Tentative Speakers to Date:

Please check back for additional speakers, confirmations, and the specific names of those who are booked.

Confirmed speaker biographies follow the list below.
 

Friday General Assembly:

NASA Astronaut - name will be provided when confirmed

Paula Lewis, Acting FAA Assistant Administrator

NASA SmartSkies - team from NASA Ames
 

Saturday General Assembly:

NASA Astronaut - name will be provided when confirmed

Barrington Irving, Experience Aviation/Presidents Award/Youngest around the world flight

Ken Blackburn, Guinness Book of World Records, Greatest Airplane Book
 

Hangar Talk:

Three NASA Astronauts will participate - names will be provided when confirmed
 

The First Speaker Biographies to Date in Alphabetic Order:

Ken Blackburn:

Ken holds the Guinness World Record for time aloft for an unpowered paper airplane -27.6 seconds!

He is the author of 43 paper airplane books, including “The World Record Paper Airplane Book,” ”Kids’ Paper Airplane Book,” and “Pocket Flyers,” and “Aviation Legends Paper Airplane Book.”

He is an aeronautical engineer for Jacobs Engineering, working for the Air Force conducting unmanned air vehicle research at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, where he lives with his wife. Prior to Jacobs, Ken served at Boeing for 19 years as an aeronautical engineer working on military aircraft such as the F/A-18 and T-45, and on advanced weapons concepts. In addition to paper airplanes, he spends his free time flying radio controlled airplanes and flying his Piper Warrior.
 

Barrington A. Irving, Jr.

On June 27, 2007, 23-year-old Captain Barrington Irving secured his place in history as the first black pilot and youngest person ever to fly solo around the globe. He flew 30,000 miles in a single-engine aircraft on his 97-day journey, encountering thunderstorms, snow storms, icing, sand storms and monsoons along the way. His purpose was to show other youth that if he could achieve his dream, they could too.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica and brought up in inner-city Miami, Barrington saw a football scholarship as his only route to college. But at 15, he met a Jamaican airline pilot, Captain Gary Robinson, whose mentoring helped motivate him to pursue a career in aviation.

In 2003, Barrington founded the Miami-based nonprofit organization Experience Aviation, Inc. to introduce other young people to career opportunities in the field. In 2006, he opened the EA Learning Center that provides career inspiration tours and after-school programs to middle and high school students.

In February 2007 on Capitol Hill, Barrington was presented with a Congressional Resolution honoring his achievement and acknowledging his pioneering work in the field of aviation education.

Paula Lewis

Paula Lewis was appointed Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regions and Center Operations in July 2006.  In this capacity she provides leadership and guidance for operations at the nine FAA regional headquarters and Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center.  In Washington headquarters, Ms. Lewis provides management oversight direction for Information Technology, Resource Management, Planning and FOIA Management, Aviation Logistics, and the Washington Flight Program (Hanger 6.)

Prior to this assignment, Ms. Lewis served as Director of Operations Planning and Performance Analysis.  She was instrumental in establishing measurable goals and targets in areas such as on-time, delays, system capacity and efficiency as well as system availability. Other positions included Director and Deputy Director, Office of System Capacity, Manager, Information Technology Planning Division, Management Standards and Statistics Division and Organizational Analysis Branch.  Prior to coming to the FAA, she served as senior program analyst for the Chief of Naval Operations and Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command at the Department of Navy.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Winthrop College and a Master’s Degree in Industrial Organizational Science from George Mason University.