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X PRIZE Staff

Besides our full-time staff members, we are also supported by countless volunteers and supporters worldwide. To contact a staff member, please use our contact form and your message will be forwarded to the appropriate person. Interested in joining the X PRIZE? Jobs, Internships & Fellowships.

Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., Chairman & CEO

Dr. Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation (www.xprize.org), which awarded the $10,000,000 Ansari X PRIZE (www.xprize.org) for private spaceflight. Diamandis is now focused on building the X PRIZE Foundation into a world-class prize institute whose mission is to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. The X PRIZE is now developing X PRIZEs in fields such as Genomics, Automotive, Education, Medicine, Energy, and Social arenas.

Diamandis is an international leader in the commercial space arena, having founded and run many of the leading entrepreneurial companies in this sector. Diamandis also serves as the Chairman and CEO of Zero Gravity Corporation (www.gozerog.com) a commercial space company developing private, FAA-certified parabolic flight utilize Boeing 727-200 aircraft. He is the Chairman & co-founder of the Rocket Racing League (www.rocketracingleauge.com). Diamandis is a Managing Director and Co-Founder of Space Adventures (www.spaceadventures.com), the company which brokered the launches of four private citizens to the International Space Station.

In 1987, Diamandis co-founded the International Space University (ISU) (www.isunet.edu) where he served as the University’s first managing director. Today he serves as a Trustee of the $30M ISU that is based in Strasbourg, France. Prior to ISU, Diamandis served as Chairman of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) an organization he founded at MIT in 1980. SEDS is the world’s largest student pro space organization.

Dr. Diamandis attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he received his undergraduate degree in molecular genetics and graduate degree in aerospace engineering. After MIT he attended Harvard Medical School where he received his M.D. In 2005 he has was also awarded an honorary Doctorate from the International Space University.

He is the winner of the 2007 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Innovation, the 2006 (inaugural) Heinlein Award, the 2006 Lindbergh Award, the 2006 Wired RAVE Award, the 2006 Neil Armstrong Award for Aerospace Achievement and Leadership, the Konstantine Tsiolkovsky Award, twice the winner of the Aviation & Space Technology Laurel, and the 2003 World Technology Award for Space. In 8th grade, while living in New York, Dr. Diamandis won first place in the Estes rocket design contest.

Diamandis’ mission is to open the space frontier for humanity. His personal motto is: “The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!â€

Robert K. Weiss, President
Weiss is a veteran Hollywood television and film producer having produced over 20 feature films and TV series during the past 25 years. He began his career in the late 1970's producing the feature film, KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE and later produced the ABC television program POLICE SQUAD! as well as the three NAKED GUN movies.

Weiss produced the international hit, THE BLUES BROTHERS directed by John Landis. Other work with Landis includes the feature film AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON and the television series WEIRD SCIENCE and SLIDERS (that Weiss co-created). He also produced the motion picture DRAGNET.

As president of Broadway Pictures at Paramount, Weiss joined forces with Saturday Night Live Executive Producer and creator Lorne Michaels. Weiss executive produced many films at Paramount including TOMMY BOY, A NIGHT AT THE ROXBURY, SUPERSTAR, and THE LADIES MAN. For Dimension films, Weiss produced the international hits SCARY MOVIE 3 & 4.

Weiss has served as a consultant and team partner to the Boeing Corporation in the development of a global consortium dedicated to the distribution of space related multimedia educational and entertainment programs, products and services.

Additionally, Weiss served as Executive Producer for the American Rocket Company producing multimedia connected with the development, testing and launch attempt of their pioneering hybrid rocket.

Weiss served on the Board of Directors of IS Robotics (now called iRobot in Cambridge, Massachusetts) from 1990 to 1994.

In 2000, he was Executive Vice President and Executive Producer for the Blastoff! Corporation in Pasadena, California; an entertainment company founded to conduct actual space missions underlying the production of high value media and marketing platforms.

Mr. Weiss has been the Vice Chairman and Executive Producer for the X PRIZE Foundation since 1996. In the fall of 2004, he produced the award-winning live telecast & webcast of the Ansari X PRIZE flights.

