Bretton Alexander

Mr. Bretton (Brett) Alexander is President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, the industry association of businesses and organizations working to make commercial human spaceflight a reality. Mr. Alexander also serves on the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) as Chair of the Commercial Space Committee. Appointed in November 2009, Mr. Alexander consults with Committee members on commercial space activities, and offers advice to the NASA Administrator.

In 2008, the Secretary of Transportation appointed Brett to the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC). In this role, he provides information and offers recommendations to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on issues relating to the commercial space transportation industry.

An indisputable expert on commercial space, Brett has served as an advisor on space issues at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under both President Clinton and Bush. While at the White House, Mr. Alexander was one of the primary authors of the Vision for Space Exploration announced in 2004. He also led development and interagency coordination of national policies on space transportation, GPS, and commercial remote sensing.

From September 1997 to May 2000, Brett was the Senior Space Policy Analyst at the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation where he developed forecasts of the commercial space launch markets and led the interagency working group on implementation of bilateral space launch trade agreements with Russia, Ukraine, and China.  Brett has also spent time at The Aerospace Corporation and the ANSER Corporation.

Brett holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering and an M.S. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia.

Back to Top

Dr. James Beall

Dr. James (Jim) Beall serves on the Board of Advisors of Omnis and is a senior consultant on space policy and space flight systems for various divisions of the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense.  He has involved himself extensively in issues associated with the evaluation and testing of spaceflight systems, including ballistic missile defense systems, high-performance, fault-tolerant computing in space, and radiation hardening of space-based computers, and has worked on issues related to technical SIGINT.  He has worked on public policy associated with technology development and export control, and has interests in non-linear systems theory and applications.

Since 1982, Dr. Beall has served on the faculty at St.Johns College. As a tenured professor, he teaches courses in physics, astrophysics, philosophy, ancient language, and religion. Jim also served as senior adjunct professor at George Mason University since 1992 through 2006, and is now a member of the affiliate faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Science at GMU.

As an academic, Dr. Beall has written widely on policy issues associated with technology transfer and the development of the research infrastructure that sustains our national defense.  He also has interests in education for critical thinking, and conducts an active research program in theoretical, observational, and computational astrophysics.

In 1978, the Office of Technology Assessment sponsored Jim as a Congressional Science Fellow.  Dr. Beall served as Chair of the Advisory Group to the Director for the Joint Global Change Research Institute of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland from 2004 to 2006.

Jim holds a B.S. in physics from the University of Colorado, and M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland.

Back to Top

Hon. Randy W. Deitering

Mr. Randy Deitering has more than three decades of experience as a US Government national security and intelligence professional, including the 15 consecutive years he served on the White House Staff. He served with the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) during the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush Administrations.  From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Deitering served as Acting Executive Director for the Board.  Following a Presidential Appointment in 1998, he extended his term as Executive Director until 2003. In this capacity, Mr. Deitering consulted with the 16 PFIAB members in directly advising the President on the effectiveness, efficiency, and responsiveness of the US intelligence community.

Prior to his service at the White House, Mr. Deitering spent over a decade at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an analyst and operations officer. From 1977 to 1981, he served as an Assistant National Collection Officer in the Office of the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). Subsequently, he joined the Agency’s Directorate of Intelligence, where he worked on the Polish “Solidarity Crisis” and other East European political matters. From 1985 to 1987, he served as Senior Counterintelligence Analyst. In 1987, he became a staff member of the Laird Commission, and served briefly as a Branch Chief in the DDI’s Office of Global Issues and the DCI’s Counterintelligence Center. Mr. Deitering retired from the CIA as a SIS-4 in 2006, following his final Agency tour as Senior Officer-in-Residence and Visiting Professor at the University of South Carolina Honors College, where he taught US national security and intelligence seminars.

Mr. Deitering holds an M.A. in comparative politics (Soviet/East European) from New York University.

