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Beyond the Horizon: Engineering the Future of Space & Technology

Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame presents the Legends of Engineering series that features Hall of Fame Inductees and Bay-Area luminaries discussing today’s most significant technology issues.

Sponsorship Opportunities listed below.

2026 Legends of Engineering 

Mark Pasquale
Retired Vice President and General Manager
Lockheed Martin, Space

Mark A. Pasquale retired as the vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Space. In this senior role, he drove day-to-day execution at the enterprise level, motivating positive impact in cost and performance at the company and for its customer missions.

Previously, Mark served as the vice president and general manager of Special Programs, where he was responsible for critical national security missions in the space division’s largest line of business. He managed a broad portfolio of complex development programs, operations and maintenance contracts plus a variety of research and development pursuits. Before leading a line of business, Mark was the vice president of engineering and technology, where he led 10,000 engineers spanning all products, from ground systems, sensors and missile defense to human spaceflight and deep-space missions.

Mark drove affordability and performance in many executive positions earlier in his career at Lockheed Martin. He led the Supply Chain organization, responsible for over $5 billion worth of subcontracts and procurement, and he grew in program management experience as deputy to the Military Space vice president, leader of the Transformational Satellite program and head of MUOS, a military communications program. He also served as the executive over commercial and government programs within the Commercial Space line of business.

Mark’s career began in 1984 on the Milstar satellite program. He entered his first management role with the Assembly, Integration and Test (AI&T) team, where he helped establish the Commercial Space AI&T management organization and supported the A2100 satellite bus transition to Sunnyvale, California.

Mark earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from San Jose State University in 1984 and serves on the San Jose State Engineering Department Industry Advisory Board. He is a recipient of the prestigious Lockheed Martin NOVA award, the San Jose State University Department of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award, and is a member of the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame.

Alison Nordt, PhD – Director, Space Sciences & Instrumentation
Lockheed Martin Space

​Dr. Alison Nordt is the Director for Space Science and Instrumentation at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center. She is responsible for developing and operating missions that provide observational data to advance space science knowledge. Her work involves maturing technology to support current and future space-based telescopes and instruments. She is currently a Co-Investigator for TechMAST (Technology Maturation for Astrophysics Space Telescopes) and related internal research and development efforts.

​Previously, Dr. Nordt was the senior manager for Astrophysics and held several roles on the NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera for the Webb Telescope) program including Program Manager, Integrated Product Team Lead and Certified Principal Engineer. She was responsible for the design, development, testing and delivery of the NIRCam instrument including optics, structures, mechanisms, electronics and software. She also held responsibility for programmatic performance including cost and schedule execution and post-delivery support.

​Dr. Nordt has an extensive engineering background in structures, opto-mechanical systems and instrument development including design, analysis and hands-on hardware experience through integration and test. She has diverse program management experience through the program lifecycle from capture through end item product delivery.

​Dr. Nordt holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University and a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the International Academy of Astronautics and an AIAA Fellow. She was named the AIAA Engineer of the Year in 2023.

Tommaso “Tom” Rivellini – VP of Air Vehicle at Archer Aviation

Tom leads engineering for the company’s electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Before Archer, he spent twelve years at Apple, most recently as Engineering Director in Apple’s Special Projects Group, and earlier as Engineering Director for iPhone Product Design.

Rivellini began his career at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he spent over two decades working on Mars exploration. He was a member of the four-person team that conceived the Mars Pathfinder entry, descent, and landing system, and co-invented its airbag landing approach. He went on to serve as Deputy Mechanical Systems Architect for the Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity), and as Mechanical Systems Engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity rover, where he co-invented the Skycrane landing system. He later served as Chief Engineer for JPL’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator program, a $160 million high-altitude test program developing next-generation Mars landing technology. Over his NASA career, his work contributed to the design and landing of six spacecraft on Mars.

His honors include NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal, the AIAA Engineer of the Year Award, and recognition as one of Esquire Magazine’s 2012 Americans of the Year. He holds degrees in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering from Syracuse University and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.