Michael D. Griffin - Career

Career

Griffin's prior experience includes a previous stop at APL (Applied Physics Laboratory) in the 1980s, when he helped design the successful Delta 180 series of missile-defense technology satellites for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. After leaving APL in 1986, he served as the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization’s deputy for technology, then as the chief engineer and later Associate Administrator for Exploration at NASA Headquarters.

In the years following his first tour with NASA, Griffin was president and chief operating officer of In-Q-Tel, a private, non-profit enterprise funded by the Central Intelligence Agency to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve national security interests. Griffin’s resume also includes leadership roles at Orbital Sciences Corporation and technical positions at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at Computer Sciences Corporation.

Before his appointment as NASA Administrator, Griffin was president-elect of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He is a member of the American Astronautical Society and International Academy of Astronautics.

In 2004, Michael Griffin was named head of the Space Department at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

On March 11, 2005, President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate Michael Griffin to serve as the 11th Administrator of NASA. He was confirmed by the Senate on April 13, 2005. Dr. Griffin was subsequently sworn-in by Vice-President Dick Cheney, a rarity for a NASA Administrator and signifying the importance NASA held to the Bush Administration. The Administration even recalled its former NASA transition team director and chief of staff, Courtney Stadd to assist Administrator Griffin.

On March 13, 2008 Michael Griffin was awarded the title of 74th honorary chancellor at Florida Southern College during their annual Founder's Day Ceremony.

It was widely speculated that Dr. Griffin hoped to keep his job under the new President Barack Obama so that Constellation and NASA's other programs could maintain their steady progress. In a phone call on the day after the election, Senator Bill Nelson (D, FL) requested of Ms. Lori Garver, who led the incoming Obama Administration's Transition Team, that the Administration allow Dr. Griffin to remain as NASA Administrator to provide programmatic and management continuity. However, his resignation (required of and offered by all agency heads due to an incoming President) was accepted. In part, this was because of disagreements between Dr. Griffin and Ms. Garver over the state of Project Constellation. Griffin gave a farewell address to NASA on 16 January 2009, in which he praised NASA for its recovery from the Columbia disaster and urged employees to support the new administrator, whoever it may be. He left office on the day President Obama was inaugurated.

On April 14, 2009, Michael Griffin accepted a position as eminent scholar and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The university established the eminent scholar position in 1986. Dr. Griffin has established the Center for System Studies at the university, which will address the need for 'systems thinking' in industry and the government. System studies involve research to understand the many complex ways that technology, nature, people, and society interact so that the workings of an engineered solution are more predictable and more desirable. UA Huntsville is a Space Grant university, and has a history of cooperation with both NASA at the nearby Marshall Space Flight Center, and the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal. The campus serves as the anchor tenant in Cummings Research Park, the second largest university research park in the United States.

In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Griffin was ranked as the #7 most popular space hero.

On August 14, 2012, the Schafer Corporation announced that Michael Griffin would assume the role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at the company. According to their website, "Schafer Corporation, formed in 1972, is a leading-edge technology company providing high quality products and professional services to our government and industry customers."