Aerospace Diversity
Policy and Research Forum
February 3, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET
This is an invitation-only event.
Hosted by:
University of Mississippi Center for Air and Space Law Task Force on Inclusion,
Diversity, and Equity in Aerospace
U.S. Department of Commerce
Minority Business Development Agency
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AEROSPACE DIVERSITY POLICY AND RESEARCH FORUM
What barriers prevent minority-owned businesses from participating in the space industrial base? How can marginalized groups compete and grow in the aerospace market? What changes must be made to improve inclusion, diversity, and equality in industry leadership? Your answers to these critical questions will shape the path toward social and cultural equity in the aerospace industrial base.
Join us as we tackle the questions of perceptions, policies, and practices limiting the participation of minority groups in the space industrial base.
Together, we will explore:
Board Composition and Senior Leadership
Supply Chain Improvements
Workforce Development and Entry
Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (Contracting, Procurement, Investment)
Markets and Commercialization (Cross-sector Interfaces and Best Practices)
Keynote Speaker: ROBERT E. MEYERSON
Rob Meyerson is the founder and CEO of Delalune Space, a management consulting company focused on the aerospace, mobility, technology and investment sectors. Engagements with Delalune include, but are not limited to:
Serving as an Operating Partner for C5 Capital, a specialty investment firm focused on companies working at the intersection of space, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and AI.
Serving as the Executive Producer for ASCEND, a new platform and event focused on building our off-world future. See ascend.events for details.
Serving as a director or advisor to companies in the hypersonics, space launch, satellite, space operations, mobility, technology, and telecommunications industries.
As the president of Blue Origin, Rob oversaw the steady growth of Jeff Bezos’ aerospace development company from 2003 to 2018, leading it from its founding into a more than 1500-person organization. Under Rob’s leadership, Blue Origin developed the New Shepard system for suborbital human and research flights, a new liquid rocket engine business that competes with Aerojet Rocketdyne, the New Glenn launch vehicle and the company vision for humanity in space; including the Blue Moon lunar lander, human spacecraft, habitats and in-space tugs. During this time, Rob oversaw Blue’s growth in staff (10 to 1500+), budget ($10M to $1B), revenue (zero to confidential) and facilities (one location to six, 50K to 1M+ sq ft).
Prior to joining Blue, Rob was a Senior Program Manager at Kistler Aerospace, where he contributed to the development of a two-stage reusable launch vehicle. Rob began his career as an aerodynamicist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC), working on the Space Shuttle and several other programs.
Rob earned a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Houston. He is an AIAA Fellow, a Trustee at the Museum of Flight, and a member of the University of Michigan College of Engineering Leadership Advisory Board. In 2016, Rob and the New Shepard team were awarded the Robert J. Collier Trophy for their accomplishments by the National Aeronautic Association; and in 2017 Rob was awarded the Space Flight Award by the American Astronautical Society.
Meet the Speakers:
Michelle is Co-Director of the Air and Space Law Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law and its Center for Air and Space Law. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Space Law, the world’s oldest law journal dedicated to the legal problems arising out of human activities in outer space and the Faculty Advisor for its sister publication, the Journal of Drone Law and Policy. Michelle is a Co-Founder and President of For All Moonkind, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that is the only organization in the world focused on protecting human cultural heritage in outer space. In this capacity, she was instrumental in the development of the recently enacted One Small Step Act. For All Moonkind has been recognized by the United Nations as a Permanent Observer to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Michelle is also the Executive Vice President of the National Space Society, chair of its International Committee and the mentor to the newly-formed National Space Society Legal Fellows program. Michelle received her B.A. in Political Science from Yale College and her J.D. magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center. She earned her LLM in Air and Space Law from McGill University.
