Greetings,
I sincerely hope you and your loved ones are faring well during the current COVID-19 circumstances. I’m writing today to provide a brief update and communicate some changes in our senior leadership team going forward.
Dr. Bob Morris, AER’s Executive Vice President and Research & Development Division VP will retire on June 1st, 2020. Bob joined AER in 2011 after an Air Force career that began as an ion chemistry experimentalist and finished as the Division Chief of AFRL/RVB, Hanscom AFB. Along the way, his sustained dedication to research excellence earned him notable recognition from his scientific peers as a fellow of the American Physical Society. For the past nine years Bob has ably led AER’s R&D Division, sustaining AER’s scientific excellence and keeping the division and AER moving forward. Bob has been a great colleague to our entire management team, and I would like to thank him for applying his exceptional talents here at AER and wish him a long, productive and happy retirement.
Dr. Ned Snell will become AER’s EVP effective June 1st, 2020, he will also retain his role as VP of the Advanced Science and Technology Division. Ned joined AER in 1994 after completing his degree in Atmospheric Science and has progressed from research associate through to SVP of Advanced Science and Technology Division. During his career Ned has led a very wide spectrum of programs at AER, ranging from fundamental radiative transfer studies through to his critical role as program manager of the GOES-R program. I look forward to working closely with Ned on new companywide initiatives.
Dr. Matt Alvarado will become the R&D Division VP effective May 1, 2020. Matt joined AER in 2010 after completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University. He has led numerous successful research efforts as a principal investigator and spearheaded the development of AER’s revitalized Air Quality group. Matt has also collaborated widely across the company with an emphasis on bringing new computing and analytic methods to air quality customers. I am excited to work with Matt to further build AER’s world class R&D capabilities. Matt will report to me.
Charlie Sarkisian will become VP of the new AER TRAX Division effective May 1, 2020. Prior to re-joining AER in 2015, Charlie was Section Lead/Program Manager for the Object and Target Recognition Section at BAE Systems, Burlington, MA where he held key management roles on a wide variety of target recognition technology programs. Charlie and his team have moved AER solidly into the leading edge of target recognition technologies with multi-sensor approaches that intelligently combine physics and machine learning . The TRAX group continues to add new high-profile customers as they advance the art of the possible in target recognition technology. I look forward to working with Charlie and his new division as they expand the scope of application of their expertise and technology.
Rounding out the AER senior leadership team for 2020, Dr. Rick Quinn, VP of the Space Weather Division, will report directly to me effective June 1, 2020. Jenny Zhu, SVP, will continue to lead our multi-faceted Contracts and Finance Division, Scott Zaccheo, Senior Engineering Fellow, will work across the company to advance state of the art of AER's technology and engineering practice and Dave Hogan will continue to simultaneously serve as SVP Business Development and as a senior technical leader.
During 2019, the entire AER team worked extensively to develop new customers and successfully won selection of several new growth programs with government and commercial customers, setting us up for strong growth in 2020. I very much look forward to working with our newly reorganized leadership team and the entire staff to continue solving hard science and engineering problems for our customers and growing our business. Please join me in hearty congratulations to our new promotees and best wishes for a healthy and productive 2020 to all.
Dr. Guy Seeley
President, Atmospheric and Environmental Research