Richards, Jack - Biography

    Jack E. Richards is the Assistant Director for Operations for the Earth Sciences Directorate at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. He is the Directorate official responsible for all aspects of the Earth Sciences Building and is responsible for planning and managing office and technical space for the Directorate. He serves as the Earth Sciences Directorate representative on the Quality Management System Council (QMSC), aka ISO, and as task leader for the ISO 9000 program for Code 900. He is also the Earth Sciences Directorate representative for the Center Safety Management Council (SMC), Emergency Management Task Group (EMTG), Facilities Coordinating Committee (FCC), Property Survey Board (PSB), Inventory Processes Team (IPT) and other committees as assigned.

        Prior to assuming his current position he was the Assistant Chief for Operations for the Laboratory for Atmospheres (2000-2001) where he was responsible for planning and managing office and technical space for the Laboratory for Atmospheres. He served as the Earth Sciences Directorate representative on the Quality Management System Council (QMSC) and as task leader for the ISO 9000 program for Code 900. He was also the Computer Security Officer (CSO) for the Laboratory for Atmospheres. Mr. Richards served as Instrument Manager for instruments developed in the Atmospheric Experiment Branch (1988-2002). He was Instrument Manager for the Ion and Neutral Gas Mass Spectrometer (INMS) flown on the CASSINI mission that launched in October 1997 and is scheduled to rendezvous with the planet Saturn in July 2004. He was also Instrument Manager for the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) flown on the CONTOUR comet flyby mission that launched in July 2002. His responsibilities as Instrument Manager included creating instrument build and delivery schedules, creating budgets and tracking costs, conducting instrument team meetings and design reviews, and interfacing with the JPL CASSINI Project Office and the JHU/APL CONTOUR Project Office.

        Mr. Richards received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Maryland (1981).