Our Team

Bob Arciniaga is the Founder and Managing Partner of Advisory Board Building Boards that Build Organizations Advisory Board Architects, LLC. Founded in 2005, ABA builds, maintains, and manages “High Impact” advisory boards and boards of directors. ABA’s expertise is in how to effectively and efficiently leverage fiduciary and non-fiduciary boards for maximum impact and return for organizations and their board members. ABA’s proprietary Board Engagement system is designed to address the lack of quantifiable strategic impact that many organizations fail to receive from their boards. ABA has developed a first of its kind scalable process that transforms any type of board into a Strategic Accelerator that generates quantifiable ROI. ABA accomplishes this through a unique four step process that starts by designing the board for specific strategic information, then building the board with the right board members that match those objectives, leveraging the board through a highly disciplined management process and finally evaluating the effectiveness and impact of a board. This translates that into a quantifiable ROI analysis. ABA works with both private and publicly traded companies from $20mm in revenues to $22bil. Bob has personally run and built boards in Panama, Columbia, Mexico, Ukraine, Malaysia, Spain, Singapore, China, and the US. Since inception, ABA is proud to have had over 1600 board meetings run on ABA’s proprietary platform in 14 different countries and 4 different languages.

Mr. Arciniaga is centered in the entrepreneurial world, as a leader, business owner and investor. His roots in business started at a very young age. His grandmother founded one of the largest Mexican Food Products Manufacturing Companies in the United States in the garage of their home in East Los Angeles in 1948. With his first-hand knowledge of working in a family-owned business environment, he headed off to work on Wall Street becoming one of the youngest and few Hispanic Institutional Equity Traders. His thirst for learning and advancement opportunities lead him to the role as head trader for a large hedge fund where he developed his own algorithmic trading systems and headed up quant trading operations. Some of these proprietary methodologies are the basis of what is now part of the ABA evaluation and selection processes of board member candidates.

Bob is a recognized thought leader in building High Impact boards and speaks at many events for boards of directors and organizations. He has provided his unique and energetic High Impact Board Training to a large number of organizations including; multiple YPO chapters and global events, Women on Boards, Singapore and Hong Kong Institutes of Directors, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchanges, and various organization boards. Bob has been interviewed and highlighted in numerous publications and ABA was highlighted in the successful business book by Salim Ismael (2014) Exponential Organizations.

Bob lives outside of Denver Colorado with his wife and three young children.

Mr. Richard McConn is the Chairman of the Board of the National Defense Industrial Association and is also the CEO and founder of M International Inc., a United States government subcontractor and export management company. Prior to founding M International, Mr. McConn was the director of Corporate Planning and Development for Flight Safety International, Inc. He retired as a lieutenant colonel from the USAF Reserve and served in a variety of positions as an active and reserve duty officer, including an assignment as the White House Aide to the President of the United States.

Mr. McConn graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1966 with a BS in International Affairs. He is currently on the boards of M International, Inc., Moroccan – American Museum in Tangiers, Morocco, the Falcon Foundation, and the National Defense Industrial Association. He received the U.S. Air Force Academy Distinguished Graduate Award in 2011.

Dirk Hoke was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Airbus Defence and Space in April 2016 and also serves as a member of Airbus’ Executive Committee.

Before joining Airbus Defence and Space in January 2016, he had worked at Siemens, where he held various executive-level positions. His career spans 25 years and five continents in various industries, often focusing on digitalisation.

Dirk began his professional career in 1994 as Research and Development Engineer for process and software analysis in the automotive industry at Renault in Paris.

In 1996, he joined Siemens through an international trainee programme with assignments in Germany, Argentina and Austria. Less than a year after completing the trainee programme, he took over his first management position in the Transportation Systems Division. In 2001, he was tasked with leading a restructuring team to transform a light rail factory in Sacramento. Following this successful turnaround, he served from 2002 to 2005 as General Manager for the Transrapid Propulsion and Power Supply Subdivision – which also encompassed the Shanghai “Maglev” project. He was then promoted to President of Siemens Transportation Systems China based in Beijing, after Siemens became the country’s largest foreign railway supplier.

