Industrial Advisory Council

Council Member Biographies

Joe Barta is a 1985 graduate of Iowa State University’s Aerospace Engineering Program. A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he was hired into the Lockheed Skunkworks in 1984. As a research specialist and lead aerodynamics engineer, he supported programs such as F-117, YF-22, SR-71, U-2R, Dark Star and classified UAV efforts. 

Joe founded Airborne Technologies Inc. in 1996, as a uniquely qualified aerospace firm in the Northern Virginia area. His 35 years of experience within the defense and intelligence communities includes UAV design, performance analysis, payload systems engineering, system development and testing, foreign materiel exploitation, data fusion research, and quick reaction support to worldwide military and intelligence operations. 

Following the successful development and production of numerous classified UAV systems, Airborne Technologies, Inc. was acquired in 2010 by L-3 Communications. He remained President of the newly formed Unmanned Systems Division in L-3’s Precision Engagement Sector through August 2011. Joe is founder and CEO of Hangar 48 Aeronautics Inc, serving in a senior strategic advisory role for industry and government in the arena of advanced airborne systems development. He owns and pilots a Piper M600 and enjoys restoration of classic British automobiles.

Tia Benson Tolle is the director of Boeing Commercial Airplane Advanced Materials, Product Development, where she leads the investment and application of integrated materials technologies for current and future commercial airplane applications. In this role she works closely with supply chain strategy and emerging research and development trends for BCA across all material classes and fabrication and assembly enabling technologies. Prior to joining Boeing, Tia held several technical leadership roles within the Air Force in advanced composite structures, and advanced nonmetallic materials and manufacturing.  Prior to her career in the Air Force she worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in the Space Shuttle Flight Training Division, Mission Operations Directorate.   

Tia is a Fellow by the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE), an International Past President of SAMPE, and was President of the Materials Research Society (2014). She is the BCA Executive Sponsor for Boeing’s SAMPE External Technical Affiliation. She serves on Iowa State University’s Aerospace Engineering Department’s Industry Advisory Council, University of Washington Materials Science & Engineering Department’s Industry Advisory Council, and is a Trustee of Edmonds College and Trustee at Large for University of Washington’s Alumni Association.

Mary Cardenas is Professor Emerita at Harvey Mudd College (HMC is a highly-selective, private college of engineering and science in Claremont, California). She was the first female engineering professor at HMC. Her industrial experience includes propulsion engineering at Rocketdyne, where she worked on the Space Shuttle Main Engine, Atlas, and the National Aerospace Plane (X-30). She was a research scientist in environmental engineering at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Sandia National Laboratories. She revised, updated, and enlarged the book, “Modern Engineering for Design of Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engines” (Huzel and Huang).

As an educator, she focuses on hands-on, project-based undergraduate engineering education, and was co-designer of the sophomore-level model-rocket-based experimental engineering course, and the first-year Studio Methods Engineering Design course. She has supervised undergraduate research projects on marine hydrokinetic turbine modeling; groundwater modeling for nuclear repositories; contaminant fate and transport in the Great Lakes; and model rocketry data acquisition.

She is currently a Division Director for the Environmental Engineering Division (EED) of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and has served at HMC as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and as the Engineering Clinic Director. She received her B.Sc in Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering from Iowa State University (1987), and her M.Sc. (1993) and Ph.D. (1994) in Mechanical and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ryan Engel is the Safety, Certification and Performance leader of the 777 program with The Boeing Company. He received a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University in December of 2004.

He joined Boeing full time in 2005 as an airplane performance engineer in Flight Sciences, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. As a performance engineer, Ryan participated and led flight testing of numerous airplanes including the 787 and 747-8. The highlight of his time as a performance engineer was delivering the first 747-8I to Lufthansa. Additionally, Ryan led complex integration projects for the 777 Program.

In 2014, Ryan transitioned to management in Regulatory Administration, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. As a manager, Ryan worked closely with Boeing engineering teams, the FAA, and other regulatory agencies around the world to certify new designs across multiple airplane types including the 777 and 737MAX. In October of 2018, Ryan transitioned to his current role as the Safety, Certification, & Performance (SC&P) leader for the 777 Program. As the SC&P leader, Ryan is responsible for ensuring fleet safety & integrity, airplane certification, and performance for the 777 fleet.

