Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Owen is Commander, Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. As ASC Commander and Program Executive Officer for aircraft procurement and modernization, he leads the Air Force's center of excellence for development and acquisition of aeronautical systems. The center is responsible for the management of more than 556 Air Force, joint and international programs, executes an annual budget of $23 billion, and employs a work force of approximately 10,000 people located at Wright- Patterson AFB and 38 other locations worldwide.

General Owen entered the Air Force in 1978 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Early in his career he worked on B-52 Stratofortress, KC-135 Stratotanker and F-15 Eagle aircraft. The general has commanded an aircraft generation squadron maintaining F-16 Fighting Falcon and OA-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft; a maintenance squadron performing intermediate level aircraft and munitions maintenance; and a combat logistics support squadron providing F-16 and F-4 Phantom aircraft battle damage repair, supply and transportation support. He's been assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in the Pentagon two times.

General Owen was the first logistics group commander for the first and only wing operating E-8C Joint STARS aircraft. For more than three years, he was Director of the C-5 System Program Office at San Antonio and Warner Robins Air Logistics Centers. He has also served as Director for the C-17 and F-22A System Program Offices at the Aeronautical Systems Center, and Director of Logistics, Installations and Mission Support at Headquarters Air Education and Training Command. He was Commander of the Warner Robins ALC. Prior to assuming his current duties, he was Director of Logistics and Sustainment, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command. General Owen holds Department of Defense Acquisition Corps Level III certifications in Program Management and Life Cycle Logistics.

Since the fall of 2008, Mr. Mango has been assigned as Director of the Constellation Space Transportation Planning (CSTP) office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC). He is responsible for the development of a new programmatic structure under the Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD) to operate and sustain the Constellation systems to the International Space Station. In addition, Mr. Mango was recently assigned the additional role of Associate Program Manager for Operations and Sustaining for the Constellation Program. The CSTP office is working in conjunction with the Constellation Program office to bring the systems through design, development, and certification. Mr. Mango was also the Launch Director for Ares I-X, the Constellation Program’s first test flight.

After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Mr. Mango joined NASA at the Kennedy Space Center in 1986 and has held positions including Shuttle Project Engineer; Deputy Director for Shuttle Process Engineering; and, Shuttle Launch Manager. He served as the Recovery Director for the Columbia debris recovery effort in East Texas.

During the Return-To-Flight period, Mr. Mango was assigned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, as Deputy Manager of the Orbiter Project Office. Mr. Mango was responsible for directing the development, production, test, and supportability of the Space Shuttle Orbiter fleet, in a $750 million per year effort.

In 2007, Mr. Mango was assigned to the Kennedy Space Center as Deputy Director of the Launch Processing Directorate. He was responsible for processing and launching the Shuttle fleet as well as the first Constellation test mission.

During his career with NASA, Mr. Mango has earned numerous awards including the Exceptional Service Medal, Outstanding Leadership Medal, Certificate of Achievement, Directors Award, and most recently the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Stellar Award.

Mr. Mango earned his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 1981 from Parks College of Saint Louis University and Masters of Science in Engineering from the University of Central Florida.

Barry Scott is the Director of the Research and Technology Development Office within the FAA Air Traffic Organization's NextGen and Operations Planning Service (ATO-P). As Director, he is responsible to form, manage, and coordinate the FAA's research and development program in airport and aircraft safety, human factors, communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management. The R&TD Office produces the National Aviation Research Plan on behalf of the administrator for submission to Congress. Barry leads a large technical workforce of scientists, engineers, engineering research psychologists, computer specialists and technicians located both in FAA Headquarters and the William J. Hughes Technical Center.

He joined the FAA in 1966 as a junior engineer in the Aircraft Safety Division at the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center in Atlantic City, N. J. In 1970, he helped establish the first FAA R&D Field Office at NASA Ames Research Center in California and subsequently worked there as a researcher for 20 years and as Director for 16 years. He has authored many technical papers and won numerous awards for his research in such broad areas as crash fire-fighting, wake turbulence, development of airworthiness criteria for SST and Tilt-Rotor aircraft, head-up displays, TCAS, evaluation of ATC procedures for MLS and PRM systems and the development and implementation of the Center-TRACON Automation System. He has a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State.

20 years experience in supportability disciplines within Lockheed Martin.  15 years senior manager in Acquisition Logistics, Product Support, and Engineering Project Management.  2 years as LM Technical Fellow in Sustainment Engineering.  Lead developer of numerous unique Total Ownership Cost trade space models.  Creator of new paradigm – Metalogistics – combining Supportability Architecture, Robust Engineering Design, and Systems Engineering. Viewed as the Senior Subject Matter Expert in the Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Currently Director, Integrated Support Engineering for LM IS&GS – Defense, charged with creating an Engineering Center of Excellence specializing in developing and implementing new and better architecture & engineering processes in Sustainment and Information Technology disciplines, for all LM lines of business. Leads the LMC Supportability Engineering Community of Practice, and is a frequent speaker at forums within Lockheed Martin to discuss his vision for sustainment in the 21st century.