Dirk Hoke moved to Morocco in 2008 and was appointed the first Siemens CEO in Africa a year later. He returned to Germany in 2011 to become the Division CEO of Industrial Solutions, where he was tasked with building up the services business for the Industry Sector – including the digital platform business (now known as MindSphere). He was later called upon to restructure the Large Drives Business Unit.

He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Brunswick, Germany.

Dirk Hoke was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader Class of 2010, and went on to become a member of the Baden Baden Entrepreneur Talks in 2013. He is on the Presidential Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), and in January 2020 was elected President of the BDLI, the German Aerospace Association. He is also a member of the boards of Bitkom and AmCham Germany.

Born on 2 April 1969, Dirk Hoke is married with two children.

John Henley is a retired Air Force Colonel with 27+ years of national security experience and expertise that included assignments at the National Reconnaissance Office, Air Staff and the Joint Staff. He is an accomplished leader and the current Vice President for National Security Space and D.C. Operations for Galapagos where he is responsible for supporting the Space Rapid Capabilities office where he advises senior DoD leadership on strategies and plans as well as evaluating operational requirements for national security space programs. Additionally, he engages Congressional Members and Committee Professional Staffs on issues affecting national security.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University and holds graduate degrees from the National Intelligence University, the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Policy. He was also a 2015 MIT National Defense Fellow.

Dr. Karen Nyberg is an engineer, astronaut, and textile artist who, through nearly thirty years of experience in human spaceflight, has gained an appreciation for the value of working within and across diverse political ideologies, cultural values, and world views to advance critical missions.

Karen was selected as a member of the NASA Astronaut Corps in 2000. She made her first trip to space aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 2008, during the height of International Space Station (ISS) construction, delivering and installing the Japanese Laboratory. On her second spaceflight in 2013, Karen launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and lived and worked at ISS for 166 days.

Prior to astronaut selection, Karen worked as an Environmental Control Systems Engineer at the Johnson Space Center where she led several design and analysis initiatives in the areas of space vehicle and space suit thermal and environmental control.

Recently retired from NASA, Karen is currently pursuing interests in the areas of conservation and sustainability, fully appreciating the responsibility for innovation and technology to strive to meet those needs. She serves as an ambassador and advisor for Osomtex® upcycled yarns and fabrics, promoting a circular economy in the textile industry.

Karen received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Dakota and graduate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and has been honored with the highest alumni award from each alma mater. She serves on the Board of Directors for the University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation, supporting the education and research goals of the UND Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.

Max Vozoff has over 25 years of experience in engineering, program management, and business development in multiple industries, including aerospace, telecommunications, and finance. He has worked and consulted for NASA, SpaceX, Vulcan (Stratolaunch) and numerous other companies and clients. At NASA JPL, he contributed hardware to multiple missions, technology development programs and led advanced concept studies. He won and managed the Dragon development program for SpaceX, bringing it from a whiteboard to launch in under 4 years. He has also served as a consultant and Subject Matter Expert for NASA, DARPA and numerous commercial clients, large and small, providing technical review, business plans, strategy and implementation, program formulation and management.

Max Vozoff received his B.S. with Honors in Electrical & Communications Engineering from Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia, and an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering (Astronautics) from the University of

Dr. Michael C. Mineiro is an attorney and public policy expert specializing in outer space, with over fifteen years of experience in government, academia, and the private sector.

Michael currently serves as V.P. Legal, Regulatory, and Government Affairs at HawkEye 360, Inc., the first commercial company to use formation flying small satellites to create a new class of radio frequency geoanalytics. Michael is responsible for the company’s governmental affairs strategy, regulatory licensing, and U.S. government contracting matters.

Prior to joining HawkEye 360, Michael served as the Staff Director and Senior Counsel to the House of Representatives, Science, Space and Technology Space Subcommittee. During this time, he drafted and negotiated legislation and led the development of congressional hearings, while maintaining oversight of Federal civil space agencies and regulatory authorities. He was lead House committee counsel for drafting and negotiating the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-90) and the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-10).

Michael previously served in the Executive Office of the President as a Senior Policy Analyst and Liaison to the National Space Council at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He has advised senior White House leadership and led interagency space policy development efforts, including NSPD-2. Prior government appointments also include service as an international relations specialist at NOAA’s Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, as an attorney with NOAA’s Office of General Counsel, and on the U.S. delegation to the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS).

