The Aerospace Corporation has announced three leadership changes.
Dr. Willie Krenz has been promoted to Chief Velocity Officer, with responsibility for overseeing and facilitating actions designed to improve business efficiencies, company processes and administrative procedures. This position has oversight responsibility for Enterprise Information Services, Corporate Communications, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Facilities, People Operations, Security and Safety, and the Aerospace University.
Krenz has served as the chief information officer since April 12, 2008. His full biography can be read here.
Dr. Jamie Morin has been hired as vice president, Defense Systems Operations. In this role, he will oversee the Center for Space Policy and Strategy. The Center will provide objective analysis and comprehensive research to ensure well-informed, technically defensible, and forward-looking space policy. Created in 2000, the Center will develop U.S. space policy recommendations and strategy for national decisionmakers, bringing the unique capabilities from throughout Aerospace to bear on complex problems in new areas.
Morin most recently served as director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) for the Department of Defense, where he led the organization responsible for analyzing and evaluating the department’s plans, programs and budgets in relation to U.S. defense objectives, threats, estimated costs and resource constraints. On behalf of the Secretary of Defense, CAPE oversees the Department’s long-range resource allocation process and develops advanced analytical tools and methods. Prior to Senate confirmation as director of CAPE, Morin served for five years as the assistant secretary of the Air Force for financial management and comptroller. He also served for a year as acting undersecretary of the Air Force, where he led the Air Force Space Board and Air Force Council.
Kevin Bell has been appointed vice president of Space Program Operations, a positon that opened when Dr. Malina Hills became senior vice president for Space Systems Group. Bell will oversee Aerospace work with the Air Force, government and industry partners to develop military satellites and to advance national security space systems. He will be responsible for assisting with the development of system requirements, providing schedule/cost risk assessments and solving systems development problems. Space Program Operations oversees satellites in four major mission areas: communications, surveillance, weather, and navigation.
Most recently, Bell was general manager of the Imagery Programs Division, National Systems Group at The Aerospace Corporation. Bell joined Aerospace in 1992 as a member of the technical staff in Vehicle Systems Division of the Engineering and Technology Group (ETG). He supported the Air Force Research Laboratory and Space Missile Command, leaving as the systems director of Space and Directed Energy Technology Directorate. In 2002 he became the principal director of the Missile Defense Division, Systems and Technology Subdivision. In 2005, he joined the Advanced Technology Division as the principal director of Advanced Research and Engineering. In 2008, he transitioned to the Imagery Programs Division as the principal director of the Geospatial Intelligence Futures Office and later assumed that role for the Geospatial Intelligence Development Office. In 2014, Bell was the general manager of the Systems Engineering Division in ETG. Prior to joining Aerospace, Bell held positions in industry, academia and at NASA Ames.
Morin’s role will be effective March 29. Bell and Krenz will transition to their new roles April 1.
The Aerospace Corporation is a California nonprofit corporation that operates a federally funded research and development center and has approximately 3,600 employees. It provides guidance and advice to military, civil and commercial customers to ensure the success of complex, technology-based programs. The Aerospace Corporation is headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., with multiple locations across the United States.