Don Foley, Executive Director, Progressive Automotive X PRIZE

Foley is a veteran communicator with extensive experience in national politics and corporate affairs. After 20 years on Capitol Hill, he spent four years as vice president of worldwide corporate communications for Northwest Airlines and two years as chief operating officer at Powell Tate, a Washington, D.C., public affairs firm, before becoming a founding partner of Prism Public Affairs. Foley arrived in Washington in 1977 after managing Rep. Richard Gephardt's (D-Mo.) first congressional campaign. He served as Gephardt's press secretary for 12 years and served as deputy press secretary in the 1984 presidential campaign of Walter F. Mondale. Foley served as administrative assistant for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) for three years and served five years at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). Appointed by Sen. George Mitchell, Foley served under Sens. Charles Robb, Bob Graham and Bob Kerrey. He left the DSCC to become convention manager of the 1996 Democratic Convention.

Prize Team Senior Directors & Consultants

Pragnya Alekal, Project Manager, Global Development

Pragnya Alekal is an environmental engineer, with a focus on water and sanitation engineering in developing countries. She has lived and worked in countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Europe, and North America, in a variety of capacities and sectors. Upon graduation from college, she served on active duty in the U.S Navy; and has since consulted for various academic, private, government, and non-governmental organizations on a range of technical issues. Ms. Alekal's desire to be involved in infrastructure development came from having spent her formative years in rural India, where she was deeply affected by the impact of poverty on human dignity, and acutely aware of how simple technologies transformed the lives of the poor. Since then, she has dedicated herself to addressing water, sanitation, and energy issues in some of the poorest regions of the world.

Ms. Alekal has graduate degrees Environmental Engineering, and Technology Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); and an undergraduate degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). She has also completed a competitive joint-program in Humanitarian Studies (focusing on disaster relief) from the Harvard School of Public Health; Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition, and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; and MIT.

Neal Anderson, Senior Director, Progressive Automotive X PRIZE

Anderson has a decade of experience boosting productivity, revenue and profit for both start-ups and existing companies. He has recently consulted for clients including Stanford University and Idealab. As President & CEO of True Floors, Inc., Anderson infused consecutive years of double-digit growth into a previously stagnant business. Before that, he co-founded creative agency Ideawork Studios LLP, helping quickly build it into a profitable, award-winning business with key clients including PBS, Tenet Healthcare, and Ziff Davis. Earlier, Anderson worked with several creative agencies, spearheaded one of the first online marketplaces for government procurement with Visa and Chase, and ran Marketing & PR for a remote communications software company. He holds a BA in English from UC Santa Barbara.

Vanessa Hambidge, Senior Director, Sponsorship Activation and Relations, Progressive Automotive X PRIZE

Vanessa Hambidge joins the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE from MTV where she created and executed convergent sales and marketing packages across all MTV branded screens by partnering with programming, integrated marketing, consumer promotions and other key departments. These sponsor specific programs delivered measurable ROI for advertisers across all major youth categories. Prior to MTV, she spent nine years at CBS where she was the programming executive responsible for NFL-related time on the Network and served as divisional liaison to Viacom's cable networks developing programming, new media and promotional opportunities including; Ricky Martin's Super Bowl Saturday Night, MTV's Super Bowl and March Madness Uncensored, TRL and Rock ‘N Jock at Super Bowl, Nickelodeon Takes Over the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl XXXV and XXXVIII Halftime shows with MTV. She was also instrumental in all new media efforts for the division including negotiating the agreement to produce and promote NFL.com with partners AOL and Sportsline.com, the re-launch of the official NCAA Sports website and the first ever video streaming of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship. She began her career at International Management Group where she developed and sold commercial inventory, programming and sponsorship packages. Vanessa is a graduate of Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY with a B.A. in Asian Studies.

John Shore, Senior Director, Progressive Automotive X PRIZE

Shore has a mix of scientific, engineering, business, and political experience. He spent 17 years as a research scientist and Branch Head at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, where he was responsible for numerous innovations in computer architecture, software engineering, information theory, and signal processing. His technical publications include 24 peer-reviewed papers, as well as more than 50 reports and conference papers. He holds a U.S. patent in the field of parallel computing, and he published a general-audience book on computing. Shore was the Founder and served variously as CEO, CTO and Vice Chairman of Entropic, Inc., a software company that specialized in speech coding, speech synthesis and speech recognition technology. Entropic was acquired by Microsoft in late 1999. Since then, Shore worked as an independent consultant (technology and business development), and he served for a year and a half as Senior Advisor for Science and Technology to U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy. He holds a BS in Physics from Yale and a PhD in Physics from the University of Maryland.