Dr. Mineiro holds a Doctor of Civil Law (McGill University, 2011), a Legal Masters in Air and Space Law (McGill University, 2008), Juris Doctor (University of North Carolina, 2005), and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations (North Carolina State University, 2001), with additional studies undertaken at The Hague Academy of International Law (2010), Beijing Language and Culture University (2005), and the University of Hong Kong (2004).

He is happily married to his wife Sarah and has two children. You will see him occasionally pick up a guitar.

Captain Michael Lopez-Alegria, USN (Ret.) is an independent consultant to traditional and commercial space companies. Michael has over thirty-five years of aviation and space experience with the U.S. Navy and NASA in a variety of roles including Naval Aviator, engineering test pilot and program manager, four-time NASA astronaut, and commander of ISS Expedition 14 (flying to and from the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-9). He holds NASA records for most Extravehicular Activities (EVA) or “space walks” (10) and cumulative EVA time (67 hours 40 minutes). Michael is the former President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, where he was a spokesman, thought leader, and advocate with the U.S. Congress and pertinent Executive Agencies for favorable public policy on behalf of the commercial spaceflight industry.

Michael serves on several advisory boards and committees of public and private organizations, including the Human Exploration and Operations Committee of the NASA Advisory Council, and the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee to the FAA. He is the President of the Association of Space Explorers USA, a professional and educational organization of current and former astronauts. Michael is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and resides in Washington, DC.

Nicole Stott is an astronaut and artist who creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflight experience with her artwork to inspire everyone’s appreciation of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth.

A veteran NASA Astronaut with two spaceflights, she lived and worked in space for 104 days as a crewmember on both the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle. She performed one spacewalk (10th female to do so), was the first person to fly the robotic arm to capture the free-flying HTV cargo vehicle, she was the last crew member to fly to and from their ISS mission on a Space Shuttle, and she was a member of the crew of the final flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-133.

A personal highlight of Nicole’s spaceflight was painting the first watercolor in space, which is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

She is also a NASA Aquanaut, where in preparation for spaceflight she was a crewmember on the longest duration saturation dive mission on the Aquarius undersea laboratory. Prior to astronaut selection in 2000, Nicole had served for ten years as a NASA engineer and program manager at the Kennedy Space Center for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs, and two years at the Johnson Space Center as a flight engineer on the Shuttle Training Aircraft.

Nicole believes that the international model of peaceful and successful cooperation we have experienced in the extreme environments of space and sea hold the key to the same kind of peaceful and successful cooperation for all of humanity here on Earth.

Now retired from NASA, she founded the Space for Art Foundation to bring space and art together for children around the world – helping them overcome the challenges they’re facing through the wonder and awe of space exploration, the inspiration of Spaceship Earth, and the healing power of art.

Nicole is a graduate of St. Petersburg College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and the University of Central Florida, and she is an avid SCUBA diver and instrumented rated private pilot.

Dr. Paul G. Kaminski is the chief executive officer of Technovation, Inc. A retired U.S. Air Force colonel, Kaminski served as undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology from 1994 to 1997, and was twice chairman of the Defense Science Board, of which he is still a member. He also chaired the RAND Corporation’s Board of Trustees.

Kaminski is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, an IEEE fellow, and both a fellow and honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), all in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the development of stealth aircraft and missiles, and satellite reconnaissance. His enduring contributions to those and other technical aerospace programs earned Kaminski a place among the Class of 2020 in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Technology Strategies and Alliances, a technology-oriented investment banking and consulting firm. Kaminski was a consultant and adviser to a variety of government agencies. They include the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the Director of National Intelligence’s Senior Advisory Group, the FBI Director’s Advisory Board, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Technical Advisory Board, the National Academies Air Force Studies Board, and the Atlantic Council. He is chairman of the boards of HRL Laboratories, Exostar, Seagate Government Solutions, and the Systems Engineering Research Council. In addition to MITRE, Kaminski is a Director of CoVant Technologies, LinQuist, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, and the USAF Academy Endowment. Kaminski serves as an adviser to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory.

Kaminski has received the following awards: National Medal of Technology 2006, Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service (5 awards), Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Director of Central Intelligence Director’s Award, Defense Intelligence Agency Director’s Award, Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Force Academy 2002 Distinguished Graduate Award, the Ronald Reagan Award for Missile Defense, the William J. Perry Award for Precision Strike, the AIAA Reed Award for Aeronautics. the International Strategic Studies Association, Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Strategic Progress through Science and Technology, the Marine Scholarship Leatherneck Award, the AOC Gold Medal, the Netherlands Medal of Merit in Gold, the French Republic Legion d’Honneur, the SPIE Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Air Force Systems Command Scientific Achievement Award. He has been recognized as a Pioneer of National Reconnaissance and a Pioneer of Stealth.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy, master’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. He and his wife, Julie, have two children and six grandchildren.

Ryan Frederic is an entrepreneur and an aerospace engineer.

Ryan Frederic co-founded Applied Defense Solutions (ADS) in 2005 with a mission to provide analysis and engineering products and services to the Civil, Commercial, Defense and Intelligence Space markets in the United States and internationally.  For 14 years he and his partners built ADS into a leader in the Space Situational Awareness market, until it’s acquisition by L3 Harris in 2018. Ryan has been involved in the founding of a number of other businesses including, Water Management Solutions (WMS), a specialty construction company, Forever Fit Physical Therapy and Wellness, a healthcare provider, delivering outpatient physical therapy services, and Humble Rogue Ventures, a small venture capital firm that serves as a platform for Ryan to help and mentor other small enterprise founders to realize their vision. In his home state of Maryland, Ryan has served on the mid Atlantic board of the US Fund for UNICEF, the Domestic Violence Center of Howard County, and the Columbia Festival of the Arts.

Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree of Aerospace Engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He currently resides in Windermere Fl, with his wife Krista and their 3 young children.

Dr. Scott Parazynski is a highly decorated physician, astronaut, and tech CEO, recently inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame. He is a widely sought after keynote speaker on innovation, risk management, mentorship and leadership under extreme adversity.

Scott has lived and traveled all over the world, spending many of his grade school years in places such as Senegal, Lebanon, Iran and Greece. A graduate of Stanford University and Medical School, he went on to train at Harvard and in Denver for a career in emergency medicine and trauma.

In 1992 he was selected to join NASA’s Astronaut Corps and eventually flew 5 Space Shuttle missions and conducted 7 spacewalks. Mission highlights include a global ozone mapping flight; leading the first joint US-Russian spacewalk while docked to the Russian space station Mir; serving as Senator John Glenn’s crewmate and “personal physician”; and assembly of the Canadian-built space station robotic arm.

In October 2007, Scott led the spacewalking team on STS-120, during which he performed 4 EVAs. The final EVA is regarded by many as one of the most challenging and dangerous ever performed. The tremendous coordinated effort in orbit and on the ground by Mission Control has been likened to the Space Shuttle and Space Station era’s “Apollo 13 moment.”

In addition to being a diver and accomplished mountaineer, Scott is also a commercial, instrument, multiengine and seaplane-rated pilot. On May 20, 2009, he became the first astronaut to stand on top of the world, the summit of Mount Everest. As a life-long explorer, he and a colleague recently set the first bootprints adjacent the world’s youngest lava lake, inside the crater of Massaya Volcano in Nicaragua.

He is a prolific inventor/product developer, and serves on the Boards of several companies. He is Founder and CEO of Fluidity Technologies, focused on the development of revolutionary input devices powered by machine learning to intuitively move through physical and virtual space.

Dr. Sian Proctor is a geoscientist, explorer, space artist, and astronaut. She was the mission pilot for the SpaceX Inspiration4 all-civilian orbital mission. She is the first black female to pilot a spacecraft and the first black commercial astronaut. She is also one of The Explorer’s Club 50: Fifty People Changing the World. Her motto is called Space2inspire where she encourages people to use their unique, one-of-a-kind strengths, and passion to inspire those within their reach and beyond. She believes that we need to actively strive for a J.E.D.I. space: a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive space as we advance human spaceflight.

She uses her afrofuturism space art to encourage conversations about women of color in the space industry. She believes that when we solve for space, we also solve issues on Earth and she promotes the adoption of space technology to issues such as food waste and climate change.

Dr. Proctor spent over 20 years as a professor teaching geology, sustainability, and planetary science at South Mountain Community College, in Phoenix, Arizona. She is currently the director of the Global Futures Institute for the Maricopa Community College District.