Three employees of NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center have recently been appointed to top management positions at the NASA research facility on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
David A. Wright was appointed Associate Director for Operations, Patsy G. Smith was named Director of Human Resources Management and Development, and John G. Zellmer was appointed Director of the Office of Protective Services.
Wright most recently served as Director of Flight Operations at the NASA field center, and previously held the post of deputy director of the Airborne Science Program at Dryden from 2002 until 2004. Wright came to Dryden in 1999 after his retirement from the Air Force, serving as a research pilot of the center’s two high-altitude ER-2 Earth resources aircraft.
A 1977 graduate of the Air Force Academy, Wright served as commander of the Air Force’s 1st Reconnaissance Squadron at Beale Air Force Base near Marysville, Calif., among other assignments. He is a veteran of the Desert Storm conflict, flying numerous sorties in U-2 reconnaissance aircraft during that war.
Wright replaces Lawrence J. Schilling in the senior-level post. Schilling retired Jan. 3 after 32 years in a variety of engineering and management roles at NASA Dryden.
In her role as Human Resources chief at NASA Dryden, Smith is responsible for providing personnel management services in planning, developing and coordinating Dryden’s personnel programs. A veteran of more than 35 years of service with federal government agencies, Smith came to Dryden two years ago after a 25-year stint as a civil service employee specializing in a wide variety of personnel management issues with the U.S. Army at Ft. Riley, Kan.
Smith attended Bakersfield College and Cerro Coso Community College in Ridgecrest, and completed additional career-related training at the Army Management Staff College, Aberdeen, Md.
Zellmer replaced William Crews as chief of protective services at NASA Dryden, after serving as Crews’ deputy for the past year. Crews has accepted a similar post at the Port of Houston.
Prior to coming to NASA, Zellmer served as chief of program protection for acquisition security with the 95th Security Forces Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base from 2004 through 2007. In that post, he was responsible for the U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center foreign disclosure and technology transfer, export control, treaty compliance, and operations security and military deception programs. He previously was employed for three years as a security specialist with the 452nd Flight Test Squadron on the Global Hawk flight test program.
Zellmer is a veteran of 24 years service with the U.S. Army military intelligence. He retired in 2001 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s in organizational and business security management from Webster University in St. Louis.
PHOTO EDITORS: High-resolution photos to support this release are available electronically on the NASA Dryden web site at: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/newsphotos/index.html
For more information about NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and its research projects, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden.
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Dryden Flight Research Center
P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661/276-3449
FAX 661/276-3566
Alan Brown
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
(661) 276-2665
alan.brown@nasa.gov