Andrew Wooten, Senior Director, Life Sciences

Andrew is a business development and technology commercialization executive with experience at large industrial companies, startup biotechnology companies and university technology commercialization organizations. He began his career in sales, marketing and business development with Fisher Scientific, now Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world’s largest supplier of scientific research products. During the next stage of his career Andrew helped establish a startup biotechnology company called Avigenics, Inc., now Synageva Biopharma. Subsequently Andrew founded and served as the CEO of a life science technology company called Ovo BioSciences.

More recently, Andrew was responsible for the commercializing of life science technologies at the University of Chicago via licensing arrangements and/or new venture creation. Finally, as Vice President and Managing Director of Health Science Ventures at Arizona Technology Enterprises Andrew managed the business unit responsible for commercializing all life science technologies at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and various clinical partners.

Andrew has a BA in Chemistry from Berea College, an MST in Biotechnology from the University of Georgia and an MTM (Technology Management) from Mercer University.

X PRIZE Foundation Senior Leadership
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David Donell, Chief Financial Officer

Donell comes to the X PRIZE Foundation with extensive experience building, strengthening and leading the financial function for companies in various stages including start-up, stable and high-growth. In 2005, Donell co-founded Intuitive Associates, Inc., a company handling, among other things, complex corporate tax assignments and forensic work in association with corporate and securities fraud assignment. Prior to founding Intuitive, Donell served as CFO for Avega Health Systems, where he drastically improved overall financial efficiency, positioning the company for eventual sale to MedAssets, Inc. Donell also worked as a Controller for Fasturn, Inc., where he managed human resources matters and staff in addition to his financial duties, and as the Vice President of Finance for Jalmar Properties, Inc. Donell holds a BS in Accounting from San Diego State University, and is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner and Certified Information Technology Professional.

Sarah Evans, VP, Communications

Evans has nearly 15 years of experience in senior and executive public relations and marketing positions. Before joining the X PRIZE Foundation, Evans served as VP of Communications at the Prostate Cancer Foundation and as the Practice Leader of the social marketing and lifestyle division at CarryOn Communication. While at CarryOn, she directed the national multi-award-winning Ansari X PRIZE media operation. Prior to CarryOn, Evans was a vice president at Porter Novelli, a top ten global public relations firm. She was director of marketing for the Peace Corps during the Clinton Administration and also served as the press secretary of the National School-to-Work Office. Evans has on-air experience as a national public affairs television show panelist, and has served as a spokesperson on CNN and National Public Radio among others. She started her career as part of the communications team for Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA). Evans earned a BA with honors in political science from Boston College.

Paula Golden, VP, Alliances

Attorney Paula Golden has over 20 years experience as a nonprofit executive. She began her career as an Instructor of Law and Assistant Dean at New England School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts, from which she obtained her Juris Doctor, cum laude. She earned her undergraduate degree in English and Education from Wellesley College

Paula left academics when she was invited by Governor Michael Dukakis to serve as Chief Counsel and Deputy Registrar of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (DMV) where she helped pass the Commonwealth’s first auto emissions control regulations and interstate enforcement policies. She also served as a member of the Governor’s Counsel for Technology.

Paula worked with leaders in the automotive industry to develop public support for legislation for auto seatbelts and airbag safety. She served as the Executive Director of the Engineering Center and Engineering Center Education Trust in Boston, Massachusetts, the Director of Development for Neuroscience at University of California, Los Angeles and most recently, as the Vice President of Development and Foundation Relations at Saint John's Health Center Foundation in Santa Monica California, strategically positioning these organizations to strengthen advocacy and funding, create innovative endowments and planned giving programs, and develop public relations and communications.

Paula has developed message platforms for print media, television and the web to effectively communicate an organization's charitable mission to a broad audience. She co-hosted weekly public affairs cablevision show in Santa Monica & Los Angeles for 6 years and in Boston for 4 years; she has been a feature at public speaking engagements before associations and the media. A lifelong political activist, she has been elected delegate to national and state democratic conventions, managed local, district and statewide political campaigns, and served as campaign spokesperson and surrogate speaker for candidates.

She is married to attorney and private mediator George Calkins. They have four children and three grandchildren.

