Mrs. Lisa Ohanian is the Founder, Owner, and CFO of STA and is responsible for day-to-day operations of the business. With over 20 years of entrepreneurial and corporate experience, Lisa has successfully operated highly profitable consulting companies specializing in the design and implementation of financial and business management software. She was one of the early distributors of the Novell LAN OS for small businesses in Southern California. Lisa has designed and implemented local and wide-area networks for small start-up to mid-sized companies. Additionally, she has designed and implemented multi-clustered systems with DOS, Windows, and UNIX operating systems. At Micro Center, Lisa was the Director of Education and Training for the Tustin location exceeding all sales projections. Lisa has a B.S. in Computer Information Systems.

Mr. Tedi Ohanian is the CEO and Chief Technical Officer at STA and is responsible for long-term strategic planning and all technical aspects of the company. With over 17 years of experience in launch vehicle systems/sub-systems, combustion devices, and engine system technology development, Tedi has successfully executed programs ranging from Boeing’s EELV Booster and AFRL’s low cost engine initiatives to DARPA's FALCON. Prior to STA, Tedi was the Manager of Propulsion Technology and Systems at Schafer Corporation. He was one of three presenters to a Technical Panel formed by Mr. Teets to assess the feasibility of small launch vehicle technologies in the United States. This ultimately resulted in the birth of the FALCON program. He was the PM and Chief Engineer for a highly successful FALCON Phase I concept where he led a team to the formulation of an innovative design. Tedi developed the first aerospace hardware product line for Schafer Corporation. As the IPT lead for the Delta IV Common Booster Core Propulsion, he was responsible for the $250+M propulsion development program. He directed a sub-scale injector experimental program which led to the significant reduction in number of elements of the RS-68 injector which further reduced overall recurring cost. In an unprecedented 18-month cycle, his team completed the full-scale design and development of the 650,000-lb TCA. Tedi was responsible for the Delta-IV payload sensitivity analysis and led a number of committees to assess technology insertions for the upper-stage. Tedi has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, an M.S. in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, and an MBA from UCLA, Anderson School of Management.

Dr. Larry Zajac is the Director of Business Operations at STA. With over 40 years of experience in rocket engine and combustion driven chemical and gas dynamic lasers, Larry has managed (as PM and Chief Scientist) multi-million dollar research and development programs including SIGMA (a multi-megawatt airborne laser) and ALPHA (a multi-megawatt space based laser). In his last position, Larry was Vice President and General Manager of the Los Angeles Operation and Member of the Board of Directors of Schafer Corporation. Under Larry’s leadership, the Los Angeles Operation grew in revenues to over $10 million representing over a third of Schafer Corporation’s total revenues. In support of USA, USAF, NASA, and BMDO (MDA), the Los Angeles Operation provided management and technical expertise to programs as diverse as the Army’s Crusader and SDI’s ALPHA. Personnel in his Operation served as SETA to the USAF Laboratories at Edwards and Kirtland, and to NASA Huntsville providing propulsion and launch vehicle analysis and concept evaluation. Larry has a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering.

Ms. Ana Cool is responsible for performing all linear and non-linear thermal-structural analysis using PATRAN and CosmosWorks FEA tools. She has over 15 years of experience performing complex thermal-structural analysis on propulsion and laser systems. Ana recently completed dynamic analysis of a launch vehicle complete with tanks and propulsion system to assess required tank and interstage wall thicknesses. She has performed numerous thermal-structural analysis on 5,000-155,000-lb class TCA using metallic and ablative chambers. Ana has performed heat transfer analysis on re-entry vehicles using various TPS methods. Her soak back predictions have been experimentally validated. Ana has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

Mr. Nurick has over 40 years experience in conducting and directing multi-disciplinary programs aimed at the development and demonstration of advanced energy conversion systems. These include high-energy liquid rocket propulsion systems for NASA, the Air Force, and the Aerospace Industry. Over this period, Bill has developed a broad body of experience from concept definition through feasibility, development, and demonstration to commercialization of a wide range of combustion systems. He has demonstrated his ability to develop complex injector design codes, evaluate a broad range of combustion systems conversion process feasibility, develop well thought-out program approaches, detect and resolve technical problems, direct large combustion system development programs, and ensure their fulfillment on schedule and within contract cost. Lastly, he has also shown the ability to work with both government and industry in meeting common objectives. Bill has a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

Mr. Ray Mills is responsible for the detailed design and manufacturing support at STA. Ray is an expert with CATIA SOLUTIONS version 5.X. He has in-depth experience in combustion devices design of LOX/hydrogen and LOX/RP-1 systems. Ray has over 35 years experience in design, fabrication support, development, and testing of large and subscale liquid rocket combustion devices at Rocketdyne (now a division of United technologies). That experience has included: 1) Design Engineer with responsibilities in preliminary and final design; design coordination with manufacturing, structural, materials, thermal support organizations; fabrication support and coordination; 2) Development Engineer with responsibilities as Resident Development Engineer for J-2 thrust chambers and injectors, test planning and setup, specification of test stand configuration, test conducting, data analysis, test requests, engine system support representation, and material review board member; 3) Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Combustion Devices Lead Engineer responsible for SSME combustion devices (nozzle assembly) design, fabrication, repair/rework, flight support, material review, customer interface, staff work assignments; 4) Advanced Combustion Devices Engineering Specialist with duties to propose and administer IR&D projects, to provide conceptual design and development of advanced technology items, designs for proposal inputs, and prepare proposal segments including cost and manpower.

Frank Kirby is a senior member of the technical staff responsible for technical and programmatic support to the project team. Frank has over 37 years of extensive experience in liquid rocket propulsion with emphasis in materials and processes. At Schafer, he managed the SETA rocket propulsion support to the Propulsion Directorate/Phillips Laboratory (now AFRL/PR). Frank worked for Rocketdyne from 1959 until retiring in 1989.  There he managed the oxygen/hydrogen and oxygen/hydrocarbon engine programs under contract to NASA/MSFC.  He was instrumental in the start of the NASP program at Rocketdyne.  Prior to that he worked on the Space Shuttle Main Engine program. Frank has been involved in programs that depend upon advanced technology in materials and processes for rocket engine components.  This has included verification testing for life of materials at the thermal and pressures conditions existing in rocket engines. Frank has a BA in Physics from UCLA and his MS in Mechanical Engineering from USC.