People Category: Speaker

Kathryn "Kathy" Lueders

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine selected Commercial Crew Program Manager Kathy Lueders to be the agency’s next associate administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate on June 12, 2020. Since 2014, Lueders has directed NASA’s efforts to send astronauts to space on private spacecraft, which culminated in the successful launch of Demo-2 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 30.

Lueders began her NASA career in 1992 at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, where she was the Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System and Reaction Control Systems Depot manager. She later moved to the International Space Station Program and served as transportation integration manager, where she led commercial cargo resupply services to the space station.

She also was responsible for NASA oversight of international partner spacecraft visiting the space station, including the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s H-II Transfer Vehicle, and the Russian space agency Roscosmos’ Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. She went to Kennedy as acting Commercial Crew Program Manager in 2013 and was selected as the head of the office in 2014.

Lueders has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from New Mexico State University.

Johnathon Caldwell

Mr. Caldwell leads Lockheed Martin’s Military Space business, comprised of critical national security space missions for both United States and allied nations. With nearly 30 years in industry, he has held numerous technical and leadership roles, including modernizing the nation’s strategic communications and missile warning, developing commercial space systems, producing and fielding next generation Global Positioning Systems, and leading the digital modernization of Lockheed Martin Space. He serves on the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), the AIAA Board of Trustees, and the University of Colorado Engineering Advisory Council.  Mr. Caldwell is a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder.

Kevin Cedrone

Kevin Cedrone is a Co-Founder of Lumafield and serves as the company’s Head of Research and Development. With more than 20 years of experience, Kevin previously co-founded EB Innovations, where he also served as CEO, and held roles at Digital Alloys, Formlabs, and Toyota. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo and both a master’s and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT. Since 2017, he has also lectured at MIT on measurements and instrumentation.

Andrew Neely

Andrew Neely is a full Professor at UNSW Canberra where he leads a research team investigating fluid-thermal-structural interactions on high speed vehicles via novel experiments and simulation frameworks. He graduated from the University of Queensland with a Masters and PhD in hypersonic ground test facility development. He works closely with defense agencies in Australia and the US and is the UNSW theme lead for Hypersonics and Counter Measures in the large federally-funded Defense Trailblazer program linking academia with industry. His work has supported flight test programs for DARPA, DSTG/AFRL and for ESA. While he specializes in hypersonic systems he also worked at the University of Oxford for a number of years on gas turbine systems for Rolls Royce, before returning to Australia.

Neely has contributed to international technical committees for the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) as well as the Australian board member of the International Society for Air Breathing Engines (ISABE). He has served terms as the President of the Australian Division of the RAeS and as the Vice President of ISABE. He has a passion for STEM outreach and established the Cool Aeronautics program in Australia for the RAeS, in conjunction with AIAA, UNSW and a growing list of partners.

Edward Gerding

Ed Gerding is vice president and chief engineer for Government Services Engineering within Boeing Global Services (BGS). The diverse organization includes engineering support for all defense maintenance, modifications, upgrades, retrofit and support equipment across U.S. and international Air Force, Navy, Army and Space programs. In addition, Gerding has responsibility for the engineering teams within Boeing Defence United Kingdom and Boeing Defence Australia. In this role, Gerding has assigned or matrixed responsibility for all engineering disciplines, leading a team of over 4,000 engineers. He is responsible for engineering execution on these programs, including safety, engineering performance and affordability, design practices, advancing model-based engineering and driving engineering first-time quality.

Previously, Gerding was vice president and senior chief engineer for Boeing Defense, Space and Security (BDS) Engineering Structures and Mechanical Systems, responsible for the technical integrity and success of BDS development and production programs. Additionally, he served as the BDS Structures and Build engineering capability leader with oversight of all BDS structures and production engineers.

Gerding began his career with McDonnell Douglas in 1984 as an associate structural design engineer on the AV-8B Harrier II program. He has worked a variety of other programs, including the C-17, F-15, F/A-18, A-10, and 787, as well as assignments on proprietary programs. His tenure includes a long-term expatriate onsite assignment at Israel Aircraft Industries in support of F-15 coproduction, and a relocation to Boeing South Carolina to focus on 787 affordability in a program management role. Gerding is experienced across all of Boeing’s business units, as well as the full product lifecycle of early development, development, production and sustainment.

Gerding has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla, a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Maryville University. In 2011, he was inducted into the Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers for the Missouri University of Science & Technology (AMAE); he is a past AMAE president and currently serves on the board of directors. In addition, Gerding is the Boeing executive focal for Tennessee State University. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Missouri, and a Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.