Chief Executive Officer of Aquarian Space, TEDx speaker and a serial entrepreneur, Kelly Larson, ABD, is an innovator at the intersection of business, science and leadership. As a farm girl grown into a Yoga and transformation entrepreneur turned space CEO, she trail-blazes new business ventures and connects people and ideas across the globe. Kelly is widely known for her innovative approaches to business and her strategic range. She currently specializes in aerospace market-ready development strategies with an emphasis in collaborative international partnerships and high-level entrepreneurial ventures. Kelly sees that we can only develop a strong interplanetary economy together.
People Category: HUB SciTech 2021
Garret Westlake
Dr. Garret Westlake is leading the transformation of Virginia Commonwealth University into one of the nation’s leading universities for cross-disciplinary collaboration and innovation. As executive director of the da Vinci Center for Innovation, Dr. Westlake advances university-wide student innovation and entrepreneurship through curriculum as well as through curated experiential education opportunities. Dr. Westlake is also a Visiting Scholar at Northern Michigan University’s SISU Institute for Innovation and Educational Transformation.
Joe Cassady
Mr. Cassady is the Executive Director of Space Programs in the Washington DC Operations for Aerojet Rocketdyne where he helps oversee strategy development and architectures for future space and launch systems. He obtained his BS (1981) and MS (1983) in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University as well as a Graduate Certificate in Systems Engineering at the George Washington University in 2005. Mr. Cassady holds five U.S. Patents for Electric Propulsion technology. He has 37 years of experience in propulsion development and mission and systems analysis and has authored more than 60 technical papers dealing with electric propulsion, power and attitude control systems and mission analysis. Prior to coming to the Washington office, Mr. Cassady led flight project teams for the 26 kWe ESEX arcjet system (which still holds the record as the highest power electric propulsion system flown) and the EO-1 Pulsed Plasma Thruster system. In addition, he has served on a number of advisory groups for NASA and the DoD. He is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA, is Vice President of the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society and serves as Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Directors for ExploreMars, a 501c(3) non-profit dedicated to promoting STEM and human Mars exploration. It is his stated goal to see humans join their robotic precursors on the surface of the Red Planet.
Chris McLean
Chris McLean is a staff consultant at Ball Aerospace and is the Principal Investigator for NASA’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM). His extensive expertise in propulsion and aerospace development have been critical to the GPIM program.
McLean began his career with Ball in 2004 where he served as the program manager for an in-space cryogenic propellant storage and delivery program, which included customer development and program execution. He has held multiple leadership positions during his time spent at Ball, including as the lead systems engineer for a robotic lunar lander effort. McLean is skilled in building highly motivated and multidisciplinary project teams and is well-known for his strong program management and ability to execute.
Prior to Ball, McLean was a propulsion research engineer specialist at Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion.
McLean received a Ball Engineering Excellence Award in 2016 for his leadership and expertise in propulsion technology on GPIM. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Washington.
Adam Brand
Mr. Adam Brand presently serves as the Tech Advisor and Advanced Propellant Development Lead for the Propellants Branch within the Aerospace Systems Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). He is a graduate of The Ohio State University where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and a Masters in Energetic Concepts from the University of Maryland. Adam began his career at the Air Force Research Laboratory in 1994 as a chemical engineer under Dr. Tommy Hawkins formulating and characterizing HCl-free solid propellants. This early effort at AFRL ultimately led to the development of the influential field of energetic ionic liquids (EILs) research. Adam has served as the PI for many programs investigating EILs for a variety of applications ranging from gas generators to explosives. His experience includes characterization and testing of novel energetic materials as well as formulation and development of both solid and liquid propellants. Mr. Brand has worked extensively in the area of salt-based monopropellant development for spacecraft applications, and is a co-inventor of the advanced liquid monopropellant, AF-M315E (ASCENT).
Trudy Kortes
Ms. Trudy F. Kortes serves as the Director of the Technology Demonstration Missions Program, managing more than $500M annually for the Agency to accomplish key technology advancements for future science and human exploration missions for the Agency and nation. Most recently, Trudy served as the Chief of the Human Exploration & Space Operations Division at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Trudy had oversight for over $200M annually in key agency work in the testing of the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System universal stage adapter, Human Research Program elements such as exercise devices, International Space Station biological and physical sciences, and advanced communications systems such as cognitive and quantum communications. From 2015 to 2018, Trudy served as the Technology Demonstration Missions Program Executive and managed the growing portfolio of flight and ground demonstration projects. Under her leadership, the program successfully developed important technology flight demonstrations, including the Green Propellant Infusion Mission, Deep Space Atomic Clock, and the STMD technology investments onboard the Perseverance rover. She has over 28 years of experience at NASA holding various institutional and programmatic positions at the Johnson Space Center, Ames Research Center, Glenn Research Center, and NASA Headquarters. Ms. Kortes is a federally certified program and project manager and has extensive experience in key systems engineering roles. She resides in Westlake, Ohio with her husband and three children.
