Kevin Mickey, president of Scaled Composites, a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.
Scaled Composites, a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, announced Jan. 31 that it has named Kevin Mickey president and Cory Bird vice president, effective immediately.
“Kevin and Cory have been instrumental in keeping the trains of innovation moving for over 20 years,” said Paul Meyer, vice president and general manager of Advanced Programs Development at Northrop Grumman. “I am confident in their ability to continue the great work that started it all, bringing ingenuity and perseverance to realize concepts never before thought possible.”
Mickey has been with Scaled Composites for 23 years, most recently as executive vice president and general manager. During his tenure, Mickey held several key leadership positions including vice president, chief financial officer and general manager.
As an aerospace veteran, Mickey has been engaged in the development and execution of over 25 manned flight vehicles including Space Ship One and Two as well as White Knight One and Two, Proteus and Firebird. In addition, he helped to secure Scaled Composites’ selection for the $10 million Ansari X-prize a contract to assist in the development and demonstration of the first privately funded manned spacecraft to exceed an altitude of 328,000 feet. Prior to joining Scaled Composites, Mickey held positions of increasing responsibility in project management and leadership at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.
Mickey succeeds Doug Shane, who has taken on a special assignment to directly support the completion of testing and the transition of commercial operations for the Virgin Galactic and Stratolaunch programs. Shane took on numerous assignments for Scaled Composites before being named president in 2008. He will be valuable in helping these two important customers move closer to commercial space operations.
Bird has been promoted to vice president, succeeding Mickey. With over 28 years at Scaled Composites, Bird has held several positions, starting as a composite technician on the Scarab Model 324 high-performance reconnaissance unmanned aircraft in 1985 and most recently as chief engineer for the Stratolaunch program.
Over the course of his career, Bird has held increasing roles directly supporting the design, development and execution of over 45 prototype vehicles ranging from space to air to sea, including SpaceShipOne, SpaceShipTwo, WhiteKnight, WhiteKnightTwo, Proteus, Orion, Tier II+, Triumph and many others, including designing, manufacturing and flight testing his own N241ST Symmetry aircraft.
Bird’s commitment to designing solutions that offer the most efficient structural arrangements, manufacturing methods and overhead for specific program requirements has been instrumental to the success of Scaled Composites’ leadership in rapid prototyping and innovation.
Northrop Grumman Corporation acquired Scaled Composites in 2007. Scaled Composites operates as a separate company supporting Northrop Grumman and other customers. Providing a level of expertise second to none in rapid design, innovation and prototyping, Scaled Composites is strongly aligned with Northrop Grumman on designing innovative solutions with outside-the-box thinking for game-changing results.
