APT Corporate Officers


Tom Pfitzer

Founder/Chairman of the Board

George Gafka

Chief Executive Officer

Meredith Hardwick

Executive VP, Chief Operations Officer (COO),
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Saralyn Dwyer

Executive VP, Chief of Staff (COS)

Jamie McLean

VP, Director of Aerospace S&MA Division

Melissa Emery

VP, Director of Safety Engineering
& Analysis Center (SEAC)

Clark Kilgore

VP, Director of System Safety & Test Division

Mike Wesoloski

Software Division Manager

Bob Baker

VP, Chief Analyst

John Hall

Chief of Certifications & Standards

Carolyn King

Human Resources Director

John Tatom

VP, Director of Explosives Safety Division


APT Board of Directors


  • Tom Pfitzer
  • George Gafka
  • Saralyn Dwyer
  • Meredith Hardwick
  • Pete Yutmeyer
  • John Wynn
  • John Frost
  • Lisa Williams

SEAC Subject Matter Experts


Our subject matter experts are senior individuals with deep and specialized expertise.

Melissa Emery

Tom Pfitzer

Saralyn Dwyer

  • Extensive experience with US Army and MDA development programs
  • 25+ years of experience
  • BS Electrical Engineering; specialized safety training in explosive materials safety, hazard recognition, evaluation and control

Bob Baker

  • APT Chief Analyst responsible for QRAs and range safety models.
  • 30 years as safety engineer
  • MS and BS Astronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology; BS Applied Mathematics

Tim Middendorf

  • Subject Matter Expert in control room and flight operations
  • 30+ years experience in safety engineering and analyses
  • Experience includes range flight safety, spacecraft engineering/operations, and spacecraft launch operations
  • MS Astronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology; BS in Aerospace Engineering

John Frost

  • Former Chief Safety for AMCOM
  • Member NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (2006-2018)
  • Expert Witness testimony including Congress and Litigations
  • BS Electrical Eng; ME Industrial Eng (Safety Option)
  • 44 years System Safety experience

Barry Hendrix

  • Principal Engineer for Software System Safety
  • Former Lockheed Martin Technical Fellow for System Safety (member of G-48)
  • 45+ years integrated weapon systems, 35 years in System Safety.
  • Software System Safety Training Instructor

Faysaal Safie, Phd

  • Former NASA Reliability Engineering Technical Fellow
  • 30+ years of NASA, industry, and university experience in Reliability and Maintainability
  • BS Science; BS, MS, and PhD Industrial and Systems Engineering
  • Reliability Engineering Training Instructor

Susan Cantrell

  • System Safety Technical Lead for MDA
  • 30+ years safety experience in space flight and missile defense

Pete Yutmeyer

  • 35+ years of experience in explosives and range safety
  • Army approval authority for explosive facility siting and Hazard Classification for 15 years
  • Major contributor to the Risk-Based Explosives Safety Criteria Team
  • ME Industrial Engineering; MS Aeronautical Engineering; BS Aeronautical Engineering

Eric Olson

  • Former Deputy Chief of Weapons Safety, Air Force Safety Center
  • Former Chairman, Risk-Based Explosives Safety Criteria Team
  • Former Vice Chairman, Air Force Nonnuclear Munitions Safety Board
  • Former Chairman, Air Force Insensitive Munitions Technical Working Group
  • Former explosives hazard classification authority for US Army and US Air Force
  • BS Mechanical Engineering, ME Industrial Engineering

Wayne Devoid

  • 15+ years systems engineering, operations and analysis
  • ME Aerospace Engineering; BS Physics & Mechanical Engineering

Keith Rose, CHP

  • Certified Health Physicist
  • 35 years experience as a Health Physicist
  • BS major in Biology, minor in Chemistry

Dave West

Clark Kilgore

  • PM for MDA safety support
  • 20 years as a Safety Engineer supporting Missile Defense Agency
  • Previously audited numerous major MDA suppliers’ program

Paul LaHoud

  • USACE Huntsville Center, Chief, Civil-Structures Division
  • 31+ years experience in Conventional and Nuclear Weapons Effects, Protective Construction
  • BS and MS Engineering

George Gafka

  • Executive Vice President of Safety and Mission Assurance
  • 30-year career at NASA
  • Former NASA Chief Engineer, Chief Safety Officer, and S&MA Director
  • ME of Space Systems, MS in Mechanical Engineering, BS in Aerospace Engineering

Rhonda Barnes

  • 25+ years of diverse experience in the software engineering and simulation industries with emphasis on software system safety and management
  • Leader in development of software safety policy used by DoD

John Hall

  • APT Technical Director
  • Member of the Gov’t team which validates assembly and testing procedures for the interceptor missile
  • Supported the NMD Production Directorate in development of a system-level transition to production plan
  • PhD Industrial Engineering; MS Industrial Engineering; BS from US Military Academy, concentration Aerospace Engineering