staff (J-6), U.S. Army Staff for Missile Systems and as a senior fellow on the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group (CNO SSG XXVII). He served Missile Defense Agency (MDA) as technical director for Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense then as Aegis Combat Systems major program manager responsible for delivering Naval Integrated Fire Control and Counter Air (NIFC-CA) and Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) capabilities to forces afloat.

Hill assumed duties as deputy director of the Missile Defense Agency in November 2016. He advises the director, MDA, in fielding the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) and manages MDA support to BMDS operational programs. Hill supports the development and implementation of BMDS policy, capabilities, priorities and resources, and serves as the operational interface with the services, combatant commands, Joint Staff and allies.

Personal awards include the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (two awards), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the U.S. Army Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two awards) and the Navy Achievement Medal (two awards).

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Dr. Michael D. Griffin is the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. He is the Department’s Chief Technology Officer, and is responsible for the research, development, and prototyping activities across the DoD enterprise and is mandated with ensuring technological superiority for the Department of Defense. He oversees the activities of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, the Strategic Capabilties Office, Defense Innovation Unit, the DoD Laboratory enterprise, and the Under Secretariate staff focused on developing advanced technology and capability for the U.S. military.

Mike was previously Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Schafer Corporation, a professional services provider in the national security sector. He has served as the King-McDonald Eminent Scholar and professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, as the Administrator of NASA, and as the Space Department Head at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He has also held numerous executive positions in industry, including President and Chief Operating Officer of In-Q-Tel, CEO of Magellan Systems, and EVP/General Manager of Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group. Griffin’s earlier career includes service as both Chief Engineer and Associate Administrator for Exploration at NASA, and as the Deputy for Technology at the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. Prior to joining SDIO in an executive capacity, he played a key role in conceiving and directing several “first of a kind” space tests in support of strategic defense research, development, and flight-testing. These included the first space-to-space intercept of a ballistic missile in powered flight, the first broad-spectrum spaceborne reconnaissance of targets and decoys in midcourse flight, and the first space-to-ground reconnaissance of ballistic missiles during the boost phase. Mike also played a leading role in other space missions at the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Griffin has been an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University, teaching spacecraft design, applied mathematics, guidance and navigation, compressible flow, computational fluid dynamics, spacecraft attitude control, estimation theory, astrodynamics, mechanics of materials, and introductory aerospace engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in California and Maryland, and the lead author of some two dozen technical papers and the textbook Space Vehicle Design.

He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the International Academy of Astronautics, an Honorary Fellow and former president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Fellow of the American Astronautical Society, and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, the AIAA Space Systems Medal and Goddard Astronautics Award, the National Space Club’s Goddard Trophy, the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement, the Missile Defense Agency’s Ronald Reagan Award, and the Department of DoD Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest award which can be conferred on a non-government employee.

Griffin obtained his B.A. in Physics from the Johns Hopkins University, which he attended as the winner of a Maryland Senatorial Scholarship. He holds master’s degrees in aerospace science from Catholic University, electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, applied physics from Johns Hopkins, civil engineering from George Washington University, and business administration from Loyola University. He received his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland, and has been recognized with honorary doctoral degrees from Florida Southern College and the University of Notre Dame.

Mike is a 4500+ hour commercial pilot and flight instructor with instrument and multiengine ratings, and holds an Extra Class Amateur Radio license.