Dr. Martin joined Astroscale U.S. in August 2019 as SVP of Operations and Programs. She brings many years of space technology management, operations, and engineering expertise to the Astroscale team.
Dr. Martin previously held the position of the Director, Orbital Solutions at General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS). She was responsible for the management and technical performance of the engineering staff and delivery of projects, including planning and managing technical and programmatic solutions to ensure quality, business, and financial objectives were met.
Prior to joining GA-EMS, Dr. Martin was the Chief Operating Officer at Surrey Satellite Technology US, where she led the Surrey project management and engineering teams. As a member of the Surrey Satellite US executive team, Dr. Martin managed the bidding, negotiation, and execution of projects, and was responsible for ensuring the company’s cost-effective methods were appropriately applied to the execution of programs.
Dr. Martin joined Surrey Satellite US from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. in the United Kingdom, where she held several positions including the Head of Telecommunications and Navigation business unit, encompassing the Galileo payload programme. Prior to Surrey, Dr. Martin was a project manager and scientist at QinetiQ.
Dr. Martin earned a Master of Science in astrophysics and a Doctorate in mathematics and computational sciences from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
Walt Everetts is Vice President, Space Operations and Engineering for Iridium, where he is responsible for overseeing and monitoring the Iridium space-based network operations, the teleport network of antennas around the world and the development & deployment of upgrades to support future system enhancements. His responsibilities encompass all aspects of constellation management, as well as space engineering supporting software enhancements to fully serve the end user communications needs and expected availability.
Mr. Everetts started his career working in the aerospace industry with specific responsibilities in commercial communication satellite integration, testing, and launching. In 1996, he joined the satellite communications division at Motorola as the manufacturing manager responsible for the delivery and deployment of the Iridium program spacecraft constellation. After completion of the original Iridium satellites, Mr. Everetts took on a new program management position at Motorola, where he was assigned to projects in more than 40 countries and a multitude of different product lines in the telecommunication industry. In February 2008, Mr. Everetts rejoined Iridium as the Space Systems Operations Director. In 2013, he was promoted to his current role of VP, Space Operations and Engineering.
Mr. Everetts holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University.
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Dr. Marla E. Pérez-Davis serves as the director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. In this position, she is responsible for planning, organizing and directing the activities required in accomplishing the missions assigned to the center. The Glenn staff consists of more than 3,200 civil service and support contractor employees and has an annual budget of more than $900 million. Prior to becoming the director, Dr. Pérez-Davis served as Glenn’s deputy director.
From 2014 to June 2016, she was deputy director of the Research and Engineering Directorate. In this position, Pérez-Davis was responsible for leading, planning, coordinating and managing all phases of Glenn’s research and engineering activities to accomplish NASA missions.
Other key leadership positions Pérez-Davis held at Glenn include director of the Aeronautics Research Office from 2010 to 2014, where she served as the focal point for aeronautics research and provided project management, leadership and oversight in support of the Agency’s aeronautics research mission. Prior to that, she served as chief of the Project Liaison and Integration Office from 2007 to 2010, where her leadership resulted in streamlined business processes, improved contract management practices and improved timeliness response to safety assurance activities. She also served as the chief of the Electrochemistry Branch, where her leadership resulted in strengthening the energy storage and power competencies as well as the establishment of new partnerships in support of NASA missions.
Pérez-Davis is the recipient of numerous NASA awards including the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and the prestigious Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executives. She was also the recipient of the 2015 Crain’s Women of Note; the Top 25 Elite Business Women, Hispanic Business Magazine; Women of Color Career Achievement; Distinguished Alumni Award, Alumni Association of University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez; Women in Aerospace Award for Aerospace Awareness; Women of Color Technology Award for Career Achievement; and the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Santiago Rodriguez Diversity Award. She is also a certified NASA Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
Pérez-Davis, a native of Puerto Rico, earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico; a Master of Science degree from the University of Toledo and a doctoral degree from Case Western Reserve University in Chemical Engineering. In 2006, she completed NASA’s Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program and the Office of Personnel Management Program.
