Konstantinos (Gus) Martzaklis

Konstantinos “Gus” Martzaklis is director of the Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Directorate at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. He is responsible for leading operational and systems safety, reliability, product quality assurance, ISO and AS9100 certifications, and occupational health efforts to ensure program success, health, and safety.

Prior to this appointment, Martzaklis served in several SMA leadership positions, including deputy director, associate director, and chief of Glenn’s Program and Project Assurance Division. He managed SMA engineering and critical assessments of Glenn’s programs and projects in support of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, including the Orion program’s European Service Module.

Martzaklis also oversaw key programmatic assignments in solar electric propulsion, International Space Station research, space communications, spacecraft fire safety, and aeronautics. Additionally, he was responsible for providing projects with risk management, software and quality assurance, reliability engineering, system safety, materials and processes engineering, and electrical, electronic, and electromechanical parts engineering. In addition, he facilitated programmatic quality audits, assessments, and reviews.

During his career at NASA, Martzaklis has held several program-level management positions, including project manager for space communications and navigation technology, manager of strategic planning, and chief of aviation safety and airspace systems. He began his career as a telecommunications research engineer specializing in electromagnetics before progressing his expertise into satellite ground systems and mobile communications. 

Martzaklis earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Akron and a master’s degree in engineering from Case Western Reserve University. He is a graduate of NASA’s Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program.