Jonmsmith

Jon Michael Smith is a retired NASA Senior Executive. Mr. Smith was heavily involved in initial Space Shuttle Program's marketing project. He sold flights on the Space Shuttle to countries and firms that required space launch services. He, along with Mr. Bud Evans, are recognized for their lasting contribution to section 102 (c)of the NASA Charter [1] that initiated Space Commercialization Initiatives in America.

Mr. Smith is also known for his developments in numerical integration. He developed the technique known as T-integration. Additionally, he is the author of the Wiley books Mathematical Modeling and Digital Simulation for Engineers and Scientists, Scientific Analysis on the Pocket Calculator, Financial Analysis & Business Decisions on the Pocket Calculator and a class notebook Quantitative Methods in Business published by McGraw Hill. His books have been translated into Russian, German and French.

Mike was born September 6, 1938. He was raised in Miles City, Montana. He is the father of two sons, Mike and Chris. Son Mike served in the Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne. When he left the military, he took an MBA in finance at George Mason University. He is employed by BearingPoint Incorporated, a financial consulting firm in Washington DC. Chris is a Major in the Army. Chris graduated from West Point in 1997. He served his country for a year in Baghdad. He took a second masters degrees in Operations Research. He is serving at an instructor at West Point.

Mr. Smith retired from the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in January 2007. Now, he is the proprietor of Jon M. Smith and Associates (JMSA). JMSA is a consulting firm that supports NASA and Mr. George Mitchell. Additionally JMSA finds collaborators for firms bidding on NASA work.

When at NASA, he managed the special projects office in the Space Shuttle Program Strategic Planning office. His work dealt with NASA's response to the recommendations made by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and with NASA's termination of the Space Shuttle Program. Prior to this assignment, he served as the Commercialization Manager for the Space Operations Management Office at JSC and served as the program manager for the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite Program.

Mike consults now. His expertise is based on:

(1) His research on small business survival [2]. Also see the SB Caution and Warning System at jonmsmith.com[3]. This system developed out of work he did for his class on Quantitative Methods of Analysis for Business at the University of Mary Washington prior to moving to Houston Texas. He is focused on finding ways to halt failures of small businesses in America. Mr. Smith's father, and grandfather before him, was a all small businessman. The family is devoted to the American tradition of independence and economic security for the family through quality business products and service to local communities,

(2) His development of T-integration and its applications in high-fidelity, digital flight simulators and control system applications,

(3) His 32 years of experience serving NASA's Shuttle marketing and sales program, NASA's space commercialization program and NASA's Communications Satellite programs. His consulting practice is expanding to include more traditional engineering and business services to firms interested in growth and contribution to National Security, NASA's Space Exploration and Space Communications programs, and

(4) His Physics and Business education experiences at Seattle University, the Harvard Business School and the Sloan School of Management.

Mike works most of the time. He is from the old school that says work is life, and life must be practical. Working is a good habit of his generation. His leisure time is spent flying, writing and family. Mike writes books for John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc. and McGraw Hill Publishers Inc.

Mike owns a Pitts Special Pitts Special and a Beechcraft Bonanza. He flies out of Sholes Field, a Galveston Texas airport.

Mike is an alumnus of Seattle University (BS Physics), the Harvard Graduate School of Business (AMP-84) and a past member of MIT's Sloan School's Management of Complex Organizations Program and the prestigious Federal Executive Institute. Mike was chosen by NASA to attend these programs to develop insights into business practices that would be useful in NASA's space commercialization initiatives.