NASA’s Marshall Center names three to key positions

Three longtime NASA employees, James M. (Jim) Ellis, David A. Throckmorton
and Carl Preston Jones, have been named to key positions at NASA’s Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Each of their new roles is a Senior Executive Service (SES) position — a
corps of men and women who administer public programs at the top levels of
the federal government.

Jim Ellis has been appointed the Marshall Center’s chief information
officer. He is responsible for overseeing Marshall’s information technology,
or IT program, to ensure computer capacity and availability to perform a
wide array of business functions at the Center. He will direct Marshall’s
overall information technology plans, set standards, and oversee its staff.
Ellis will also continue to serve as manager of the Information Services
Department. In that capacity he supervises a technical and business staff of
approximately 62 civil servants and some 900 contractor personnel who
provide computer and communications systems for Marshall.

A native of Huntsville, Ellis is a graduate of Huntsville High School. He
received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, a
master’s degree from South Dakota State University at Ellsworth Air Force
Base, S.D., and an associate’s degree from Enterprise State Junior College
in Enterprise, Ala. Ellis began his NASA career at the Marshall Center in
1981 as a technical resources manager.

David Throckmorton has been appointed deputy director of the Marshall
Center’s Engineering Directorate. He joined the Marshall Space Flight
Center staff in 2000 as deputy manager of the Structures, Mechanics and
Thermal Department. In his new position, Throckmorton leads a workforce of
some 1,200 civil servants and contract employees who provide engineering
support and advanced technology to NASA spaceflight programs, including the
International Space Station and the Space Launch Initiative. The Space
Launch Initiative is a key NASA program, managed by the Marshall Center, to
identify and develop new technologies for future space transportation
vehicles.

A native of South Charleston, W.Va., Throckmorton received a
bachelor’s degree in 1970 from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in
Blacksburg, Va. He earned a master’s degree from George Washington
University in Washington, D.C., in 1975, and has authored or co-authored
more than 50 technical publications. Since beginning his NASA career in 1966
at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., he has received a number of
prestigious awards including the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and the
“Silver Snoopy”– awarded by astronauts for dedication in support of the
Shuttle program.

Carl Preston Jones has been selected as manager of the Subsystems and
Components Development Department of Marshall’s Space Transportation
Directorate. In his new position, Jones will oversee design and development
of rocket engine components and provide analysis and engineering support for
the Space Shuttle main engines and future space transportation engines.
Jones joined Marshall’s Structural Dynamics Laboratory Component Assessment
Branch in 1982. He has served in various leadership positions including
manager, Propulsion Test Division, and most recently, as lead for the Space
Shuttle Main Engine, systems and requirements team.

A native of Dahlonega, Ga., Jones earned a bachelor’s degree at North
Georgia College in Dahlonega. He has received a number of NASA service
awards, among them NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal and the “Silver Snoopy.”