Experienced Principal Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the aviation and aerospace industry. Skilled in Engineering, Aerospace, Systems Engineering, Innovation Development, and Integration. Strong consulting professional with a Master of Science (M.S.) focused in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Villanova University.

With over 35 years of aerospace and innovation leadership experience. I’ve left a prominent career at NASA, where I directed or contributed to over 30 spaceflight missions to explore the Earth, the Sun and most of our Solar System. I’ve started Jim Adams World, LLC a consulting firm to advise early stage space and technology companies, and governmental organizations around the world. As NASA’s Deputy Chief Technologist, I advised the Administrator on NASA’s technology portfolio and advocated the use of new technology throughout the Agency, influencing $6B annually. I also served as the Chief of NASA’s Innovation Office responsible for ground breaking programs like iTech, Grand Challenges, LAUNCH and NASA’s Tech Transfer initiative, the best of its kind across the US Government.

Previously, as NASA’s Deputy Director of the Planetary Science Division where I was responsible for a $1.5B annual budget for many iconic missions including the Mars Science Laboratory, Pluto-New Horizons, DAWN (to Ceres and Vesta) and MESSENGER (to Mercury). I served on the National Science and Technology Council’s “Strategic Computing Initiative” and led a comprehensive assessment of the Nation’s Pu-238 production capability and infrastructure as well as many other independent reviews of Agency capabilities. I have been awarded three medals for outstanding service and leadership at NASA.

Before joining NASA, I worked as a systems engineer at General Electric’s Space Division (now Lockheed Martin) in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania where I was part of design teams for both civil and military spacecraft such as Landsat, DSCS III, UARS and Milstar.