Back to Top

Dr. Carson Eoyang

Dr. Carson Eoyang has over 34 years of experience in government-oriented training and education. Before retiring in 2007, he served as Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Education in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Chancellor of the National Intelligence University, introducing innovative learning techniques and expanding collaborative learning opportunities to support the National Intelligence Strategy.

In 1999, he served briefly in the Clinton Administration, working under the Associate Director for Technology at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He helped implement Executive Order 13111, a mandate directing all federal agencies to accelerate the use of advanced training technologies and e-learning. He also served as Chair of the Federal Training Technology Implementation Group.

Dr. Eoyang worked for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as Program Director for Training, assuming responsibility for all training policy and FAA wide development programs. He also served as Chair of the FAA’s Subcommittee on Educational Technology. In 1999, he was recognized for his work, and awarded the Spencer Logan Distinguished Service Leadership Award.

Earlier in this career, Dr. Eoyang worked for NASA as Director for Training and Development. In 1992 and 1993, his office was recognized with the Distinguished Service Award and in 1996 was awarded with the Outstanding Customer Service Award. In 1994, he received the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive. In 1993 he led the Rethinking Program Design team for Vice President Gore’s National Performance Review.

Dr. Eoyang began his federal service as an Assistant Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California in 1973.  He is an emeritus Professor there after serving as the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs among other leadership positions.  During his tenure as the Director of the Defense Personnel Security Research and Education Center (PERSEREC) he co-edited the book Citizen Espionage: Studies in Trust and Betrayal published in 1994.

Carson has a B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.B.A. in business from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in business from Stanford University.

Back to Top

Thad Lacinak

Mr. Thad Lacinak is a founder and co-owner of Precision Behavior, a company specializing in leadership programs and zoological and domestic animal consulting. In his role, Thad manages project development, promotes animal behavior modification techniques in the zoological community, and is a primary instructor in positive reinforcement courses for zoological and corporate clients.

Prior to founding Precision Behavior, Thad was a Partner at Ocean Embassy, where he oversaw project development, and leadership and zoological consulting.

Mr. Lacinak has spent the majority of his professional career at Busch Entertainment Corporation (BEC) as Vice President and Corporate Curator of Animal Training. Responsible for directing animal training and enrichment, his career path has included time at SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld San Diego, Discovery Cove, Busch Gardens Tampa, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. He was instrumental in developing SeaWorld’s industry-leading behavior and training techniques, husbandry procedures, and spectacular killer whale shows. An advocate of using operant conditioning and positive reinforcement for behavior modification, Mr. Lacinak has trained over 100 species employing these techniques.

Mr. Lacinak is a co-author of the 2001 publication Whale Done! The Power of Positive Relationships. He is also a co-author of the 2009 book, Whale Done Parenting.

Thad is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the International Marine Animal Trainers Association, the Society for Marine Mammalogy, and the Association for Behavior Analysis. He is co-founder and the former president of the Animal Behavior Management Alliance (ABMA).

Back to Top

Sir Christopher Meyer KCMG

Sir Christopher Meyer was almost 40 years in the British Diplomatic Service, culminating as Ambassador to the United States during the Clinton and George W. Bush presidencies. His five and a half years in Washington made him the longest-serving Ambassador to the USA since the Second World War. He has also served as Ambassador to Germany and had postings to Russia, Spain and the European Union in Brussels. He was Press Secretary to Prime Minister John Major, Foreign Office Spokesman, and speechwriter to three Foreign Secretaries.

Sir Christopher was knighted in 1998 by Her Majesty The Queen.

After his retirement from the Diplomatic Service in 2003, Sir Christopher chaired the Press Complaints Commission for six years until March 2009.

In 2005, he published DC Confidential, a memoir of his time in the Diplomatic Service. His 2009 book, Getting Our Way: 500 Years of Adventure and Intrigue: the Inside Story of British Diplomacy accompanies a three-part TV series, set to air soon on BBC. He has just completed a documentary series on the Press for BBC Radio 4, called the The Watchdog and the Feral Beast.

