Sidney M. Gutierrez

Director since May 12, 2015

Board Chair of Vaya Space (formerly Rocket Crafters, Inc.) since 2013

Mr. Gutierrez, age 72, is a resident of Austin, Texas. He currently serves as Board Chair of Vaya Space (formerly Rocket Crafters, Inc.), a development-stage company engaged in rocket propulsion research and development, launch vehicle design-engineering and launch service logistics planning and development. He retired as CEO of Vaya Space in 2018.

Mr. Gutierrez retired as a Colonel after serving as a fighter pilot and test pilot in the Air Force and as an astronaut and Space Shuttle Mission Commander with NASA. After retiring from NASA, Mr. Gutierrez spent over 20 years at Sandia National Laboratories (“Sandia”) where he served in various senior leadership positions and led many complex, high technology efforts, including research on nuclear power reactors, solar and wind energy, advanced fuel cycles and nuclear fuel waste disposal. As a director of the Environmental, Safety and Health Programs at Sandia, he was responsible for leading a lab-wide safety effort that cut the lab’s accident rate in half. Mr. Gutierrez has also served on several national advisory panels for NASA, reporting to the President and both houses of Congress. He served on the board of directors of TNMP before it was acquired by TXNM Energy. Mr. Gutierrez is actively engaged in community and other non-profit entities, including New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. Mr. Gutierrez received a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering (Distinguished Graduate) from the United States Air Force Academy and an M.A. in Management from Webster University.

Mr. Gutierrez’s qualifications to serve as a director includes his expertise with respect to technology systems based on his engineering background and his significant experience with nuclear energy and operations, and renewable and sustainable energy. His experience raising capital for a start-up rocket company has given him important financial insight. Mr. Gutierrez also has an extensive background in safety improvements and reliability, and a thorough knowledge of the risk management principles related to security threats including cybersecurity and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition.

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