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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 A. Pasquale – 2019 Hall of Fame Inductee
Mark A. Pasquale is the Vice President and General Manager for Lockheed Martin Space Special Programs, where he leads execution and new capture pursuits for the division’s largest business. He manages a broad portfolio responsible for Profit and Loss of multiple large complex development programs, operations and maintenance contracts and a variety of research and development pursuits. His portfolio is focused on delivering high-performance systems and innovative concepts for critical national security space applications. He is responsible for advocacy within the legislative and executive branches for programs of record, policies related to the content of the business and the future direction of follow on architectures.
Previously, Mark served as vice president Engineering and Technology at Lockheed Martin Space. Responsible for 10,000 engineers, accountable for hardware and software engineering and technology strategy spanning numerous products, from mission systems, sensor systems and missile defense to human spaceflight and deep-space missions.

​Previously, he served as the vice president, Supply Chain Management, responsible for $5 billion worth of Subcontracts. Prior, Mark was deputy to the Military Space Vice President and general manager. Responsible for national security space programs including GPS, early warning missile detection, military communications missions and the Mobile User Objective System.

Mark earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from San Jose State University in 1984. He serves on the San Jose State Engineering Department Industry Advisory Board. He is a recipient of the prestigious Lockheed Martin NOVA award.

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.