George T. Whitesides is the CEO of Virgin Galactic, Sir Richard Branson’s human spaceflight venture, and The Spaceship Company, a manufacturer of advanced space vehicles. With its innovative spacecraft, the company seeks to transform access to space to change the world for good.
Prior to Virgin Galactic, George served as Chief of Staff for NASA. Upon departure from the American space agency, he received the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award the agency confers.
George serves as co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Space Technologies.  He is a member of Caltech’s Space Innovation Council and Princeton University’s Advisory Council for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He is a fellow of the UK Royal Aeronautical Society and an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
He previously chaired the Reusable Launch Vehicle Working Group for the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, and served on the Board of Trustees of Princeton University and the board of Virgin Unite USA.
George has testified on American space policy before the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy.
An honors graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, George later earned a master’s degree in geographic information systems and remote sensing from the University of Cambridge, and a Fulbright Scholarship to Tunisia. George is a licensed private pilot and certified parabolic flight coach.

Landon Taylor serves as chief executive officer of Base 11. He sets the organization’s strategic vision and leads the national expansion of Base 11’s STEM workforce and entrepreneur accelerator model by partnering with industry, academia and philanthropy to transform high-potential, low-resource students into the STEM talent most in demand by industry. He serves on several STEMconnector leadership committees including the STEM Innovation Task Force.
Prior to Base 11, Landon spent 25 years in senior leadership positions in industry which span launching start-ups to leading the development and deployment of nationally-implemented corporate strategies for FORTUNE 500® entities such as The First American Corporation and CoreLogic.
Landon strives to balance his affinity for capitalism with his commitment to human development and economic empowerment for underserved communities. As CEO of Base 11, he is dedicated to fulfilling his personal mission of building a sustainable middle class in America inclusive of all Americans.

Dennis Harkins, Ph.D., is the President of Orange Coast College (OCC) in Costa Mesa, California. The College has an enrollment of over 25,000 students and offers more than 150 academic program. OCC is a culturally rich institution qualifying as both an Asian and Hispanic Serving Institution with international students from more than 60 countries.
Under Harkins’ leadership, OCC has established a meaningful partnership with Base 11 in the past few years in an effort to prepare students for careers in some of the fastest growing technology sectors in the economy.
He has served on the American Association of Community Colleges’ Commission for Global Education and the American Council on Education’s Commission on Internationalization and Global Engagement. Dr. Harkins has lectured at events of the American Council on Education, Beijing Film Academy, Profession Photographers of Association of China, and the British Council. He is a former Board Member of the Tupac Shukur Foundation and holds honorary professorship in Nanjing and Shongong.
He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts/Photography and Master’s in International Affairs/African Studies from Ohio University, and a Ph.D. in Education/Human Resources Development with a cognate in Management from Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policies Studies.

John Tomblin is the vice president for research and technology transfer at Wichita State University (WSU). He is also executive director of the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) and a Sam Bloomfield Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering.

As vice president for research and technology transfer, Tomblin oversees university research centers, institutes, sponsored programs and the development of the university’s Innovation Campus, which employs an applied learning model to connect faculty, staff, students and industry.

Tomblin received his Ph.D., master’s degree and bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University.

Arnold is a 4th year aeronautics graduate student with research interest in dislocation dynamics, and has been a Caltech/Base 11 mentor since 2014. He has mentored three cohorts of students with some having transferred to UCI and UCLA. Upon completion of his Ph.D., he hopes to join the aerospace industry to help design next generation aircraft.

Jason Hatakeyama is the Chief Architect and Senior Director of the Product Lifecycle Management Capability for Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS). In this role, he is responsible for creating the next generation of engineering tools and systems across the Boeing enterprise.
Previously, Hatakeyama led BDS Design and Manufacturing Engineering where he was the functional director of 6,000 engineers supporting all defense and space programs.
In his career, Jason led research and development of experimental hypersonic and space access programs and provided support to the International Space Station, Space Shuttle, and X-37.
Hatakeyama has a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri and is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He actively supports K-12 STEM programs and is a FIRST Robotics mentor and judge.