Ball Aerospace Management Information Bulletin – William F. Townsend
From: Ball Aerospace Communication Services
Sent: Monday, August 9, 2004 9:58 AM
Subject: MIB – William F. Townsend, VP & GM, Civil Space Systems
Management Information Bulletin
August 9, 2004
I am very pleased to announce William F. Townsend as the new Vice President and General Manager of Civil Space Systems, effective September 13, 2004. Bill will report directly to me in this position. Given his long and distinguished tenure at NASA and experience over many years and programs with Ball Aerospace, I am confident that he will be able to quickly bring an objective, yet informed, viewpoint to the leadership of CSS and will help us strengthen our management team and our company as a whole.
Bill is completing a notable career at NASA. He served most recently as the Deputy Director of NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center where he shared, with the Director, the responsibility for executive leadership and overall direction and management of the Center and all its assigned programs. He was also Goddard s principal operating official. Previously Bill served from 1993 to 1998 as the Deputy Associate Administrator (Programs) for the NASA Office of Earth Science where he was responsible for the general management and direction of all Earth Science flight programs. For a twenty-month period beginning in June 1996, he was named acting Associate Administrator for the Earth Science Enterprise.
Prior key positions within NASA included Deputy Director of the Earth Science Applications Division and Chief of the Flight Programs Branch. His first assignment at NASA Headquarters was development of the TOPEX/POSEIDEN mission. During his tenure at Wallops Island Flight Facility, which began in 1963, Bill was Experiment Manager for the 1978 Seasat Radar Altimeter Experiment that flew a Ball Aerospace provided radar antenna.
Bill received an electrical engineering degree with honors from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1970. He has received numerous awards including Goddard s Robert C. Baumann Memorial Award for Mission Success in 2003. He also received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1995 for his leadership and technical guidance of the Earth Science Program. In 1994 and 2003, he received the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive. He also received the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership in 1993, and in 1994, the French Space Agency s Bronze Medal, both for his work on the highly successful TOPEX/POSEIDON program. In 1976, he received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for his pioneering work in radar altimetry.
Please join me in welcoming Bill, his wife Carolyn, son Jason and daughter Tiffany to Ball Aerospace. He will provide a major boost in our efforts to improve program performance and better serve our customers. I am confident you will give Bill your full support as he takes charge of the Civil Space Systems SBU and becomes a valued member of our executive team.
David L. Taylor
President and Chief Executive Officer
