Gerry Griffin

Gerry Griffin is the former Director of the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. In prior positions at NASA he served as the Deputy Director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Hugh F. Dryden Flight Research Center in California. Gerry also held the posts of Associate Administrator for External Relations and Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.
Gerry earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Texas A&M University (TAMU) and was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force. He served four years on active duty, first in flight training, then flying as a weapon systems officer in jet fighter-interceptors. Gerry left active duty and joined the space program as a systems engineer/flight controller at the USAF Satellite Test Center in Sunnyvale, California. In the private sector, he also held senior engineering positions with Douglas Aircraft and General Dynamics/Fort Worth before joining NASA.
During NASA’s Apollo Program, Gerry was a Flight Director in Mission Control and served in this capacity for all of the Apollo manned missions. He was Lead Flight Director for three lunar landing missions: Apollo’s 12, 15 and 17. During the flight of Apollo 13 Gerry was scheduled to lead the lunar landing team in Mission Control. When the landing was canceled as a result of the oxygen tank explosion, he led one of the teams of flight controllers who were responsible for the safe return of the astronauts. Gerry was a team-member recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to the Apollo XIII Mission Control Operations Team.  During his years with NASA Gerry also received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal (2).
After taking early retirement from NASA Gerry was President and CEO of the Greater Houston Chamber of Commerce, a post he held until he joined Korn/Ferry International, a worldwide executive search firm, as the Managing Director of the firm’s Houston office. 
Today Gerry is a technical and management consultant for a broad range of clients.  He remains a Senior Consultant for Korn/Ferry International where he conducts search assignments for very senior level executives in the firm’s aerospace and defense practice, as well as the firm’s general practice.  Gerry is a founding director of the Comerica Bank of the Hills, Kerrville, Texas; a member of the Advisory Boards of MEI Technologies, Inc. and AlphaSpace LLC, both in Houston, Texas; and a member of the Advisory Board of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, College Station, Texas.  He is a former member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, a former trustee of the Universities Space Research Association, and a past president of the TAMU 12th Man Foundation.
Gerry is the recipient of the TAMU Distinguished Alumnus Award, the TAMU Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor Award, the TAMU College of Engineering Alumni Honor Award, the TAMU Aerospace Engineering Department Distinguished Alumnus Award, the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Houston Clear Lake, and the Tau Beta Pi Eminent Engineer Award. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Astronautical Society. 
He is an active general aviation pilot and aircraft owner, and holds a commercial license with an instrument rating for single engine aircraft, multi-engine aircraft and helicopters.
Gerry and his wife, Sandy, live in Hunt, Texas.  They have two children, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.