GOES-R Series Program Team

Pam Sullivan System Program Director, NOAA

Pam Sullivan is the System Program Director for the GOES-R Series Program. In this role, Sullivan oversees the development, acquisition, integration, installation, and acceptance of major system elements (spacecraft, instruments, launch services and ground systems) for the GOES-R Series satellites.

Sullivan joined NOAA in May 2018. Previously, she managed the GOES-R Series Flight project for NASA, directing the development of the spacecraft, Instruments, and launch services for the four satellites in the GOES-R series. Sullivan has broad space flight development experience that includes serving as the Deputy Project Manager for the Joint Polar Satellite System Project, Program Manager for the National Polar Operational Environmental Satellite System Visible/Infrared Imager/Sounder System, and Manager of the James Webb Space Telescope Integrated Science Instrument Module, the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera, and GOES-IM Imager and Sounder instruments.

Prior to starting her NASA career, Sullivan served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, training as a space shuttle flight controller and supporting military space experiments using the shuttle. Pam is a four-time recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in astronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jim Valenti Assistant System Program Director, NOAA

James Valenti is the Assistant System Program Director for the GOES-R Series Program. In this role, he supports the System Program Director with oversight of the program and ground and flight projects.

James was previously the GOES-R Ground Segment Project Manager. In 2012, he was promoted to this role from Assistant Project Manager. Prior to joining the GOES-R Program, Valenti served in many capacities in multiple offices within NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) since 2001. From 2001 to 2002, he worked in the Office of Satellite Operations (now Office of Satellite and Product Operations) as the Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) Engineering Team Lead. In 2002, Valenti transferred to the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Program Office to be the Ground System Division Lead.

Before joining NOAA, Valenti served as a Space Operations Officer in the United States Air Force where he worked as the project manager for the Air Force’s Nuclear Detonation (NUDET) Detection System ground data processing system. He also served as the field liaison and as a flight commander for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Office.

Valenti holds a Master of Space Operations degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology along with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State University.

Edward Grigsby Deputy System Program Director, NASA

As Deputy System Program Director since September 2016, Edward Grigsby supports the System Program Director in every aspect of the GOES-R Series Program to ensure effective programmatic and technical implementation of the development, launch and fielding of the GOES-R mission systems.

Prior to assuming the role of Deputy SPD, Grigsby was the GOES-R Program Systems Engineering Lead and technical authority since 2010, overseeing overall mission systems integration, planning, verification/validation and engineering processes and products for the program.

Before joining the GOES-R Series Program, Grigsby worked within NASA, DoD and the commercial sector serving in several technical and engineering management positions including: Program Director for the NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Program and Program Executive for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission at NASA Headquarters; Project Manager for the NASA/NMP EO3 Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) Project at the NASA Langley Research Center; System Engineer for the GOES-R Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) at NASA GSFC; Project Manager and Test Director for the Integration Test Directorate at Worldcom; Manager of the Generic Radar Target Generator Project for the Electronic Warfare Directorate at Edwards AFB and also held systems/instrument/observatory engineering management positions for the development of the Miniature Sensor Technology Integration (MSTI) spacecraft missions at the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Grigsby holds a Master of Science degree in Electro-Optic Engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic/Computer Engineering from the University of Wyoming.

Daniel Lindsey, Ph.D. Program Scientist, NOAA

As the GOES-R Program Scientist, Dan Lindsey serves as the primary science authority for the program. Lindsey is a research meteorologist who worked for the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research for 15 years before moving to the GOES-R Program in March 2020. In this capacity, he manages the GOES-R science portfolio and is helping in the early stages of the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) program.

His research interests include remote sensing of mesoscale phenomena, especially convective storms, cloud physics, and algorithm development. Prior to the launch of GOES-R, he helped lead an evaluation of the utility of one-minute imagery from GOES-14 by the National Weather Service.

Dan began his NOAA career in 2004. He is a 2016 recipient of the NOAA David Johnson Award for his work in preparing for the optimal use of data and imagery from GOES-R's ABI prior to launch. Lindsey holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Georgia, a Master of Science in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University, and a doctorate in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University.

John Deily, Flight Project Manager, NASA

John Deily is the GOES-R Series Program Flight Project Manager. In this role, he manages the spacecraft and instruments through development, launch, and on-orbit checkout.

Deily has over 35 years of experience at NASA. He has extensive leadership and management experience in both the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Engineering and Flight Projects directorates, serving in senior positions in each for more than a decade. During his time in the Engineering Directorate, he developed a broad experience base as a Branch Head followed by stints serving as Associate Division Chief in three different divisions. In 2010, Deily moved to the Flight Projects Directorate. From 2010 through 2014, he served as the Observatory Manager for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, managing the build, integration and test, and launch of the observatory. After GPM, Deily spent five years on the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) project, serving as Observatory Manager overseeing the spacecraft build, the integration of the instruments, the testing of the observatory, and the launch of NOAA-20. He served the GOES-R Flight Project as Deputy Project Manager from 2019 to 2022.

Deily holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering from Virginia Tech, and a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland.

Steve Grippando, Ground System Project Manager (Acting), NOAA

Steve Grippando is the GOES-R Ground Segment Project Manager (Acting). In this role, he oversees the design, development, acquisition, integration, installation, test, verification, and deployment of the GOES-R Ground System.

Prior to joining GOES-R, Grippando served as the Project Manager for the Radio Frequency Interference Monitoring System (RFIMS) and the System Engineering Division Chief in NOAA’s Office of Satellite Ground Services (OSGS) in Silver Spring, Maryland. He joined NOAA in 2008. Before joining the GOES-R Ground System Project, Grippando worked within NOAA, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and the commercial sector, serving in several technical and engineering positions. Early in his career, Grippando served as a Space Operations Officer in the United States Air Force.

Steve has a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Arizona State University.

Monica Todirita Deputy Flight Project Manager, NOAA

Vacant Deputy Flight Project Manager, NASA

Alexander Krimchansky Program Systems Engineering Lead, NASA

Steve Schaeffer Budget Officer/Program Control Chief, NOAA

Syed Aziz Chief Safety and Mission Assurance Officer, NASA

Tammy Seidel Procurement Manager, Flight Project, NASA

Audrey Hogg Contracting Officer, Core Ground Segment, NOAA

Jerry Robertson Contracting Officer, Geostationary Ground Sustainment Services, NOAA

Jeremy Wilson Program Support and IT Services Lead, NASA