Kevin Gordon is the Senior Director, Certification and Test for the Interiors business in Collins Aerospace. He leads a worldwide team of around 380 people responsible for the airworthiness, certification, and testing of a wide variety of Collins products including all types of seating, furniture, galleys, galley equipment, interior and exterior lighting, oxygen systems, lavatories, de-icing systems, evacuation systems, potable water systems and a variety of other interior products. The work involves all aspects of the Certification process including documentation, analysis, and testing, and also includes the activates required to secure and maintain airworthiness certifications with customers and regulators. Kevin started his Collins Aerospace Systems career in 1996 as a Sr. Project Engineer, and has held positions of increasing responsibility providing leadership in engineering, quality assurance and SAP.  His most recent assignments were leading the company-wide technology development, leading the working teams creating the initial UTAS digital strategy vision, and implementing a unified PLM system across the enterprise. Prior to joining UTC, Kevin was a project engineer at McDonnell Douglas and Boeing. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University and a Master of Engineering Management from Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

Vera Martinovich is manager of the Future Flight Deck team in Boeing Commercial Airplanes Product Development. Duties include oversight of flight controls, handling qualities, avionics, and systems architecture for the next all-new flight deck. Previous experience at Boeing was as an engineer in flight controls and aircraft handling qualities. Her airplane programs included the F-15, AV-8B, V-22, 777, and 787. Her interest in flight extends beyond professional life. She has Airline Transport Pilot and Flight Instructor certificates, and holds type ratings on the B-25 and DC-3, which she flies for a local museum. She and her husband own and maintain three airplanes, and they enjoy aerobatics, floatplane flying, and formation flying. She was born in Wisconsin and grew up in Iowa. She received a B.A. in aerospace engineering at Iowa State in 1988, and an M.S.in Aero/Astro at MIT. She also completed an M.A. in organizational leadership from Gonzaga and an MBA at the University of Washington.

Roger Merriman has worked at Textron Aviation since 1996 (previously Cessna and Beechcraft), with a short detour at Valent Aerostructures and AGCO from 2010-2012. He is currently a Sr. Flight Test Engineering Specialist working within the sustaining business jet market. His current role involves flight testing and continuous improvement activities on FAA part 25 products. Prior to this role he was a Quality Assurance Manager, covering receiving inspection, non-destructive inspection (NDI), tool and equipment calibration, chemical/mechanical process labs and quality process management teams. He started his career at Cessna in the Flight Test department as a flight test engineer, has spent time in supply chain management as an avionics engineer, has been active in the Six Sigma and continuous improvement group as a Master Black Belt, then joined the Quality Assurance team where he has spent many years of his career in increasing roles of responsibility. He received his degree in aerospace engineering from Iowa State in 1995 and an MBA from University of Colorado in 2001 and has received his Ph.D. in industrial engineering at Wichita State University in 2021, with a certificate in foundations of Six Sigma and Quality Improvement. Roger is an active member of ASQ as the company representative for Textron and previously in the NADCAP management council representing Textron Aviation. Other organizational memberships include Society of Flight Test Engineering and AIAA.

Rick Rezabek is a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is a graduate of Iowa State University’s Aerospace Engineering Program in 1980. He was hired into Lockheed’s Skunk Works Organization in 1980. Rezabek has worked directly in a number of development projects, from Concept Definition through Full Scale Development and Production. He has experience as an aerodynamicist and systems engineer of several air vehicle development programs, including F-117, F-22 fighter aircraft, and Dark Star ISR UAV platforms. He performed weapon separation analyses, and flight testing for the F-117 Strike Fighter during its Full Scale Development period. He was the Chief Engineer of Lockheed Martin’s ASTOVL Program and the Joint Strike Fighter Program’s X-35 Concept Demonstrator Aircraft from 1993-2000, with responsibility for all technical engineering of the three X-35 variants and later served as the X-35 Product Manager from 2000-2001. He partnered to form Black Ram Engineering LLC, an aerospace engineering services company in 2001 along with several other engineering and development companies. Black Ram was a major contributor to several other programs, including Insitu’s RQ-21A Blackjack, and Northrop Grumman’s X-47 Unmanned Combat Air System. Rezabek is currently practicing retirement, and consulting on a non-frequent basis. He currently stewards an award winning 1937 Stinson SR-9F Reliant as pilot and owner.

Steve Wellborn joined Rolls-Royce in 1996 after obtaining his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University. Working first in methods, his responsibilities included the development and implementation of advanced three-dimensional viscous flow analyses tools for multistage turbomachinery design. Putting those tools into practice, he moved into aerodynamic design. Here, Steve was directly involved with over a dozen turbomachinary designs including the Trent 1000 which flies on the  Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the RATTRS, a hypersonic cruise missile under development by the United States Air Force. Steve has been lucky to perform and fund research with several U.S. and European universities (Purdue, Virginia Tech, IUPUI, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford and Cotbus), and continues his close relationship with these institutions by lecturing often to both undergraduate and graduate students. He has also worked closely with US government agencies, including the Air Force, Navy, DARPA and NASA.

Steve is a member of ASME, AIAA and RAeSoc and has received several team and individual awards, including the Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Award in 2008. Steve is currently the Head of Aerothermal and Functional Design for Civil Aerospace and is a Rolls-Royce Senior Fellow in Turbomachinery Systems.

Steve is married to Stephanie, who is also an Iowa State University alum. They have two boys, Owen and Evan, who are active at school in Indiana. The family loves to travel abroad, with Italy standing out as a favorite location to relax and enjoy life.