WVannevar Bush was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all wartime military R&D was carried out, including important developments in radar and the initiation and early administration of the Manhattan Project. He emphasized the importance of scientific research to national security and economic well-being, and was chiefly responsible for the movement that led to the creation of the National Science Foundation.
WVernon E. Clark is a retired admiral who served as the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) of the United States Navy. He retired on July 22, 2005, making his tenure of five years the second-longest serving CNO behind Arleigh Burke. He currently sits on the board of directors of Raytheon and SRI International. In November 2009, he was selected along with former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo West by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to lead the military investigation into the Fort Hood massacre.
WWalter F. Doran is a retired admiral in the United States Navy, who served as the Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) from May 2002 to July 2005. He lives with his wife, Ginny and has two sons, one of whom has a daughter named Regan He currently is Raytheon's president of Asia.
WMark Thomas Esper is an American politician and defense strategist who served as the 27th United States secretary of defense from July 2019 to November 2020. Before joining the Trump administration, he worked as a defense industry lobbyist.
WHarold "Hal" Sydney Geneen, was an American businessman most famous for serving as president of the ITT Corporation.
WHenry Warren "Hank" Hartsfield Jr. was a United States Air Force officer and a USAF and NASA astronaut who logged over 480 hours in space.
WGregory Bruce Jarvis was an American engineer who died during the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, where he was serving as payload specialist for Hughes Aircraft.
WThomas P. Kelly III is an American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.
WThomas L. Phillips was a chairman and chief executive officer at Raytheon.
WJoseph Francis Shea was an American aerospace engineer and NASA manager. Born in the New York City borough of the Bronx, he was educated at the University of Michigan, receiving a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics in 1955. After working for Bell Labs on the radio inertial guidance system of the Titan I intercontinental ballistic missile, he was hired by NASA in 1961. As Deputy Director of NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight, and later as head of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, Shea played a key role in shaping the course of the Apollo program, helping to lead NASA to the decision in favor of lunar orbit rendezvous and supporting "all up" testing of the Saturn V rocket. While sometimes causing controversy within the agency, Shea was remembered by his former colleague George Mueller as "one of the greatest systems engineers of our time".
WHeidi Shyu is an American engineer and office holder who was the United States Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology from 4 June 2011 to 30 January 2016. She was born in Taipei, Taiwan.
WAmanda Simpson is Vice-President for Research and Technology at Airbus Americas and was the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy. Operational Energy is the energy required for training, moving, and sustaining military forces and weapons platforms for military operations. The term includes energy used by power systems, generators, logistics assets, and weapons platforms employed by military forces during training and in the field. Previously Simpson was the Executive Director of the U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives (OEI) leading the Army's efforts to implement large-scale renewable energy projects. Her first posting in the Army was as the Special Assistant to the Army Acquisition Executive. In that role she was a principal advisor to the United States Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology on all matters relating to Army acquisition, procurement, research & development and logistics. Upon her appointment to the position of Senior Technical Advisor in the Bureau of Industry and Security in 2010, she became the first openly transgender woman political appointee of any Presidential administration. Simpson worked in the United States Department of Defense. She is Jewish.
WJames George Stavridis is a retired United States Navy admiral, currently an Operating Executive with The Carlyle Group and Chair of the Board of Counselors at McLarty Associates. In August 2018, he stepped down as the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a graduate school for international affairs. Stavridis serves as the chief international diplomacy and national security analyst for NBC News in New York. He is also Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Naval Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.