Subject Matter Experts


Our subject matter experts are senior individuals with deep and specialized expertise.

Melissa Emery, Director of SEAC, Subject Matter Expert, System Safety

Melissa Emery

Tom, Pfitzer, Subject Matter Expert

Tom Pfitzer

Saralyn Dwyer, Subject Matter Expert, Electrical Engineering; specialized safety training in explosive materials safety, hazard recognition, evaluation and control

Saralyn Dwyer

  • Extensive experience with US Army and MDA development programs
  • 25+ years of experience
  • BS Electrical Engineering; specialized safety training in explosive materials safety, hazard recognition, evaluation and control

Bob Baker, Subject Matter Expert, QRAs, range safety models, 30 years as safety engineer

Bob Baker

  • APT Chief Analyst responsible for QRAs and range safety models.
  • 30 years as safety engineer
  • MS and BS Astronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology; BS Applied Mathematics

Tim Middendorf, Subject Matter Expert, control room and flight operations, safety engineering and analyses, range flight safety, spacecraft engineering/operations, and spacecraft launch operations

Tim Middendorf

  • Subject Matter Expert in control room and flight operations
  • 30+ years experience in safety engineering and analyses
  • Experience includes range flight safety, spacecraft engineering/operations, and spacecraft launch operations
  • MS Astronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology; BS in Aerospace Engineering

John Frost, Subject Matter Expert, System Safety, NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel

John Frost

  • Former Chief Safety for AMCOM
  • Member NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (2006-2018)
  • Expert Witness testimony including Congress and Litigations
  • BS Electrical Eng; ME Industrial Eng (Safety Option)
  • 44 years System Safety experience

Barry Hendrix, Subject Matter Expert, Software System Safety, System Safety.

Barry Hendrix

Fayssal Safie, Subject Matter Expert, Reliability  and Maintain ability Engineering

Faysaal Safie

  • Former NASA Reliability Engineering Technical Fellow
  • 30+ years of NASA, industry, and university experience in Reliability and Maintainability
  • BS Science; BS, MS, and PhD Industrial and Systems Engineering
  • Reliability Engineering Training Instructor

Susan Cantrell, Subject Matter Expert, System Safety, space flight, missile defense

Susan Cantrell

  • System Safety Technical Lead for MDA
  • 30+ years safety experience in space flight and missile defense

Pete Yutmeyer, Subject Matter Expert, explosives and range safety, hazard classification, explosives facility siting, RBESCT

Pete Yutmeyer

  • 35+ years of experience in explosives and range safety
  • Army approval authority for explosive facility siting and Hazard Classification for 15 years
  • Major contributor to the Risk-Based Explosives Safety Criteria Team
  • ME Industrial Engineering; MS Aeronautical Engineering; BS Aeronautical Engineering

Eric Olson, Subject Matter Expert, weapons safety, hazard classification,

Eric Olson

  • Former Deputy Chief of Weapons Safety, Air Force Safety Center
  • Former Chairman, Risk-Based Explosives Safety Criteria Team
  • Former Vice Chairman, Air Force Nonnuclear Munitions Safety Board
  • Former Chairman, Air Force Insensitive Munitions Technical Working Group
  • Former explosives hazard classification authority for US Army and US Air Force
  • BS Mechanical Engineering, ME Industrial Engineering

Mike Swisdak, Subject Matter Expert, explosives effects, physics

Mike Swisdak

Wayne Devoid, subject matter expert, systems engineering, operations and analysis, physics and mechanical engineering

Wayne Devoid

  • 15+ years systems engineering, operations and analysis
  • ME Aerospace Engineering; BS Physics & Mechanical Engineering

Keith Rose, subject matter expert, certified health physicist

Keith Rose, CHP

  • Certified Health Physicist
  • 35 years experience as a Health Physicist
  • BS major in Biology, minor in Chemistry

 

Dave West, subject matter expert, certified safety professional

Dave West

John Tatom, subject matter expert, explosives safety, explosives risk analysis

John Tatom

  • VP, Explosives Safety and Testing Division
  • Senior Explosives Safety Analyst with strong mathematical and technical skills, he has supported and led many explosive test programs and modeling efforts, as well as developing numerous algorithms to be used in explosive risk-based analysis models.

John Fellows, program and operations management, business development, systems engineering, integration, acquisition

John Fellows

  • Program Management
  • Strategic and Business Development
  • Operations Management
  • Systems Engineering, Integration, and Acquisition

Clark Kilgore, safety engineering

Clark Kilgore

  • PM for MDA safety support
  • 20 years as a Safety Engineer supporting Missile Defense Agency
  • Previously audited numerous major MDA suppliers’ program

Paul Lahoud, conventional and nuclear weapons effects, protective construction

Paul LaHoud

  • USACE Huntsville Center, Chief, Civil-Structures Division
  • 31+ years experience in Conventional and Nuclear Weapons Effects, Protective Construction
  • BS and MS Engineering

George Gafka, safety and mission assurance

George Gafka

  • Executive Vice President of Safety and Mission Assurance
  • 30-year career at NASA
  • Former NASA Chief Engineer, Chief Safety Officer, and S&MA Director
  • ME of Space Systems, MS in Mechanical Engineering, BS in Aerospace Engineering

Rhonda Barnes, software engineering, software system safety, management, policy development

Rhonda Barnes

  • 25+ years of diverse experience in the software engineering and simulation industries with emphasis on software system safety and management
  • Leader in development of software safety policy used by DoD

John Hall, industrial engineering, aerospace engineering,

John Hall, PhD

  • APT Technical Director
  • Member of the Gov’t team which validates assembly and testing procedures for the interceptor missile
  • Supported the NMD Production Directorate in development of a system-level transition to production plan
  • PhD Industrial Engineering; MS Industrial Engineering; BS from US Military Academy, concentration Aerospace Engineering