Sir Christopher is an Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and a visiting Professor at UNC Chapel Hill. He serves as a non-executive director of GKN and the Arbuthnot Banking Group; a Governor of the English-Speaking Union; and a member of the executive committee of The Pilgrims. Additionally, Sir Christopher serves on the International Advisory Board of Fleishman-Hillard. He is a Freeman of the City of London.

Back to Top

Dr. Robert A. Mikelskas

Dr. Robert (Bob) A. Mikelskas is the President of RAM Systems & Technology LLC, a firm that specializes in systems engineering, systems acquisition, and technology evaluation and development. Bob is also a Research Professor for the International Cyber Center of George Mason University

Dr. Mikelskas served the MITRE Corporation as a corporate officer for just under a decade from 2001 to 2010. From 2007 to 2009, he assumed the role of Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO). In that capacity, he established the Corporation’s knowledge management and information technology strategy. Furthermore, Bob employed MITRE’s IT infrastructure as a test bed for commercially available technology solutions to client problems, including the establishment of a Cyber Security Operations Center. Prior to his appointment as the CIO, Dr. Mikelskas served as VP for MITRE’s Center for Integrated Intelligence Systems, where he focused on developing a strategy for maintaining client relations and overseeing programs in advanced intelligence and information systems. Prior to appointment as a MITRE corporate officer, Bob managed and contributed technically to a wide variety of programs supporting national security agencies.

Prior to joining the MITRE Corporation, Dr. Mikelskas worked for the General Electric Information Services Company. While there, he assumed responsibility for the information security of a globally distributed network and information system.

As an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University G.W. Whiting School of Engineering, Bob taught graduate courses in computer science.

Bob has served multiple advisory groups, including the National Imagery and Mapping Agency Forum, and the Department of Defense’s Future Imagery Architecture Independent Review Team. He has also served the Intelligence Community as a member of the Measurement and Signatures Intelligence Technology Advisory Panel, and NATO as a member of a review group responsible for consulting with member countries on strategies for sharing intelligence information. Dr. Mikelskas participated in the Preventive Defense Project’s Overhauling Counterproliferation Workshops and contributed to the 2007 Defense Science Board Summer Study Panel on the future of war.

Presently, Bob is a member of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, the National Military Association, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the IEEE Computer Society.

Dr. Mikelskas holds a B.S. (magna cum laude) in Mathematics from Fairfield University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Pennsylvania State University.

Back to Top

Angi Millwood

Ms. Angi Millwood is a founder and co-owner of Precision Behavior, a company specializing in leadership programs and zoological and domestic animal consulting. In her role, Angi manages daily operations regarding corporate leadership training and zoological consulting.  She is responsible for the preparation and instruction of the Company’s positive reinforcement seminars and workshops.

Prior to founding Precision Behavior, Angi was partner at Ocean Embassy, Inc. In that capacity, Ms. Millwood led Embassy 180, the workshop and seminar division of the company, focused on zoological consulting and positive reinforcement.

Ms. Millwood has enjoyed over fifteen years of experience in exotic animal training and behavior modification. She has held positions at several top-ranked animal facilities including SeaWorld, Orlando, Florida, and at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Orlando, Florida. She served as director of behavior programs at Natural Encounters, Inc., consulting at zoos around the world. Additionally, Ms. Millwood has worked for the Fort Worth Zoo; serving as training coordinator and overseeing all animal training for the entire zoological collection.

Ms. Millwood is on the Board of Directors of the Animal Behavior Management Alliance (ABMA). She is also a professional member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Angi holds B.A. degrees in theater and english from Jacksonville State University.

Back to Top

Dr. Emile Nakhleh

Dr. Emile Nakhleh served 15 years with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) before retiring in 2006. He founded the Agency’s Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program and served as the division’s Senior Intelligence Service Officer and Director. Dr. Nakhleh also founded the Regional Analysis Unit in the Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis. He served as Chief of the Unit for six years. Also responsible for founding the Agency’s Senior Analytic Service, Dr. Nakhleh served as Chair of the first Council.

