Team Biographies
(click to view)

Founders:

• Jeff Greason
  Chief Executive Officer
• Dan DeLong
  Vice President and Chief Engineer
• Doug Jones
  Chief Test Engineer
• Aleta Jackson
  Manager

Additional Company Principals:

• Randy Baker
  Controller
• Andrew Nelson
  Chief Operating Officer

Board of Directors

• Jeff Greason
• Dan DeLong
• Stephen Fleming
• Esther Dyson
• Lee Valentine

Test Pilots

• Richard Searfoss
• Dick Rutan

Andrew Nelson
Chief Operating Officer

Andrew Nelson is Chief Operating Officer and Vice-President of Business Development for XCOR Aerospace. In this role, he is responsible for leading the XCOR business team that performs a variety of critical functions including: the establishment of commercial operations of the XCOR Lynx suborbital vehicle at operating locations around the US and abroad, regulatory compliance & export licensing, all sales & marketing functions of the company, intellectual property strategy, and the other administrative functions of the company such as fundraising, investor relations, administration, finance and human resources.

Nelson is a recognized leader in the new emerging commercial space sector. He is the originator of the Space Vehicle Wet Lease concept that is at the heart of XCOR’s go-to-market strategy for its Lynx reusable space vehicle. The Lynx Wet Lease allows sovereign countries, emerging spacelines, corporate entities and individuals the opportunity to experience the benefit of their own manned spaceflight program without the additional concern of operating and maintaining a manned space-rated vehicle, all for a price that is less than a high end business jet. He has been responsible for the successful fundraising and business development program at XCOR that has produced record investment and revenue for the company.  Nelson has also led the company’s efforts in building the engine development and sales business at XCOR that has produced key tier one aerospace supplier clients such as United Launch Alliance and others.

Prior to XCOR, Nelson spent approximately 15 years in the aerospace sector and nine years with major Wall Street firms. He joined XCOR from Morgan Stanley where he was an advisor to private companies, their founders, entrepreneurs, and other entities with complex investment banking, estate, tax and financial management issues. Before joining Morgan Stanley in 2005, Andrew played a similar role at Lehman Brothers for five years.
Prior to Wall Street, Nelson spent approximately 15 years in the aerospace, aviation and space field.  Andrew spent the first part of his career as an undergraduate engineering student intern at the Ohio University Avionics Engineering Center working on NASA Ames-sponsored projects developing one of the first differential GPS suites. Upon graduation, Nelson started working at Cape Canaveral for Pan Am World Services where for three years he worked on classified navigation systems and Eastern Test Range, range safety applications.  He then joined MITRE Corporation in Bedford, Massachusetts where he led teams designing and implementing avionics systems in military and civil aircraft, performed flight test in C-130 and UH-1 aircraft with USAF and FAA Technical Center personnel, and participated in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and U.S.-based regulatory and standards committees. Following that, Andrew worked as a senior management and strategy consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton for nine years. The last five years at Booz Allen, he led the international aviation and space team from offices in London and Paris and covered commercial and government clients in the space and aviation fields in Europe, Asia, the former Soviet republics and Latin America.  Clients included companies and entities such as Boeing, Honeywell, Aerospatiale, Fokker Aerospace, Damlier Aerospace, European Commission, Eurocontrol, US FAA, UK Civil Aviation Authority, UK National Air Traffic Service, AirServices Australia, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Iridium, and others.

Andrew has a degree in Electrical Engineering from Ohio University focused on avionics and space telecoms. He studied at the London School of Economics and has an MBA with a dual focus on Finance and Entrepreneurship from MIT's Sloan School of Management. In 2003 he founded the MIT CFO Summit, the premier annual forum for U.S. corporate finance executives. Andrew was the former Fundraising Chairman for the Alumni Fellows of the Emerging Leaders Program of Boston, a highly selective civic leadership development program. He is also one of the co-Founders of the Gift of Hearing Foundation, a charity that provides support to profoundly deaf children in need to obtain cochlear implants. Andrew also enjoys racing sail boats, from small dinghies to former America's Cup winners, and a good game of golf when he is not on the sidelines at his children’s sporting events.