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- Andrew Allen – Jacobs Space Operations Group
- Kyle M. Griffin – Lockheed Martin
- John Shannon – The Boeing Company
- Kristin Houston – Aerojet Rocketdyne
- Jim Kalberer – Northrop Grumman
Andrew Allen
Vice President and General Manager, Jacobs Space Operations Group (JSOG)
Andrew Allen is the CEO of Aerodyne Industries LLC, a service-disabled, veteran-owned, small business that is a top engineering and IT solutions company.
He also serves in a new capacity for Jacobs as Vice President, supporting the Senior Vice President of Advanced Engineering, Research and Operations. In this role Allen represents Jacobs in industry partnerships focused on NASA and space exploration and supports other Jacobs strategic activities and business pursuits. Previous to this assignment, he was the Vice President and General Manager of Jacobs Space Operations Group at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, FL.
Allen’s entire career has been dedicated to aerospace. Prior to joining Jacobs, he served in various space industry leadership positions including Vice President of Space Programs and Requirements for Honeywell, Vice President of International Military Aircraft for Honeywell and Associate Program Manager for Ground Operations with United Space Alliance. Selected by NASA in 1987, Allen became an astronaut in 1988 and is a veteran of three space flights – logging more than 900 hours in space as the pilot on STS-46 in 1992, STS-62 in 1994, and mission commander on STS-75 in 1996. He was the Director of Space Station Requirements at NASA Headquarters until 1997. A retired Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, he graduated from the Marine Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course, Naval Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun), and U.S. Navy Test Pilot School prior to his selection to the astronaut program. He has flown over 6,000 hours in over 30 different aircraft.
Allen earned his MBA from the University of Florida (2004) and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University (1977). He has received numerous awards and honors during his career including an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Daniel Webster College; Honorary Doctorate of Engineering Science from Villanova University; Honorary Doctorate of Public Service from Bucks County Community College; as well as numerous medals and accolades in recognition of exemplary military and NASA service, such as the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Single Mission Air Medal, NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and NASA Space Flight Medal.
Kyle M. Griffin
Commercial Civil Space VP/GM, Lockheed Martin Space Company
Kyle Griffin is the Vice President and General Manager of the Commercial Civil Space line of business at Lockheed Martin Space. In this role, he oversees an incredible team working on human and deep space exploration spacecraft like NASA’s Orion, weather and remote sensing spacecraft and other cutting-edge technology that will return humans to the Moon to stay and then take them onward – to Mars. He is also responsible for growing Lockheed Martin Space’s commercial footprint and expanding the company’s customer base beyond traditional markets in the space industry.
Kyle’s career with Lockheed Martin has spanned multiple leadership positions and areas of expertise. Prior to assuming his current role, Kyle was the Vice President of Strategy & Business Development at Lockheed Martin Space. In this role, Kyle was responsible for growing the Space business with a comprehensive strategy to develop new markets and keep programs sold. He also led strategic planning, advanced technology development and new business acquisition efforts.
Kyle also served as the Vice President of Advanced Programs Development, where he led teams across all Lockheed Martin Space lines of businesses to research and pursue new technologies, often looking five to thirty years into the future.
Past executive leadership roles also include Kyle’s term as the Deputy Vice President and General Manager for Lockheed Martin Space Special Programs, where he oversaw a broad portfolio of advanced programs and development contracts focused on delivering high performance systems and innovative concepts for critical national security space applications. He also served as the Director for Advanced Program Development within Special Programs and as the Bus and Program Director for Military Support Programs. In each of these roles, Kyle was responsible for cost, schedule, budget and performance.
Throughout his 37-year aerospace career, Kyle has worked in a broad set of areas including rocket, spacecraft and ground development. Major programs include Peacekeeper, Titan, Stardust and Genesis. He has held various leadership positions within Lockheed Martin, where his responsibilities included spacecraft bus systems development, manufacturing, modeling and real-time simulation for spacecraft and electrical components, and the development of ground processing and simulation for key government programs.
John Shannon
Vice President, Boeing Exploration Systems, Boeing
John Shannon is the vice president of Boeing Exploration Systems, which is responsible for the company’s human space exploration programs, including the Space Launch System (SLS), the International Space Station (ISS), the CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle, commercial low-Earth orbit initiatives and lunar pursuits. Prior to this position, Shannon was the vice president and program manager of Boeing’s SLS team, which designed, developed, tested, produced and successfully flew the core stage, upper stages and avionics for NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket on Artemis I in 2022. Shannon previously led the ISS program for Boeing in its key integration role for NASA.
Before joining Boeing, Shannon served as NASA’s deputy associate administrator for Exploration Planning in the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. In this role, Shannon was responsible for working with NASA and the international partners to define future human exploration activities for NASA Headquarters. While at NASA, he also served as the program manager of the agency’s Space Shuttle Program where he managed the program’s final 14 missions. Prior to this role, Shannon served as the deputy manager and the manager of Flight Operations and Integration for the Space Shuttle Program.
Shannon’s academic achievements include a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University and completion of Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and is the Boeing executive focal for Texas A&M University.
Kristin Houston
President, Space Propulsion and Power Systems, Aerojet Rocketdyne
Kristin Houston is the President of the Space Propulsion & Power Systems sector within the Aerojet Rocketdyne segment of L3Harris Technologies. In this role, Houston is responsible for business strategy, financial performance and successful execution and growth of the sector’s core capabilities that span launch propulsion, in-space propulsion and power systems.
Prior to her current role, Houston served as the President of the Electro Optical sector within the Integrated Mission Systems segment. In this role, she led a diverse, $1.5B portfolio across multiple divisions and sites. Houston led a 4,500-person team to work effectively with customers to design and manufacture high value, industry-leading Electro Optical/Infrared products, Space Avionics and Defense Electronic solutions across air, land, sea and space.
Prior to joining L3Harris in 2021, Houston spent 16 years at Boeing and held positions of increasing responsibility in engineering and program management, including Vice President & Chief Engineer for Vertical Lift; Vice President & Program Manager, Tiltrotor programs; Director, International Apache programs; and Program Manager, V-22 programs.
Houston holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an Executive MBA from Villanova University with Beta Gamma Sigma honors. Passionate about supporting initiatives that promote workplace diversity and inclusion, Houston currently serves as the Executive Sponsor for L3Harris’ Women Who Strive for Empowering, Enhancing, and Encouraging other Women (WE3) employee resource group. Houston is the L3Harris Executive Champion for Villanova University, leading annual university recruiting efforts. Houston serves as a board member for the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. The Philadelphia Business Journal named Houston to its 40 Under 40 Class of 2018. She is also an avid runner, cyclist and triathlete.
L3Harris Technologies is the Trusted Disruptor in the defense industry. With customers’ mission-critical needs always in mind, our 50,000 employees deliver end-to-end technology solutions connecting the space, air, land, sea and cyber domains in the interest of national security.
Jim Kalberer
Vice President, Propulsion Systems, Northrop Grumman Corporation
BIO – coming soon.
Northrop Grumman solves the toughest problems in space, aeronautics, defense and cyberspace to meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers worldwide. Our 90,000 employees define possible every day using science, technology and engineering to create and deliver advanced systems, products and services.