Brief biography, international experience, and awards/honors/invitations

(If you need a bio tailored for your needs, I will be happy to write one.)

I have been blessed with a career in two fields that I love; Information Technology and aerospace. Each has provided me with professional growth through a variety of experiences, challenges, and skills development... plus outstanding mentors when I most needed them.

Perhaps as a precursor of what was to come, my first IT and aerospace experiences occurred at the same time when I played Star Trek on my high school's computer in the early 1970's.  The computer was primitive, but I was hooked!

My aerospace involvement took a big leap in 1979 with a summer job at NASA Headquarters between college semesters. July 11th was a particularly exciting day, as Australia called my office to report the impact of Skylab debris. Leaping into action, I answered the phone ..., and immediately delegated the task to someone who could actually do something about it. Talk about leadership!

I came back to NASA Headquarters in 1981 for a six-month graduate internship in the International Affairs Division, where I conducted research and wrote reports on the agency's various international commitments and programs. I was fortunate to be in the auditorium when the space shuttle Columbia made her maiden flight on April 12th. The champagne wasn't bad... for government champagne.

Returning to Houston and determined to contribute to the US space program, I was hired by IBM as a Systems Engineer and worked for five years at NASA's Johnson Space Center (1981 - 1985), and then at several universities and hospitals.

My Information Technology career spanned IBM (1981 - 1992), Attachmate (1992 - 2002), and independent consulting (2002 - 2008). During these years I specialized in strategic business and technology planning and implementation, along with technical pre-sales, marketing, and communication.

While working as an IT professional, I combined my passions for space and writing and in the early 1990's wrote a monthly column on space policy issues entitled "Think About It," which appeared in the Journal for Space Development and other space newsletters. Additionally, my material has been published online and in Ad Astra, Space News, The News & Observer, the Houston Chronicle, and the Houston Business Journal, and Chelsea House published my first book essays in Spring 2005. I have also spoken at a wide variety of conferences and other venues, and have been interviewed on radio, television, and Internet news programs. As a volunteer, I have worked with space advocacy groups such as the National Space Society, ProSpace (as Chairman), and the Space Frontier Foundation (Conference Chairman, Board of Directors).

In early 2004 I left the IT industry to focus on aersospace and several entrepreneurial efforts.  From January 2005 through December 2007 I was Executive Director of the Space Frontier Foundation. Overlapping this period, beginning in 2004 and continuing today, I engaged in various projects which you can see on my Business Consulting page.  In early 2009 I became Chief Operating Officer of Syntiant, Inc., a startup firm.

My education includes a B.A. in Sociology/Psychology from The George Washington University and a M.S. in Future Studies from the University of Houston.  The latter taught me strategic planning and business development with an emphasis on seeking, understanding, and applying the less-than-obvious connections (or synergies) between seemingly unconnected disciplines, markets, and so forth.  Put another way, I learned not only how to connect the familiar dots, but also to look for the hidden dots and connect them as well.  This is how you gain first-mover advantage and a competitive edge.

Experience, education, and wonderful parents have given me a blend of creative and analytical skills, which I apply with integrity, focus, and determination.

International Experience:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Costa Rica
  
• England
• France
• Germany
• Hong Kong
• Ireland
  
• Isle of Man
• Israel
  
• Italy
• Japan
• Jordan
• Kenya
• Nepal
  
• Singapore
• Spain
• The Netherlands

Select awards, honors, and invitations

• X Prize Foundation VIP invitation for Executive Summit (2007)
• Participant in invitation-only US Dept. of Commerce - Office of Space Commercialization strategic plan development (2006 - 2007)
• Participant in invitation-only NASA Exploration Strategy Workshop (2006)
• UP Aerospace VIP invitation for inaugural launch at New Mexico's Spaceport America (2006)
  
• X Prize Foundation VIP invitation for SpaceShipOne flights in Mojave, CA (2004)
• Attachmate North America Systems Engineer of the Year (1999)
• ProSpace Space Activist of the Year (1998)
• Attachmate “One of Top Three” North American Systems Engineers (1998)
• Attachmate “Diamond Circle” for sales performance (1997-1999)
• Attachmate North American Systems Engineer of the 1^st Quarter (1994)
• IBM:  eleven awards for sales and installation achievements (1981-1992)
• Invited to join the Houston Community College Advisory Board for Networking and Computing (1990)