Billy Kirsch
Hit songwriter Billy Kirsch has harnessed the power of creativity to lead a successful life as an entertainer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. His body of work includes award winning songs and career songs for the artists who have recorded them. “Holes n The floor Of Heaven” recorded by Steve Wariner, won a Country Music Association song of the year award, was nominated for a Grammy award and was a number one hit. Top 10 songs, “Is It Over Yet” and “Come Some Rainy Day,” both recorded by Wynonna Judd, have become standards in the repertoire. “Stay Gone” launched singer Jimmy Wayne’s career as a Top 5 single. The list of artists who have recorded Billy’s songs include Tim McGraw, Kenny Rogers, Englebert Humperdink, Alabama, Mark Wills, Clay Walker, and more.
Victoria Banks
Victoria Banks has won two 2010 Canadian Country Music Association awards — Female Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year! Notable cuts include Jessica Simpson’s Billboard record-breaking single “Come on Over,” Sara Evans’ hit “Saints & Angels” and duet “Can’t Stop Loving You” (with Isaac Slade of the band The Fray), X Factor winner Tate Steven’s “Ordinary Angels,” One More Girl’s breakout BCCMA-winning hit “When It Ain’t Raining,” Doc Walker’s chart-topping “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” and Johnny Reid’s smash “Dance With Me,” for which Victoria was named 2010 CCMA Songwriter of the Year.
Ernest J. Serrano
Ernest Serrano is Senior Director of Engineering for MQ-1C Gray Eagle for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), where he has overall technical responsibility for the development, production, and field support of the Army’s Gray Eagle Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). The Gray Eagle program was GA-ASI’s first formal Program of Record when it was awarded in 2005 and has since fielded over 200 aircraft and flown over 700,000 hours in mostly overseas operations. Mr. Serrano has been with the Gray Eagle program since its inception and currently directs over 100 multi-disciplinary project and system engineers, while coordinating activities of matrixed functional engineering teams to execute the program.
During his tenure, the Gray Eagle program has won two Aviation Week Program Excellence awards for the development of the new Gray Eagle Extended Range and for superb logitics support of Gray Eagle systems in the field where accurate and timely engineering support is vital. Mr. Serrano also has had responsibility for Internal Research and Development programs that support the Gray Eagle system to include a new high efficiency diesel engine, new aircraft variants and payloads, and modernized capabilities to make Gray Eagle relevant in the emerging global multi-domain operations.
Mr. Serrano joined GA-ASI in 1994 as a software engineer on the company’s original software development team responsible for MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Predator B systems. He took on progressive positions of responsibility in software engineering and in 2006 became the software development manager for the Gray Eagle program. Under Mr. Serrano’s direction, the Gray Eagle software team implemented the first Automatic Takeoff and Landing System in the company that has logged over 150,000 take-offs and landings in the field and incorporated a Manned Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) capability that allows interoperability between Gray Eagle and Apache helicopters for tactical weapons and reconnaissance operations.
After a successful Gray Eagle system Initial Operational Test & Evaluation in 2012, he transitioned to Gray Eagle Chief Engineer with overall engineering technical responsibilities for the program. He led the IRAD development of Gray Eagle Extended Range aircraft providing 40 hours of endurance to the Army and is currently leading the efforts to develop a new avionics, navigation, and datalink suite that will modernize the Gray Eagle fleet to meet new operation demands in contested environments.
Mr. Serrano holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics-Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He is married and has three children.
Alexander Schneegans
As one of the three founders and Managing Partners of PACE, Alexander Schneegans was instrumental in driving the enterprise from start-up to its current status as a trusted partner of leading aerospace organizations around the world. Alexander heads the business line Preliminary Design & Evaluation, which focuses on developing software solutions supporting the design and marketing of complex, highly engineered products such as aircraft and their sub-systems. Alexander earned his engineering degree in 1992 from Technische Universität Berlin, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he also served as a research assistant before starting his own company.