Houston, TX For immediate release] – Former US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Anne Slaughter Andrew, a distinguished attorney, entrepreneur and environmentalist has been elected to the Board of Directors of Ad Astra Rocket Company. The unanimous vote was cast Friday, September 27, 2013, at Ad Astra’s Texas corporate headquarters near Houston during the board’s fourth scheduled meeting of 2013. Ambassador Andrew, a native of Evansville, Indiana, becomes the 8th member of the Ad Astra board and the. Her term begins immediately and she will stand for re- election at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in November. All Ad Astra board members are elected annually.
An outstanding leader, Ms. Andrew was appointed in 2009 by President Barack Obama as United States Ambassador to Costa Rica, a post she held until July of this year when she resumed her U.S. business and legal career. As the first woman to become U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, she led the implementation of major strategic and sustainable initiatives in the areas of security, trade and clean energy. Under her leadership, U.S. exports to Costa Rica increased by more than twenty percent (20%), and her team launched the most successful U.S. Embassy social media campaign in Latin America.
A prominent business woman and entrepreneur, Ambassador Andrew co-founded and, from 1995 through 2007, served as Managing Director of the Anson Group, an Indianapolis based biotechnology consulting company. In 2008 she became a founding partner of New Energy
Nexus, LLC and in 2009 co-founded TerViva Inc., a company focusing on the development of sustainable biofuels technology. In addition to her business activities, Ambassador Andrew has extensive experience with non-profit and political organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Clean Economy Network and the Nature Conservancy. After receiving her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in 1977, she was awarded her law degree cum laude in 1983 from the Indiana University School of Law, where she was also Editor-in-Chief of the Indiana Law Review.
“Anne brings a whole new level of business strength and international perspective to our board” said Dr. Franklin Chang Diaz, Ad Astra’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We are deeply honored and delighted to have her on our board, and we look forward to her insightful guidance as our company reaches out to global, space and energy markets” he added.
ABOUT AD ASTRA
Established in 2005, Ad Astra Rocket Company is the developer of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR(R)) engine, an advanced plasma space propulsion system aimed at the emerging in-space transportation market. Ad Astra also owns and operates Ad Astra Servicios Energeticos y Ambientales (AASEA) and Ad Astra Rocket Company, Costa Rica, respectively supporting research and development subsidiaries in the US and Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Through its subsidiaries, the company also develops earthbound high technology applications in renewable energy, advanced manufacturing and applied physics. Ad Astra has its main laboratory and corporate headquarters at 141 W. Bay Area Boulevard in Webster, Texas, USA, about two miles from the NASA Johnson Space Center.
