As a part of the 12th annual Space and Missile Defense Conference held at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala., the Air, Space and Missile Defense Association (ASMDA) inducted five new members into the Space and Missile Defense Distinguished Civilians Wall of Fame on Aug. 18.
The Space and Missile Defense Distinguished Civilians Wall of Fame honors past members of the organization who are dedicated to support efforts in space and missile defense. It is designed to honor selected civil servants who made a significant engineering, scientific, technical, analytical, management, or administrative contribution to the research, development, test, and evaluation of missile defense and space technologies or systems. Selected civil servants must also have maintained a high level of commitment to the Army's and the Nation's missile defense and space missions.
The five 2009 inductees are John G. Cady, Otto Peter Cerny, Dr. Darryl W. Collier, Dr. Glen Priddy, and Dr. Bernie W. Vatz. Assisting in the induction ceremony were Lt. Gen. Kevin T. Campbell, commanding general, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, and Dr. Rodney L. Robertson, ASMDA 2009 president.
John G. Cady
John Cady began his legal career with missile defense as a civilian attorney in 1971, when he joined the legal team of the U.S. Army Safeguard Command and culminated his career with his appointment as chief counsel of the Huntsville Legal Office of USASMDC/ARSTRAT in 2003. Throughout his more than 30-year Army career, Cady served with distinction, anticipating legal vulnerabilities and making several systemic changes that overcame significant legal obstacles to achieving management and organizational goals by almost single-handedly building from the ground up the command's labor law, equal employment opportunity law, personnel law and environmental law programs. The hallmark of his service has been his diligence and imagination as a problem-solver and dedication to advancing our nation's space and missile defense programs.
Otto Peter Cerny
Otto Peter Cerny was born in Linz, Austria, on Oct. 1, 1946, and came to the United States in 1957 when his father joined the Wernher von Braun team to work on rockets. He served more than 25 years in federal government civil service, with the last 21 years in the Missile Defense Agency and its predecessor organizations -- the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. He also served in USASMDC/ARSTRAT. Cerny's contributions to the Technology Advancement and Small Business Innovative Research programs earned him national recognition. He consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to the furtherance of the objectives of space and missile defense organizations, programs and people.
Dr. Darrell W. Collier
Dr. Darrell W. Collier distinguished himself in more than 33 years of service to the United States Army. As the chief scientist at USASMDC/ARSTRAT, his leadership led to the identification and exploitation of new opportunities, improving the effectiveness of the United States Army and the defense of the nation. Collier served as a member of the "NMD Tiger Team" and was an important architect of the "3+3" NMD development program -- a key construct that moved the NMD system to a point where rapid deployment could occur. Collier was the Army lead in support to the BMDO "Theater Missile Defense Cost and Operational Effectiveness Analysis" and also played a significant role in the creation of the first Army Directed Energy Master Plan. He contributed greatly in making USASMDC/ARSTRAT a viable leader in space control and awareness, missile defense and directed energy technology.
Dr. Glen Priddy
Dr. Glenn Priddy served 27 years in federal government civil service as a member of the Missile and Space Intelligence Center, (including five years as director), and as a member of USASMDC/ARSTRAT's Technical Center. As director of MSIC, he directed engineering performance, capability and vulnerabilities assessments of foreign weapon systems including ballistic missile systems, anti-satellite weapons and directed energy weapon systems. During his assignment at USASMDC/ARSTART, Priddy also served in the Alabama Department of Homeland Security where he was responsible for all science and technology programs, and he personally led the development of an interoperable communications architecture for the state of Alabama. Priddy has made significant technical, business and leadership contributions in the areas of scientific and technical intelligence, space and missile defense, and homeland security.
Dr. Bernard W. Vatz
Dr. Bernard W. Vatz has more than 43 years of experience, with 35 years in ballistic missile defense, working in USASMDC/ARSTAT and its predecessors. Vatz is truly one of the pioneers of missile defense. His primary areas of expertise include system engineering, trades studies, radar, signal processing, sensors, discrimination, communications, countermeasures, threat analysis, technology forecasting, and particularly ballistic missile defense, theater missile defense and cruise missile defense systems. Vatz was also instrumental in sensor technology development and exploitation, including the successful demonstration and technology insertion of the X-Band solid state transceiver module into the Ground Based Radar program for MDA's X-Band family of radars.
Thirty-six members have been inducted throughout the past 15 years into the Space and Missile Defense Distinguished Civilians Wall of Fame. New members are nominated and selected every other year and are widely recognized as true giants of the profession.
"I believe the successes we enjoy today in Missile Defense and the wide respect that Huntsville enjoys today as a leading technology center can be directly traced to the individuals, such as these five honorees that were inducted today," said Jess Granone, the 2009 ASMDA Wall of Fame chairman and also a member of the Wall of Fame.
ASMDA now has 41 members in their wall of fame, which is currently on display in the lobby of the USASMDC/ARSTRAT on Redstone Arsenal. It will be moved within a few months to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center as part of the Space and Missile Defense display. An unveiling in the new location is planned in early 2010.
Note: The Air, Space, and Missile Defense Association (ASMDA) is a non-profit organization promoting the defense of our nation through strong space and missile defense programs. ASMDA's fundamental purpose is to provide programs and support for activities contributing to the advancement of a common understanding of the vital importance of space and missile defense systems to our national defense.
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