Brent Kocher, SVP, Partnerships & Marketing

A 16-year veteran in the field of sports and entertainment marketing, Kocher brings extensive corporate partnership and marketing experience to the X PRIZE Foundation. Former positions include VP of Marketing & Sponsorship for the 1999 NFL Sydney American Bowl in Australia, where he remained to manage the sponsorship and marketing of Sydney's "Host City" 2000 Summer Olympic campaign. Following the Sydney Olympics, Kocher took his experience to Salt Lake to develop and market similar programs surrounding the 2002 Winter Olympics. Kocher returned to the gridiron when he accepted the role as VP of Marketing for the Houston Super Bowl XXXVIII Host Committee. Kocher has a BA in Marketing from Ball State University.

Cristin Lindsay, VP, Prize Management

Before bringing her process-driven expertise to the Automotive X PRIZE, Lindsay was the Director of Operations for X1 Technologies, helping the desktop search company develop its innovative software and grow from 0 to 40 employees from 2002 to 2006. Before X1, Lindsay worked on several ground-breaking startup companies at Idealab, including Energy Innovations, Omnilux, and XBeams. She also managed Idealab's knowledge management and intranet efforts. Lindsay was part of the Leadership and Organizational Development group at Times Mirror before it was bought by Tribune Company in 2000. She started her career in Advertising Operations at the Los Angeles Times. Lindsay holds a BA in History with a minor in Anthropology from UCLA.

Marc Schulman, VP, Partnerships & Marketing, X PRIZE Cup

Schulman came to the X PRIZE Foundation in August of 2006 with 10 years of marketing experience from his previous position with the Fiesta Bowl Foundation. During his tenure at the Fiesta Bowl Foundation he served in a multitude of roles supporting various events in and around the state of Arizona. He began his career as Event Coordinator, managing the 50+ events that make up the Fiesta Bowl and Insight Bowl Festival. In 1998, Schulman transitioned into a marketing and sponsorship role. In this capacity he was responsible for generating revenue based on sponsorship sales and partnership gifts to support the Fiesta Bowl Foundation's varied events. Schulman holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.

X PRIZE Foundation Management

Amy Y. Day, Head of Production

Day has been producing award-winning films for nearly twenty years with some 300 projects to her credit. She co-founded The Edge Picture Company (www.edgepicture.com) in 1991, still one of the UK's leading corporate image and communications production companies based in London's Covent Garden, and handled key client accounts including Shell, KPMG, Vauxhall Motors (part of GM), Price Waterhouse Coopers, Victoria & Albert Museum and BT (British Telecom) plc. She also served as Director on the Board of the International Visual Communications Association, the largest business media communications trade association in Europe. Her commitment to quality has been rewarded with many prestigious awards. In 2001, Day was part of the V&A Museum team that was nominated for a BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Arts), Britain's top media award. In 2005, she relocated to the US. Before joining the X PRIZE Foundation, Day completed work on 'Inside Rio Carnaval' for PBS and produced the one hour documentary 'The Real Roswell' for National Geographic.
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Mark German, Director, Education Programs, Progressive Automotive X PRIZE

German has a 15-year record of achievement in content development, educational publishing, and program management. As Director of Sponsored Programs, he supported Intel Education’s K–12 worldwide philanthropic initiatives, including the Intel Learn Program, a partnership between governments and non-governmental agencies that helps youth in emerging nations develop 21st century skills, focusing on digital literacy, critical thinking, and collaboration. German also served as Editorial Director, Middle and High School Education for Scholastic, as VP, Content and Programming for ThinkBox, as VP, Education for Futurekids, and as a public school teacher. He has contributed to numerous publications and presented to audiences on 5 continents. German holds a BS in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University, a MA in Teaching from National College of Education, and a MA in Communications Management from USC.
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Cathleen Lewis, Senior Director, Sponsorship Activation
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Jon Madjidov, Senior Network Administrator

Jaison Morgan, Senior Director, Education Programs

Morgan brings over twelve years of experience building systems and designing programs for public, private and non-profit agencies. Before joining the X PRIZE Foundation, he was a principal with Green Street Consulting Services, where he worked with a team of entrepreneurs to develop the first successful wage based tax credit syndication for a non-profit agency. A recent transplant to Santa Monica, Morgan previously worked for the Mayor's Office, City of Chicago, where he served as a Senior Policy Advisor and received commendations for his work managing teams of program directors from the public schools, parks and libraries. He has been responsible for launching multiple non-profit agencies and private business ventures. Morgan received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from Hampden-Sydney College and a master's degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

