Meet Our Leadership

Dr. Walter Massey is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the GMTO Corporation. He is also Chairman of the Board of the City Colleges of Chicago and Senior Advisor to the President of the University of Chicago. Dr. Massey is President Emeritus of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), having served as President from 2010-2016, and Chancellor from 2016-2018. He is the former Director of Argonne National Laboratory and former Vice President for Research at the University of Chicago. From 1991 to 1993, Dr. Massey served as Director of the National Science Foundation before joining the University of California system as Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs. In 1995 he became President of Morehouse College, where he served for twelve years. He has been professor of physics at Brown, University of Chicago, and UC Santa Cruz.

In the corporate sector, Dr. Massey is the former Chairman of Bank of America and a former member of the Board of Directors of the McDonald’s Corporation and Delta Airlines. He has also served on the boards of the Mellon Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Commonwealth Fund, Smithsonian Institution, and others. He has been recognized with honorary degrees from 42 universities, including Harvard, Yale, SAIC, Columbia, and Brown.

Dr. Armandroff is the McDonald Observatory Director, a Professor, and Frank and Susan Bash Endowed Chair at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining UT Austin, Dr. Armandroff was Observatory Director at the W.M. Keck Observatory. He worked for 19 years at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, AZ, where he became Associate Director of NOAO and Director of the NOAO Gemini office. Dr. Armandroff’s research focuses on dwarf spheroidal galaxies, stellar populations in our galaxy and nearby galaxies, globular clusters, and astronomical instrumentation. He has served as an advisor or Board member for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, the Mauna Kea Management Board at the University of Hawaii, the Observatory Council for the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, the Mathematical and Physical Science Advisory Committee for the National Science Foundation, and the External Advisory Panel for the Thirty Meter Telescope.

John Arnold serves as the senior vice president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer for the University of Arizona. In this role as the University of Arizona's senior business and financial officer, his responsibilities include overseeing Arizona Public Media; budget and financial planning; campus store (bookstore); facility services – GIS, space management, planning/design/construction, facilities management, and utilities; financial services – bursar, catcard, purchasing, contracting, auditing, treasury, accounts payable, and payroll; parking & transportation; sustainability, and student unions.

Prior to his current role, Arnold served as the Arizona Board of Regents executive director, guiding strategic goals to increase educational access and attainment while advancing Arizona’s public university system to serve students and impact Arizona’s economy. He joined the board office in March of 2015 as vice president of business management and financial affairs, developing financial policies and procedures for the university enterprise, addressing capital development and state budget requests, and coordinating system-wide analysis of complex financial issues.

With more than 20 years serving the state of Arizona, Arnold brings significant public service experience and a deep commitment to higher education to the position. He has an exceptional background in financial affairs and a proven track record of leadership, serving as Gov. Jan Brewer’s state budget director where he was instrumental in providing fiscal direction and solutions for the state during the Great Recession as well as implementing the budget and advising the governor on all related matters.

Throughout his career, he has worked with leaders in education from K-12 to college. As director of the Arizona School Facilities Board, he managed programs for new school construction, building renewals, and energy savings.

Arnold is married with five children. He received his bachelor’s degree in accounting and his master’s degrees in accounting and public administration from Brigham Young University.

Mr. Alexander was President of SBC (now AT&T) from 1999 to 2002. During his 32-year career at SBC, he held a variety of executive positions in network operations, sales, marketing, and governmental affairs, and international operations. Prior to his term as President, Mr. Alexander led SBC operations in Chile and the Asia Pacific region. He was VP of sales for Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, directing network and marketing for Southwestern Bell Texas. Mr. Alexander now serves on a number of boards, including Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio Medical Foundation, LiftFund, Port Authority of San Antonio, UT Austin McDonald Observatory, and Department of Astronomy Board of Visitors, and Missouri University of Science and Technology.

In his role as Texas A&M’s Interim Vice Provost for Research, Jack Baldauf, provides leadership for strategic research planning, space and environmental initiatives, faculty development and recognition, and international programs to further the University’s research mission.

Baldauf is a professor in the Department of Oceanography, College of Geosciences. In his previous positions with the college, he served as executive associate dean and associate dean for research and deputy director and manager of science operations for the International Ocean Discovery Program.

Dr. de Souza is a professor in astrophysics at the University of São Paulo. His research interest is in astroparticle physics, involving data analysis, instrumentation, simulation and astrophysical modeling. He is a member of the Pierre Auger and Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatories. He is currently Chair of the CTA Consortium Board, Coordinator of the Astronomy and Space Sciences at FAPESP, Co-chair of the Department of Physics and Interdisciplinary Science, Member of the Technical Council and Scientific Member of the National High Energy Physics Network and Alternate Member of the Board of Directors of the Latin American Physics Center (CLAF). Dr. de Souza studied Physics in the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and received his PhD from the same institution in 2004. He worked as a postdoc at the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences of the University of São Paulo (2004-2007) and as a researcher at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany (2007-2008). In 2018 he was visiting researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Division of Astronomy and Astrophysics, at University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).