MICHELLE HANLON
Co-Director of the Center for
Air and Space Law
Instructor of Aviation and Space Law
University of Mississippi
School of Law
Karlton D. Johnson (Colonel, United States Air Force-Retired) is the Chairman of the National Space Society’s Board of Governors. In this capacity, he provides overall senior executive leadership to enhance the effectiveness and performance of the Board of Governors in support of the Society’s goals, imparts advice and guidance to the Board of Directors to enhance its conduct of business operations, and serves as the primary spokesperson for the Board of Governors. A senior executive, decorated combat veteran and respected visionary leader with over 35 years of subject matter experience, Mr. Johnson brings a wealth of expertise in several areas to include strategic leadership, partnership creation, organizational excellence, space operational support, and cyber security. In 2014, he retired from Active Duty after 26 years of honorable service where he held a variety of challenging senior leadership and command positions within the Air Force. Over his long and distinguished career, he has successfully developed solutions that enabled business transformation globally for large, multinational organizations, led international development of aerospace and defense business partnerships in Fortune 500 companies, and managed resource asset portfolios up to $5.5B. Mr. Johnson serves in leadership positions on numerous Boards, and he also holds several Master’s Degrees and executive Graduate Certifications from various institutions to include George Washington University, National Defense University, West Virginia University, ISACA and the U.S. Government.
KARLTON JOHNSON
Chairman
National Space Society
Board of Governors
AJ Link received his JD from The George Washington University Law School. His studies focused extensively on disability law, international human rights, and space law. AJ has been actively involved with disability advocacy in the Washington, DC area and nationally within the United States. While at GW, he chaired the Diversity and Inclusion Assembly for the Student Association and the Student Life Committee. He also founded the Atypical Student Society, a student organization for neurodiverse and disabled law students, at the law school and served as its inaugural president. AJ was the president of the GW Law Space Law Society and co-chaired the Student Affinity Group Enterprise. AJ was awarded the Michael Dillon Cooley Memorial Award by his graduating class for his compassion and humanity in serving his fellow students. He serves on several advisory boards that focus on disability advocacy and justice. AJ is openly autistic and was a 2020 Disability:IN NextGen Leader. AJ is currently pursuing an LL.M in Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, while also being a part of The Center for Air and Space Law Task Force on Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in Aerospace and a Senior Editor of the Journal of Space Law. He works as a research director for the Jus Ad Astra project and serves as co-president of the National Disabled Law Students Association.
AJ LINK
Chair of the Task Force on Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in Aerospace
Center for Air and Space Law
University of Mississippi
School of Law
Jose Ocasio-Christian is an energetic, innovative, agile, spiritually guided, and resilient leader focused on strategy development and industry disruption with a global reach in any sector. Currently, he is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder for Caelus Partners since 2016, focusing on strategic vision, client relationship and business development for the company. A key project within Caelus Partners that he leads is a global project to institutionalize and bring global economic, nation state and social stability to the space domain – Community in Space™. The Community in Space™ (CiS) is a privately led concept that allows for all interested stakeholders (nation-states, businesses, and scientific organizations) to have a common frame of reference in order to develop the requirements to sustain and improve the socio-economic, and governing environment in the space domain. Before Caelus Partners, Jose led multiple complex and diverse organizations to achieve success in volatile, uncertain, challenging, and ambiguous situations around the world in sensitive and confidential environments for the US Army. He has provided vision and direction to strategic and operational teams to work across different cultures and understand fragmented stakeholder motivations to arrive at optimal solutions, something critically needed in developing the economic engine for the Space domain. He has managed accounts as large as $10.2B and strategies worth over $250B, impacting millions of individuals both in the United States, its security network, and many countries overseas. His thrive is to continue to excel in high stake, existential situations for companies and individuals in governed and ungoverned areas, where human survival and financial profits are required, as needed today in outer space.
JOSE OCASIO-CHRISTIAN
Chief Executive Officer
Caelus Partners, LLC
Danielle Pocock (Dani) is a recent graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and is currently a proud member of the State Bar of Massachusetts. She attended Rutgers Business School for her undergraduate degree, majoring in Finance with a minor in Political Science and a certificate from the Eagleton Institute of Politics Undergraduate Associate Program. She first became interested in public service through politics with the NJ Democratic Party, and previously served as an elected Democratic Committeewoman for Middlesex County as well as an elected Pledged Delegate for the 2016 Democratic National Convention. She also led the Rutgers Democrats as co-president and the College Democrats of NJ as Financial Director. Her undergraduate thesis analyzed the underlying causes of the 2008 Banking Crisis and the legislative and economic impact of the Dodd-Frank Act. During law school, Dani focused on criminal justice issues – specifically sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking – in addition to immigration issues and disability rights. She received training in domestic violence and sexual assault prosecution at the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office in Lowell, MA, and received education and training in human trafficking issues and the intersection between the criminal justice system and the immigration system at the Santa Cruz District Attorney’s Office in Santa Cruz, CA. During the academic year, she volunteered with the International Refugee Assistance Project helping to submit resettlement requests to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and with the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights helping to advocate for detained immigrant children. Danielle joined this Taskforce because of her own experiences as a disabled person – although her dreams of going to space were dashed when she was diagnosed with a potentially fatal form of epilepsy and a connective tissue disorder in law school, she wants to use her mind and education to expand the fields of space and aerospace for underrepresented and disparately impacted groups. She firmly believes anyone who wants to be able to actively contribute to the space and aerospace markets, and that as the commercialization of space continues and expands, the United States is missing out on major economic opportunities by not successfully increasing diversity within space and aerospace.