Meghan Murphy, Director, Alliances

Murphy joins the Foundation with a rich background in business development, marketing, and market analysis. Most recently, she served as a Senior Marketing Manager at ServiceSource, a technology services firm in San Francisco, where she was active in corporate positioning and messaging, market strategy, sales team enablement and demand generation activities. Murphy also worked in business development for Yahoo! Search Marketing in Burbank. Prior to earning her Masters in Business at UCLA, Murphy spent four years on Wall Street in Equity Research for Salomon Smith Barney.

Murphy has a B.A. in History from Princeton University , and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. She was also a NCAA Division 1 Squash Champion in 1998 and 1999 while at Princeton. A native of McLean, Virginia, she now resides in Santa Monica.

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William Pomerantz, Director, Space Projects

Pomerantz holds a BA in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University, and a Masters of Science in Space Studies from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. In addition to his work on the X PRIZE Foundation's space prizes, Pomerantz also serves as a coach for the Zero Gravity Corporation, joining passengers in weightlessness on parabolic flights. He is a graduate of the NASA Academy at Goddard Space Flight Center and has formerly worked at Harvard University, Brown University and the Futron Corporation, an aerospace consultancy based in Bethesda, Maryland. Pomerantz is a co-founder of SpaceAlumni.com, an online news and networking tool for young space professionals around the world, and served as Chief Editor for two years. He is currently Vice President of the ISU-USA Alumni Association. From 2006 through early 2007, Pomerantz proudly served on a National Research Council Federal Advisory Committee producing a report on "Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration."
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Julie Zona, Director, Team Development and Relations, Progressive Automotive X PRIZE

Julie Zona comes to the Progressive Automotive X Prize team with fifteen years of experience in the automotive industry. With her early years spent working in environmental coordination at Mayco Plastics, then Chrysler Corporation, she soon turned her focus to product development. With a career spanning more than thirteen years at Chrysler, Julie held a variety of positions including roles in manufacturing, vehicle development, product planning/strategy, Dodge marketing, and program management for current and future Chrysler programs. Most recently she worked at Saleen Inc. as the Director of Marketing and Program Planning, with responsibility for planning and overseeing the execution of all current Saleen and Racecraft programs from concept to launch. Julie holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Detroit. She is a native of Michigan, and will represent the X PRIZE team from an office outside of Detroit.

becky_ramseyBecky Ramsey, Communications Director, Space

Ramsey is an accomplished communications professional who most recently served as policy analyst for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, where she worked to communicate the NASA vision and mission with the public sector. Her other duties included leading guest operations at Space Shuttle launches, marketing Space Operations programs, and speechwriting for senior Space Operations leadership. Prior to NASA, Ramsey was selected as Presidential Management Fellow for the Department of the Air Force, Directorate of Space Acquisition, where she provided expert advice as an authority in space policy. She began her career as the Director of Education for the Aerospace Education Center in Little Rock, AR. Ramsey holds a B.A. from Hendrix College and an M.A. from the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

Operations & Administration

Edmond Bina, Associate Producer, Production

bethann_buddenbaumBethann Buddenbaum, Coordinator, Progressive Automotive X PRIZE

Winona Dorris, Senior Financial Analyst

Mike Fabio, Google Liaison

Matt Grossbart, Marketing Coordinator

C-David Jones, Production Assistant
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Nicole Jordan, Manager, Rocket Operations

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Jean Levasseur, Specialist, Communications

 

Becky Lewis, Senior Specialist, Communications

David Locke, Executive Assistant, Progressive Automotive X PRIZE

Lina Morlando, Executive Coordinator, Prize Development

Claudia Munoz, Receptionist

Angela Ohren-Kurian, Account Manager

Heidi Pancake, Executive Assistant to the President

Stephanie Schneider, Partnership Specialist - BT

Stacy Smith, Recruitment and HR Generalist

Asher Spittler, Project Manager, Prize Development

Elke Stoll, Coordinator, Accounting

Michael Timmons, Manager, Communications

Sharon Wang, Senior Staff Accountant