Jon B. Holladay

Mr. Jon Holladay currently serves as the NASA Technical Fellow for Systems Engineering.  He joined NASA in 1987 as a co-op at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), working in the Design, Development, Test, and Evaluation on the Thermal Control Systems and Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) for the International Space Station (ISS), later becoming a NASA certified Lead Systems Engineer.  From 1996 to 2003, Mr. Holladay served as the Hardware Development and Operations Manager for the ISS’s Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), a major NASA and Italian Space Agency hardware development, where he provided Certificate of Flight Readiness Endorsement and real-time operations support for five MPLM assembly and re-supply missions to the ISS.  In 2003, he served on detail as the Deputy Manager of the Next Generation Launch Technology Program, which was an effort to develop new technologies to improve launch vehicle safety and lower launch costs, focusing on payload integration.  Later, he was the Deputy of the Ares Vehicle Integration Office’s Requirements and Verification Team.  From 2007 to 2009 he served as the Chief Engineer of the MSFC Flight Projects Directorate, Science and Mission Systems Office, where he held NASA Independent Technical Authority for MSFC engineering support to the Constellation and ISS Programs.  In 2009, Mr. Holladay transitioned to lead the formulation and development of the Ares V Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle. After this, he headed the Space Launch System (SLS) Mission Concept Review (MCR) “clean sheet vehicle” effort, resulting in his team being awarded the SLS Chief Engineer’s innovation award.  He then led the SLS Evolvability effort, defining and maintaining the approach for expanding the SLS launch vehicle performance from 70 to 130 metric tons, while maximizing NASA Exploration mission capture and cost engagement efficiency.  In 2015, Mr. Holladay completed an 18-month developmental rotation to NASA Headquarters, supporting the NASA Associate Deputy Administrator for Strategy and Policy, the Exploration Systems Development Office, and the NASA Technical Capability Assessment Team.

Mr. Holladay has over a quarter century of experience in the human spaceflight arena involving spacecraft and launch vehicle development and operations and has served as both a Chief Engineer and Project Manager.  He has completed the Senior Executive Fellows Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and has published almost two dozen journal and conference proceedings on topics from technology to integrated architectural systems.  Mr. Holladay is the recipient of numerous awards, including the NASA Space Flight Awareness Leadership and Silver Snoopy awards.

Mr. Holladay received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from The University of Alabama.