DANIELLE POCOCK
Assistant District Attorney at
State of Maine
Agenda:
1:00 - 1:02 PM (ET) | Welcome
Presented by: Patricia Tomczyszyn (MBDA)
1:02 - 1:10 PM (ET) | Opening Remarks
Presented by: Edith McCloud (MBDA)
1:10 - 1:20 PM (ET) | Background and Forum Overview
Presented by: Michelle Hanlon
1:20 - 1:55 PM (ET) | Keynote Address
Presented by: Robert Meyerson
1:55 - 2:15 PM (ET) | Workgroup Topics and Research Strategy
Presented by: Jose Ocasio-Christian and Danielle Pocock
2:20 - 2:35 PM (ET) | 15-Minute Break
2:35 - 3:40 PM (ET) | Breakout Group Sessions
3:40 - 3:50 PM (ET) | 10-Minute Break
3:50 - 4:00 PM (ET) | Breakout Session Recap
Presented by: AJ Link
4:00 - 4:15 PM (ET) | Closing Remarks & Next Steps
Breakout Sessions:
Board Composition and Senior Leadership Session:
In this area of research, the task force will dedicate efforts to research the symptoms and all analysis associated with executive leadership development, selection, and mentorship that exists in the United States. From this, the team will deduct the specificity of impacts based on the NAICS selected industries and jobs that are of value to different stakeholders. The value is to be analyzed by government, industry, academia and nonprofits lens to improve the quantitative and qualitative composition of leadership in the aerospace industry that supports inclusion, diversity and equality. This is not exclusively a human resource problem.
Supply Chain Improvements Session
The task force will be considering how to improve subcontracting, procurement, and financing from a corporate contractor to the U.S. government perspective. This is focusing primarily on the relationships between prime contractors and its sub – contractors. For the Aerospace Industry, it is understood that the government is and will continue to be the primary or a key customer of contracting or procuring services, material, and technology. This area of research is detailing the limitations, both qualitatively and quantitatively, that companies owned by disadvantaged groups have to enter into this key area of the aerospace market. This research will further analyze the lack of opportunities that exist for disadvantaged groups to become the U.S. Government primary contractors and the symptoms that may exist (perceptions, policies, and practices)
Workforce Development (Entry Transfer) Session
A key indicator of industrial base and economic development is how the workforce is trained and then transitioned from apprenticeship to practitioner. The research that the task force performs in this area is associated with how the current workforce and the workforce of the future will be able to participate in the aerospace and space sectors. While there are a lot of data associated with workforce related topics, very few topics address the symptoms associated with historically marginalized groups and the investments necessary, both in shaping the message and action, to improve the situation.
Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Session
The research for this topic area is associated with how historically marginalized groups increase participation in U.S. government innovation as well as contracting for programs of record. This base of research will access current innovation initiatives across government to identify opportunities to grow the number of investments of the U.S. government (regionally and nationally) in companies owned by historically marginalized groups. Further, the team will research the barriers to corporate formation and market entry for historically marginalized groups. Finally, this group will examine both commercial and government procurement, contracting, and investment practices across the aerospace industry to determine the best opportunities for marginalized groups to compete and grow the Aerospace industrial base.
Space Market Commercialization Practices Session
The technologies developed for the space industry are undergoing growth in service to the U.S. government as well as being adapted for use in commercial markets. The task force has an opportunity to research how this developing market compares to other emerging markets that developed in the past. Further research is also required on best practices within a market or industrial sector that bring diversity, equity, and inclusion into the space industry. Lastly, research is required to determine which commercial market or industry sectors are most advantageous for historically disadvantaged groups to enter, given expanded access to the space industrial base.
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Questions?
Contact us at invision@mbda.gov.