Founders & Team

Former NASA Chief Engineer and Program Risk Manager. Dr. Jim Peters played key leadership roles in NASA's most demanding programs, including Shuttle Return-to-Flight after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

He is the author of Return to Flight and an adjunct professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he has taught more than 180 graduate courses. His expertise spans risk management, mission operations, and engineering leadership in government, aerospace, and commercial environments.

Education and career highlights include deep experience in astronaut training and mission operations, risk leadership for the Commercial Crew Program, and development of next-generation commercial space stations under the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program.

NASA engineer, aviation safety expert, and leadership professor. Dr. Lou Carfagno is the recipient of the NASA Silver Snoopy Award for outstanding contributions to human spaceflight safety.

His background combines hands-on engineering, safety systems, and leadership development. He has applied mission-critical thinking across aviation, space, and organizational contexts—helping teams and leaders perform when failure is not an option.

His work in leadership education and operational excellence extends to universities, corporations, and government, with a focus on risk-informed decision making and high-reliability team performance.

Shelly Bernard integrates psychology, neurocognitive science, and human behavior to advance innovation and performance across the defense, intelligence, and space sectors. Drawing on more than a decade of experience working with government communities and cultures, she examines how cognitive differences, neurobiology, and environmental factors shape behavior, learning, and mission effectiveness.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science in Psychology, specializing in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Her published research explores cognitive strengths in neurodivergent populations and human factors associated with insider threats and risk mitigation. She brings a distinctive human-centered perspective to innovation, leveraging insights into cognition and behavior to enhance user experience, organizational performance, and systems development.