Abigail Smith, FAA Abby Smith as the Executive Director of Policy and Plans within the Office of Policy, International Affairs, and Environment, oversees strategic planning and policy development for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). She also provides formulation of aviation policies, plans, goals, and priorities through stakeholder outreach. Abby’s responsibilities include the development of the official FAA Terminal Area Forecasts of aviation activity at over 3400 airports, and the operational performance analysis for the National Airspace System (NAS) ; conducts analyses and reviews of FAA regulatory and investment activities; delivers independent economic, quantitative and qualitative analyses, information, and tools for policy decisions involving crosscutting or novel new entrants into the NAS; and serves as the agency’s focal point for business planning development and coordination as well as corporate performance management. Ms. Smith began her career with the FAA in 1991 as an air traffic controller at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center. While in Miami, she served as a Quality Through Partnership Coordinator. She also worked as a quality assurance support specialist providing training administration and Display System Replacement implementation support. Ms. Smith relocated to Washington, DC, in 1999 to join Air Traffic Systems Requirements as a requirements analyst. She then joined the National Transportation Safety Board in 2001 as an accident investigator where she worked on multiple investigations, including American 587. Since returning to the FAA in 2002, she has held multiple positions including Domestic Event Network Supervisor, Air Traffic Evaluations Manager, ATO Safety Management System Implementation Manager, Professional Training and Development Manager, Workforce Services Manager, AeroNav Products’ Business Development Manager, Director of Aeronautical Information Services, and most recently, Director of Air Traffic Organization’s Technical Training. Ms. Smith graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, and received her Master of Science degree in Dispute Resolution from Nova South Eastern University. Ralph Stoffler, Raytheon Technologies Mr. Stoffler is an operational Meteorologist with over 40 years of experience. He successfully served 30 years in the United States Air Force supporting helicopters, RPAs, UAVs, bombers, fighters, cargo and surveillance aircraft. Highlights of his career include supporting the Air Force cargo mission across the Pacific, all Air Force weather operations in Europe and Africa, and a certified training instructor for Undergraduate Pilot Training in weather. Mr. Stoffler also directly supported the United States Army with the 2nd Armored Cavalry and United States Army Europe. He spent a significant time working with NATO and coalition partners of the United States. He received an honorary award from the Czech weather service. Mr. Stoffler retired with the rank of Colonel. Mr. Stoffler worked an additional 10 years as a civilian in the DoD joining the Senior Executive Service. He served as the Director of Weather for the Air Force overseeing 4000 personnel, 2.2 Billion dollars in budget, a training school house and a number of acquisition programs. He had the opportunity to visit the South Pole to improve aviation safety in the Antarctica region and was part of a critical Artic evaluation team in Greenland and Northern Alaska. Mr. Stoffler retired from the DoD in 2020. Mr. Stoffler is currently employed by Raytheon Technologies as a Senior Solutions Architect with a focus on the weather mission. He has a BS in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma and an MS is Systems Management from USC. Mr. Stoffler is married to the former Waltraud Frank and has two sons, Michael and Christopher. Barry Sullivan, NASA Barry Sullivan is currently the Technical Integration Manager for the Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) Office within NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. In this role, he is primarily responsible for assuring that the unique cross-project technical integration requirements between the projects within the program are satisfied to enable seamless gateto-gate technologies and solutions to support the Program. He has been in this role since October 2005. Mr. Sullivan has been with NASA at Ames Research Center approximately 33 years, and has authored several papers and has received numerous awards including the NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal in September 2011. Prior to working at NASA, Mr. Sullivan work as an aerodynamicist for the Lockheed-California Company, Burbank, CA, and as a Lead Systems Engineer for the Singer-Link Flight Simulation Co., Binghamton, NY. Mr. Sullivan received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, from Polytechnic Institute of New York, and an M.S. in Systems Management from Golden Gate University. He is also a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
May 17-21, 2021
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