Chair, NAS Board of Managers: Mr. Mike Costas
Mike Costas, a Bechtel principal vice president, is chair of the NAS Board of Managers. The Board is composed of senior executives of NAS member companies, ensuring availability of parent company resources and application of best practices. Mr. Costas joined Bechtel in 2011 after 25 years in the defense and space industry. Mr. Costas serves as general manager of Bechtel’s Defense and Security business line.
General Manager: Dr. Rich Tighe
Rich Tighe, a Bechtel principal vice president, serves as the General Manager of NAS. He joins NAS after serving as the Bechtel Nuclear, Security and Environmental Manager of Strategic Planning and Business Development and as a member of the NAS Board of Managers. Dr. Tighe has held leadership positions in defense and national security projects and markets for more than 20 years, including serving as assistant general manager for high hazard test and evaluation at the Nevada Test Site. He holds a PhD in Nuclear Physics from the University of Notre Dame.
Deputy General Manager: Mike Belzil
Mike Belzil previously served as the Director of Security and Emergency Services for the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Palmdale, California from 2007-2017. He is a retired Air Force Colonel who, over the span of his career, served as Chief of Staff for the Air Force Flight Test Center; Commander of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Air Base Wing and the Edwards Air Force Base 95th Support Group; Deputy Commander of the Elmendorf Air Force Base 3rd Support Group; and Deputy Chairman of the Air Board at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium. He has a master’s in Business Administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Hampshire.
Mission Execution Director: Mr. Jeff Henderson
Jeff Henderson is the Director for the Mission Execution for NAS. Jeff has more than 30 years’ service at AEDC, having started as a co-op in 1982. He has held a series of technical, operational, and management positions of increasing responsibility in test and plant operations and maintenance, as well as in engineering. He began his career as a test engineer in Aeropropulsion, working three core engine test projects over that portion of his career (the most complex turbine engine tests ever conducted at AEDC). He was the project engineer on a complete renovation of the J1 test cell, a multimillion dollar capital improvement effort that included redesign and replacement of the inlet, thrust stand, and exhaust gas management system. He has successfully led numerous special projects and initiatives involving leading safety culture change, organizational and change management, and efficiency improvements. Prior to becoming the Director for Mission Execution, Henderson served as the Director for the Performance Assurance directorate, and before that was the Deputy Director for the Mission Execution directorate. Henderson is a licensed Professional Engineer, a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional and has extensive Six Sigma Black Belt training. He graduated with honors from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Mission Support Director: Jonathan Ragan
Jonathan Ragan is the Mission Support Director for NAS. He oversees Prime Contracts; Project Controls; Finance; Human Resources; Acquisitions; Project Management; Information Systems and Technology; Engineering; Office and Administrative Services; Operations and Maintenance; and Public Affairs. Prior to joining the NAS team, Jon served as Assistant Project Manager for the Pueblo Chemical Agent-destruction Pilot Plant in Pueblo, Colorado. He has also worked on Bechtel programs in Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, Alaska and Alabama. Jon has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Old Dominion University.
Base Operations & Support Director: Mr. Ronnie Skipworth
Ronnie Skipworth oversees the Utilities, Facilities and Services, Capital Projects and Work Control areas for NAS at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC). He brings 29 years of AEDC experience with prior assignments in utilities, design/project management, plant operations and maintenance, planning/scheduling and testing. Ronnie hired into AEDC as a test installation engineer and later became a system engineer before he entered the management arena. Prior to his employment at AEDC, Ronnie worked for Milliken and Company in LaGrange Ga.
Performance Assurance: Mr. Mark Bymaster
Mark Bymaster is the director for Performance Assurance for National Aerospace Solutions, LLC. Bymaster has nearly 30 years of experience at AEDC in a number of roles, including as a test customer while working as a Test Development Engineer at GE Aircraft Engines for 10 years. He has also served as a lead test operations engineer, a section manager for Aeropropulsion for Test Operations Engineering, and Branch Manager for Aeropropulsion Products under a previous AEDC operating contractor. Most recently, Bymaster served in the role of integration manager for the Hypersonic Test and Evaluation Investment Portfolio for a small business supporting AEDC. Bymaster is a graduate of Purdue University, as well as a certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional, an instrument certified commercial pilot, and a certified airframe and powerplant mechanic.
NAS Technical Director: Chris Crumbly
Chris Crumbly is the Technical Director for NAS. Prior to joining the NAS team, he had been serving as senior director for Space and Defense Programs at the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) and remains in this role via an arrangement between NAS and UTSI. He has also served as executive director of the technical nonprofit Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation (VCSI). After a 25-year career at NASA, Chris retired and entered the business community as the vice president for Business Development, Civil and Commercial Space, at Teledyne Brown Engineering. While at NASA, Chris managed the Space Launch System Program’s Spacecraft/Payload Integration and Evolution Office, located at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Chris holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Auburn University, and is a graduate of the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School. Chris serves on several professional and civic boards including the Huntsville Space Club, the American Astronautical Society, and the Greater Huntsville Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), where he serves as the Region II Deputy Director for Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of AIAA.