During his tenure at the CIA, Emile was recognized with several senior intelligence commendation medals, including the Distinguished Career Intelligence Commendation Medal (2006), the Director’s Medal (2004), the William Langer Award (2004), and the Intelligence Commendation Medal (1997).

Dr. Nakhleh is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. His dedication to Middle Eastern cultural and political issues earned him a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship (Bahrain, 1972-73). He has also been honored as a National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellow (1979-80) and as a Woodrow Wilson Guest Scholar (1979). In the summer of 1977, Emile served as a visiting professor at Bir Zeit University in Palestine.

Dr. Nakhleh has written and contributed to multiple books and journals on political Islam and Islamic radicalism, Middle East politics, state formation, US policy in the region, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.  His most recent book is A Necessary Engagement:  Reinventing America's Relations with the Muslim World (Princeton, 2009). 

Emile holds B.A. degrees in political science and philosophy from Saint John’s University, Minnesota. He also has an M.A. in political science from Georgetown University, and a Ph.D. in international relations from American University.

Back to Top

Dr. Jeffrey H. Schwartz

Dr. Jeffrey H. Schwartz is a physical anthropologist and professor of biological anthropology and history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh. His research initiatives span from the exploration of method, theory, and philosophy in evolutionary biology to understanding the origin and diversification of extinct and extant primates. He has published 12 books and over 150 articles across these areas. He has conducted fieldwork in the United States, England, Israel, Cyprus, and Tunisia.

Recently, Dr. Schwartz was involved in a two-year project to recreate the appearance of George Washington. Using computer imaging and forensic techniques, Schwartz and a team of experts reconstructed a more accurate depiction of the first president than what is normally seen in paintings and on the dollar bill.

In 1989, Dr. Schwartz spent time at the University of Zurich as a Visiting Scholar at the University’s Anthropological Institute and Museum.  That same year, he was named a Kalbfleisch Research Fellow for the Department of Anthropology in the American Museum of Natural History. He has also been recognized as a Senior Fellow at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, National Science Museum in Tokyo (1993), and as a Resident Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Philosophy of Science (1999 to present). In 2009 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Studies (Altenburg, Austria).

Dr. Schwartz served many years as a Research Associate for vertebrate fossils at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. He currently serves at the American Museum of Natural History as a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology.

Jeffrey holds a B.A. from Columbia College and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is currently President of the World Academy of Art and Science.

Back to Top

Brigadier General Joseph L. Shaefer

Brigadier General Joseph L. Shaefer is the founder of Stanford Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor. As the Firm’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, he serves as a consultant and advisor to financial and geopolitical institutions.

General Shaefer has enjoyed a unique career, with an extensive background in both military and civilian arenas. He began his military career in 1970, entering active duty in Army Psychological Operations. From 1971 to 1976, he served as a Special Forces A-Team XO and CO. In 1977, General Shaefer joined the USAFR as an intelligence analyst and command briefer. He later served as a human intelligence officer, an interrogator and strategic debriefer, and as an interrogation and debriefing instructor. He has served on assignments such as the NATO, South America, and Southeast Asia country desks, the Mobile Interrogation Teams in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and as an air attaché to Rangoon, Burma, senior political/military affairs officer at the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations, and commanded the Mobile Interrogation Teams in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. During Operation Allied Force (Kosovo), General Shaefer served as the A2 at Air Combat Command. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he assumed a role on the AF Intelligence Crisis Action Team.

General Shaefer entered the securities industry in 1972, founding his own brokerage. When Charles Schwab & Co bought his firm, he served as a Branch Manager and a Regional and Senior VP until retiring to found Stanford Wealth Management. He is the author of the investment book Bringing Home the Gold, and currently serves as editor of the monthly newsletter, “Investor’s Edge®”. General Shaefer is a professor of Global Security Studies at American Military University (AMU).

General Shaefer holds a B.A. in international relations from UCLA and an M.S. in counter-terrorism and unconventional warfare from AMU.

Back to Top