Dr. Eisenstein is a professor of astronomy at Harvard University. He studies cosmology and extragalactic astronomy using theoretical and observational methods. He was part of the University of Arizona astronomy faculty for nine years before moving to Harvard in 2010. He has been active in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and has been the Director of SDSS-III, a collaboration working to map the Milky Way, search for extrasolar planets, and solve the mystery of dark energy since 2007. He is the co-Spokesperson of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument collaboration. He is a member of the JWST Near-Infrared Camera instrument team, the SDSS-IV Consortium, and the Euclid Consortium. In 2012, he served as chair of the National Science Foundation Astronomy Portfolio Review committee. Currently, he is serving as Chair of the Cosmology Science Panel of the Astro 2020 Decadal Survey. In 2014, he received the Shaw Prize in Astronomy and was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Jannuzi heads the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona and is the Director of the Steward Observatory, which includes the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab. He joined the University of Arizona after 17 years at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), during which time he served as Director of Kitt Peak National Observatory and Associate Director at NOAO. He serves as an advisor or Board Member for the Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee of the NSF, the American Astronomical Society Committee on Astronomy and Public Policy, the AAS Council, and the LSSTC Executive Board of Directors, and was a member of the Thirty Meter Telescope Science Advisory Committee and the International Dark Sky Association Board of Directors. Dr. Jannuzi’s research interests include observational cosmology, quasar absorption line systems, active galaxies, and instrumentation for surveys.

Dr. Kewley is the Director of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Director of the Harvard College Observatory, and Professor of Astrophysics at the Harvard Department of Astronomy. Dr. Kewley obtained her PhD in 2002 from the Australian National University on the connection between star-formation and supermassive black holes in galaxies. She was a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Fellow and a NASA Hubble Fellow. From 2017-2022, she implemented her scientific vision through her Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in All-Sky Astrophysics in 3D (ASTRO 3D).

John Mulchaey is a Carnegie Science Trustee and the Interim President of the institution, as well as the Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair of the Carnegie Science Observatories, the organization’s division for astronomy and astrophysics research. In this role, he oversees the research and business functions across Carnegie Science three scientific Divisions, composed of research sites on the East and West Coasts and telescope facilities in Chile.

Mulchaey's research covers a wide range of topics, including groups and clusters of galaxies, elliptical galaxies, dark matter—the invisible material that makes up most of the universe—active galaxies and black holes. Dr. Mulchaey received his B.S. in astrophysics from UC-Berkeley and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. He was a fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute and at Carnegie before joining the Carnegie staff. Dr. Mulchaey previously served as a scientific editor for The Astrophysical Journal and is a frequent consultant for NSF and NASA. He is also very actively involved in public outreach and education efforts throughout the Los Angeles area.

Byeong-Gon Park is the Director of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) Center for Large Telescopes and is Professor and Principal Researcher at KASI. He was previously the Director of the Optical/Infrared Astronomy Division and serves as a Board Member for the Korean Astronomical Society. His areas of expertise include star formation in young open clusters in our galaxy, extra-solar planet studies based on gravitational microlensing, and the development of CCD cameras for ground-based optical telescopes. He led the construction of the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet), which consists of three widefield 1.6m telescopes distributed in Chile, South Africa, and Australia, and supported the exploration of the structure and diversity of planetary systems and variable objects, including very low-mass exoplanets.

Chan Park is an Instrument Scientist at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). His research interests include infrared instrumentation, optomechanics, cryogenics, star formation, stellar evolution, YSOs, embedded clusters, ISM, and radiative transfer in dusty media. Chan holds a PhD and a Master of Science degree in Astronomy from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, as well as a Master of Science degree in Astronomy from Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Astronomy from Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.

Sarah Pearce is the Acting Chief Scientist of CSIRO, the Deputy Chief of CASS and the Director of the SKA Low Telescope Project. Prior to these roles, she was Project Manager for GridPP, the UK computing grid for particle physics. Sarah's previous experience includes time as a science advisor in the UK Parliament.

Sarah is currently the Deputy Director of CASS. Sarah has particular responsibility for CSIRO's role in the Square Kilometre Array project, and manages CSIRO's partnership with the SKA Observatory. She has been Australian Science Director on the SKA Board, and part of the negotiating team for the SKA Treaty. Sarah holds a PhD in X-ray astronomy from the University of Leicester and an undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Oxford (Worcester College).

Mr. Stringer is a finance executive with nearly 30 years’ experience at the crossroads of business, operations, technology, and finance. His experience includes tenure in the consulting, financial services, telecommunications, utilities, and government sectors. Before starting Nord Analytics, Mr. Stringer was a Partner at the boutique consultancy firm Stanton Blackwell and a Managing Director at MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group) in New York. Prior to his tenure at MUFG, he supported technology and operations functions at firms including BNY Mellon, Fannie Mae, and Capital One. Mr. Stringer earned his undergraduate degree at the Royal Military College of Canada and completed his Master of Business Administration at the University of Western Ontario. He is a military veteran in the Canadian Army and served with the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in both the Cyprus and Croatia.

Brian Schmidt AC is Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the Australian National University. For his work on the accelerating universe, Brian Schmidt was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter. Schmidt has worked across many areas of Astronomy including supernovae, gamma ray Bursts, gravitational wave transients, exo-planets, and metal poor stars. Receiving his PhD from Harvard University in 1993, Schmidt joined the staff of the Australian National University in 1995. He served as the 12th Vice Chancellor and President of the Australia National University from 2016-2023.

Dr. Tinney is a Professor of Astronomy at the University New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, where he heads the Exoplanetary Science at UNSW Research Group he founded in 2007. His research focuses on exoplanets and brown dwarfs. He is a Chair of the Anglo-Australian Advisory Council and a member of the National Committee of Astronomy of the Australian Academy of Sciences. He is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Dr. Tinney has served as Head of Astronomy for the Anglo-Australian Observatory. He served as a member of the GMTO Science Advisory Committee from 2009 to 2016. He has been a lead investigator for multiple astronomical instrumentation projects, including the IRIS2 and Veloce instruments for the Anglo-Australian Telescope.