L. Dale Thomas named director of Systems Management Office at NASA’s Marshall Center

L. Dale Thomas has been named director of the Systems Management
Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

In his new position, Thomas is responsible for the quality of project
management and systems engineering used on Marshall Center programs and
projects. He will direct development and implementation of project
management and systems engineering processes and training programs, and will
direct engineering cost analysis and estimation for Marshall programs and
projects. He supervises a staff of approximately 30 civil servants and
contractors.

Thomas most recently served as the lead systems engineer for NASA’s Space
Launch Initiative. He led a team of approximately 45 engineers and technical
professionals in systems specification, technology integration, risk
management and systems analysis for the Second Generation Reusable Launch
Vehicle Program.

Thomas began his NASA career at the Marshall Center in 1983 as an aerospace
engineer in the Systems Analysis and Integration Laboratory. He has held
increasingly challenging positions during his career at Marshall and within
NASA, including manager of the International Space Station Vehicle Analysis
and Integration Team at Johnson Space Center in Houston; technical assistant
to the director of the Marshall Center Systems Analysis and Integration
Laboratory; chief of the Marshall Systems Test Division; and manager of the
Marshall Systems Engineering Office.

A 1yagraduate of Albertville High School in Albertville, Ala.,
Thomas received his bachelor’s degree in systems engineering from the
University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1981, and later a doctorate in
industrial engineering in 1988. He earned a master’s degree in industrial
and systems engineering from North Carolina State University in Raleigh,
N.C., in 1983.

Thomas and his wife, the former Susan Coburn of Huntsville, also a
Marshall Center employee, have one daughter.