THOMAS A. FITZGERALD

Mr. Thomas A. Fitzgerald is a member of the Senior Executive Service. He is the Director, Engineering, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. Mr. Fitzgerald leads a team of military, government civilian and contractors who are responsible to the SMC Commander for the quality of all engineering, technical, architecting, test and evaluation, and mission assurance activities for military space and missile programs. He provides the Center Commander, Program Offices, Program Executive Officers and external customers with engineering support in the form of manpower, policy, processes, tools and advice. He is responsible for organizing, training, equipping and providing policy and mentorship for military and civilian space and missile engineers and information protection personnel executing $8 billion annually. He provides oversight of the system and traditional engineering activities for SMC in close collaboration with other National Security Space stakeholders and his peers throughout OSD, the Air Force Secretariat, Air Force Space Command and Air Force Materials Command.

Mr. Fitzgerald was commissioned into the Air Force in 1971 through the Virginia Military Institute's ROTC program. He has served extensively in the aircraft and space acquisition arenas, with notable assignments in the F-16 program office, the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization and several other tours in the Pentagon. He retired from Air Force active duty as a colonel and entered Civil Service in 2001 and, until recently, served as the Director, Program Management and Integration at SMC.

EDUCATION
1971 Bachelors Degree, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Va.
1976 Masters Degree, Wichita State University, Kan.
1977 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
1979 Air Command and Staff College, correspondence
1985 Air War College, correspondence
1992 Defense Systems Management College, Fort Belvoir, Va.

CAREER CHRONOLOGY
1. June 1971 - December 1976, Titan II Missile Combat Crew Commander, 381st Strategic Missile Wing, McConnell AFB, Kan.
2. December 1976 - August 1980, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies and Director of the American Defense Policy Course, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Va.
3. August 1980 - April 1985, Avionics Manufacturing Manager; Deputy Program Manager for the Inertial Navigation System; Program Manager for Technology Modernization; and acting Director of Manufacturing, F-16 System Program Office, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and Education with Industry, McDonnell Douglas Corporation, St. Louis, Mo.
4. April 1985 - July 1989, Program Element Monitor, Air Force Industrial Base Program, Directorate of Contracts and Manufacturing, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
5. July 1989 - July 1993, Deputy Director for Production and Logistics, Strategic Defense Initiative Organization; Chief of Integration Management; and Director of the Brilliant Pebbles Space-based Interceptor Task Force and the Global Defense Segment, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington, D.C.
6. July 1993 - October 1997, Program Manager, Brilliant Pebbles Space-Based Kinetic Energy Weapon System; Program Manager for Advanced Interceptors; Program Director for the Air Force Ballistic Missile Defense Program; and Deputy Director for Development Planning, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington, D.C.
7. October 1997 - July 1998, Special Assistant for Missile Defense and Director for Space BMC4I, Space and Nuclear Deterrence, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Washington, D.C. (April 1997, Deputy Program Manager, National Missile Defense Joint Program Office, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, Washington, D.C.)
8. July 1998 - June 2001, Chief Engineer and Deputy Director of Systems Acquisition, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif.
9. July 2001 - January 2006, Chief of Integration and Mission Assurance, and Deputy Director for the Systems Acquisition Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif.
10. January 2006 - August 2011, Director, Program Management and Integration Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif.
11. August 2011 - Present, Director, Engineering, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif.

AWARDS AND HONORS
Defense Superior Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters
Legion of Merit
Meritorious Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters
Joint Service Achievement Medal
Air Force Achievement Medal
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award
Combat Readiness Medal
National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Star
Small Arms Expert Marksman Ribbon

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATIONS
Defense Acquisition Corps
Air Force Association

PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS
Program Manager, Level III

(Current as of August 2012)