Sidney M. Gutierrez

Mr. Gutierrez, age 69, is a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico. He retired as a Colonel after serving as a fighter pilot and test pilot in the Air Force and as an astronaut and Space Shuttle Mission Commander with NASA. Since 2015, he serves as Chairman of Vaya Space (formerly Rocket Crafters, Inc)., a development-stage company engaged in rocket propulsion research and development, launch vehicle design-engineering and launch service logistics planning and development. He served as CEO of Vaya Space (formerly Rocket Crafters, Inc.) from 2015-2018 and has been a director since 2012.

After retiring from NASA, Mr. Gutierrez spent over 20 years at Sandia National Laboratories (“Sandia”) where he served in various senior leadership positions and led many complex, high technology efforts, including research on nuclear power reactors, solar and wind energy, advanced fuel cycles and nuclear fuel waste disposal. As the director of the Environmental, Safety and Health Programs at Sandia, he was responsible for leading a lab-wide safety effort that cut the lab’s accident rate in half.

Mr. Gutierrez has also served on several national advisory panels for NASA, reporting to the President and both houses of Congress. He served on the board of directors of TNMP before it was acquired by PNM Resources. Mr. Gutierrez is actively engaged in community and other non-profit entities, including New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. Mr. Gutierrez has a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering (Distinguished Graduate) from the United States Air Force Academy and an M.A. in Management from Webster University.

Mr. Gutierrez’s qualifications to serve as a director includes his expertise with respect to technology systems based on his engineering background and his significant experience with nuclear energy and operations, and renewable and sustainable energy. Mr. Gutierrez also has an extensive background in safety improvements and reliability, and a thorough knowledge of the risk management principles related to security threats including cybersecurity and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA).