Michael Kelly, chairman of Kelly Space & Technology Inc. Board of Directors, formally announced Monday the selection of Robert M. Davis Jr. as the company’s new president and chief executive officer.
Davis has more than 27 years experience in domestic and
international Aerospace and Defense management and operations. He
recently concluded a 20-year career at Sacramento, Calif.-based
GenCorp Aerojet, where he last served as vice president of Strategic
Business Development and Chief Technology Officer.
According to Davis, “I believe in Mike Kelly’s vision for
reusable space transportation and its inherent ability to provide
routine and inexpensive access to near earth orbit. The company’s Tow
Launch Technology, which was invented by Mike, is an intelligently
elegant solution to employing the benefits of the environments of near
earth orbits.”
Kelly also announced today the appointment of Marc. T.
Constantine as president and chief executive officer of Kelly
Aerospace, a newly formed, wholly owned subsidiary of Kelly Space &
Technology.
Constantine will be responsible for the design, development and
production of the Astroliner reusable aerospace plane. As Kelly
Space’s flagship, the Astroliner will provide a cargo delivery
service, ranging from deploying satellites and delivering
intercontinental packages, to ultimately enabling the general public
to travel in space.
Kelly Aerospace will have headquarters at Kelly Space’s corporate
offices at the San Bernardino International Airport, formerly Norton
Air Force Base, in San Bernardino.
Kelly, who co-founded Kelly Space in 1993, brought Davis in to
fulfill the president/CEO function while he assumes the full-time
position of Chief Technical Officer. Kelly will continue to oversee
the corporation as its board chairman.
According to Kelly, “Kelly Space & Technology has reached a stage
where specialization is required to maintain progress. The daily
operation of Kelly Space & Technology requires a respected strong
leader with great managerial skill. Bob Davis brings these qualities
to the job, and it is with great pride that I welcome him on board as
president and CEO.
“As a bonus, Bob and Marc pioneered U.S. relationships with
Russian and other global aerospace suppliers whose products and
services are important to Kelly Space’s business plan,” said Kelly.
“Their experience in this field will greatly facilitate the further
development of our relations with these suppliers, and keep us on a
fast track to success.”
Davis is the former chair of both the Space Transportation
Technical Committee for the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, and the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Sub-Committee
for the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC).
Kelly recently succeeded Davis to chair the new COMSTAC RLV Working
Group, an official entity whose operation is subject to federal law.
Under Kelly’s leadership, the sub-committee’s status was elevated
to a Working Group because Kelly is a full member of the COMSTAC.
Davis is a graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School
of Business Administration Executive Advanced Management Program
and the University of California at Davis Executive Management
Program. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical
engineering from California State Polytechnic College in San Luis
Obispo, Calif.
Davis retired two years ago as a captain in the U.S. Navy
Reserves, where he served for 29 years as a naval officer and aviator.
Davis was commissioned in 1970 and earned his Aviator Wings in 1971.
He served active duty for five years in several squadrons in the U.S.
and Western Pacific.
Constantine most recently was vice president of Business
Development for the Minneapolis-based Alliant Techsystems,
where he was responsible for the development and implementation of the
market strategies to advanced Alliant’s position in strategic and
space launch systems, conventional munitions and defense systems.
Previously, he was the director of Strategic and Space Propulsion
Programs for GenCorp Aerojet in Sacramento, Calif. During his 13-year
career at Aerojet, he held a number of executive management positions
in the company’s space and strategic launch propulsion businesses,
including general manager and vice president of Advanced Systems.
As the Aerojet senior executive responsible for capturing market
share in the launch system propulsion business, Constantine was
instrumental in securing the company’s position as the propulsion
supplier for several emerging RLV concepts.
From 1990 to 1993, he served as vice president of Aerojet’s
National Launch System Program, and was responsible for the
formation of a consortium/joint venture between Aerojet, Pratt &
Whitney and Rocketdyne to develop the Advanced Launch System Space
Transportation Engine. He also served as director of the Space
Transportation Propulsion Team, the general partnership between the
three companies.
An earlier position Constantine held at Aerojet was vice
president of Advanced Development. In this capacity, he was
responsible for business growth in advanced launch systems, new
aeropropulsion, satellite propulsion, and Strategic Defense Initiative
programs.
Prior to joining Aerojet, Constantine worked for the Rocketdyne
Division of Rockwell International Corp. (i.e. Boeing) in a variety
of technical, engineering and management positions.
Constantine holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical
engineering from West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Va., and
is president of the WVU Academy of Chemical Engineering.
He is a member and former director of both the American
Astronautics Society and the California Engineering Foundation, and a
past member of both the Space Sciences Technical Advisory Committee to
NASA/OAST and the COMSTAC to the Secretary, U.S. Department of
Transportation.
According to Constantine, “The Astroliner has the most realistic
near-term opportunity of becoming the commercial carrier to space
and breaking the transportation cost, reliability and schedule
barriers to a commercial space business. I am fortunate to have been
selected to be the leader of a team that will accomplish this
objective.”
Noted Kelly, “I am pleased to have Marc Constantine on board as
president and CEO of Kelly Aerospace, the manufacturing entity for
Astroliner launch vehicles. Marc brings to this position a wealth of
almost 40 years of technical and management experience in the
aerospace business. He is a recognized leader in this business, and
he will provide the leadership of a company and team dedicated to
making space a highly profitable, commercial business venue.”
About Kelly Space & Technology Inc.
Kelly Space & Technology is in business to provide affordable and
routine commercial access to space via the company’s patented,
commercially-funded, reusable Tow Launch Technology and reusable
aerospace planes.
The Kelly Space family of transport vehicles will operate like
airplanes, taking off from and landing at a conventional runway.
During takeoff and initial flight, the piloted transport vehicle will
be an unpowered glider, and will be towed to launch altitude behind
a transport aircraft.
Last December through February, Kelly Space successfully
demonstrated its Tow Launch Technology during all six flight
demonstrations conducted with NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and
the Air Force Flight Test Center under a Small Business Innovation
Research contract awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Kelly Space has a $89 million contract with Motorola Inc. to
launch 20 communications satellites into orbit for Iridium
satellite-based global personal communications system, which Motorola
is developing. Kelly Space’s flights will be launched on an as-needed
basis to replenish the Iridium constellation, with the earliest Kelly
Space launch on the Astroliner aerospace plane set for early 2002.