 As a Lockheed Martin Technical Fellow, supported, reviewed, and/or wrote over 40 proposals, with a focus in Supportability Strategy, Sustainment Architecture, and Technology Refresh/Technology Insertion. Reviewed corporate IRAD proposals in IT and Supportability disciplines, including prognostics and autonomic logistics. Technical lead for development of core courses in the new LMC Logistics & Sustainment Institute, and led both the development and writing of the Performance Based Logistics Working Guide for the Lockheed Martin Corporation.  Served as primary resource for sustainment expertise for new and ongoing corporate focus programs.

Notable professional accomplishments include serving as the ILS Manager for the BSY-2 Combat System, lauded by the Navy for developing a completely paperless, IETM/Electronics Classroom environment utilizing new technologies including Embedded Adaptive Training.  Promotes the teaching and use of Metalogistics across the corporation. Has driven research in complex adaptive systems; system complexity, capability, and cost; technology management; and, bridging the gaps between functional system design (the primary system) and the support infrastructure (the enabling system).  

David Polland is a senior engineering leader on the 787 program, with responsibility for technical integration and oversight, design criteria and requirements, and type certification of the airframe structure.  Prior to his current assignment, he led development and structural validation of the 787 composite fuselage.  He held a similar capacity on the preceding Sonic Cruiser product development project, and led transition of the technologies identified under that project to the 787.
 
Earlier Polland served as lead engineer with responsibility for the in-production 737 and 757 wing structure at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He also contributed to several derivative airplane development programs as well, including the 737 Next Generation and the 757-300, in both cases supporting design of the wing structures.
 
Beginning in 1999 he led a team of engineers conducting design for manufacturability improvements at the company’s composite fabrication facility.
 
Polland also led an engineering team researching advanced composite fuselage structure through the NASA-sponsored Boeing Advanced Technology Composite Airframe Structures program from 1991 through 1995.
 
His Boeing career began in 1987, with early work focusing on advanced composite research and development applications on hypersonic military vehicles, spacecraft, and weapons systems.
 
Polland graduated from the University of Washington with a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering; his undergraduate degree is from Gonzaga University in Mechanical Engineering.

Dr. Carla Dove is the national expert on aviation bird strikes. She conducts specialized research in the microscopic identification of feathers. Current research involves establishing techniques in this newly developing field within Ornithology, which applies forensic methodologies to determine species of birds from fragmentary evidence using microscopy, whole feather comparisons with museum specimens and DNA ‘barcoding’. The most important application of this research is to the field of aviation safety and determining identifications of birds that are ingested into aircraft engines (birdstrikes). See FAA website. Data are used by civil and military aviation to design safer engines and windscreens, to create an Air Force data base that is used to predict bird movements and provide bird hazard warnings to pilots, and to improve habitat management schemes at airfields to discourage bird use. She is a member of Smithsonian Ornithology and collaborates with scientists in the fields of Anthropology, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Law Enforcement, Federal Bureau of Investigations, U.S. Air Force (BASH), U.S. Navy, U.S. Customs, USDA Wildlife Services, Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board and aircraft engine manufacturers.

Richard McCormack is editor and publisher of Manufacturing & Technology News, a publication he created in 1994. He was founding editor of High Performance Computing and Communication Week in 1991 (where he covered the birth of the Internet) and was founding editor of New Technology Week in 1987. Prior to that he was a reporter for, and became editor of, The Energy Daily, where he focused on coverage of the nuclear power industry. As a Washington, D.C.-based journalist, he has covered science, technology, industry and government for 26 years, specializing in economic competitiveness and globalization. He is author of the book "Lean Machines: Learning from the Leaders of the Next Industrial Revolution" and the forthcoming "Manufacturing a Better Future for America." His work has appeared in hundreds of publications and has been cited and read throughout the world.

Dr. Richard P. Hallion is the founder of Hallion Associates, a Florida-based defense and technology analysis think tank devoted to evaluating emerging technologies and assessing their potential for application to civil and military aerospace needs.

He is a retired Air Force senior executive, whose last position was Senior Advisor for Air and Space Issues in the Directorate for Security, Counterintelligence, and Special Programs Oversight. In that position he was involved with applying advanced technology to meet evolving threats and needs within the global war on terror.

Dr. Hallion is an internationally recognized aerospace historian who has written over a dozen works on the history of flight and military and civil aviation. He has a particular interest in hypersonics, evident in his choice of an email address: DrHypersonic@aol.com