John Saiz

John
Saiz

Principal

Background

John Saiz, former Chief Technology Officer of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, is a Principal Industrial Fellow at the University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing (IfM). In this capacity, John collaborates with technology intensive organizations worldwide with support from the staff at the IfM Centre for Technology Management.

Since 2014, he has led collaborations with a number of multinational commercial organizations including AstraZeneca, FMC Technologies, GE Global Research, GE Oil & Gas, Halliburton, Oxiteno, Pfizer, and Subsea 7. Saiz has also supported industry consortia and academia including BioPhorum, OrthoWorx, Purdue University, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the University of Maine.

While at NASA, Mr. Saiz directed a number of technology and flight development projects that included efforts spanning the full spectrum of technology readiness levels from initial proof-of-concept laboratory demonstration through long-term spaceflight operations on the Space Shuttle, Russian Mir and International Space Station.  He managed a portfolio of nearly 200 internal research and technology development activities during his CTO tenure at the Johnson Space Center.

Areas of Expertise

  • Projects typically involve a combination of education/training and consultancy services including technology management (strategic roadmapping, portfolio selection, make or buy, technology intelligence, and technology evaluation)
  • Innovation management (intellectual property management, breakthrough innovation, open innovation)
  • Technology enterprise (industry-university collaborations, technology venturing and incubation)

Education

  • John holds degrees in petroleum engineering and mechanical engineering and his industry experiences include a brief stint as a ‘mud logger’ with Integrated Drilling and Logging, Inc. in the Texas and Louisiana oilfields, along with engineering and technology management roles at Honeywell Defense Systems, ILC Space Systems and Halliburton.

Contact John