Former NASA Lead Rick Russell Joins The Barnes Global Advisors

Russell Led Development of NASA Requirements for Spaceflight Systems

The Barnes Global Advisors (TBGA), a renowned leader in advanced manufacturing (AM) consulting and services, is thrilled to welcome renowned NASA expert Rick Russell to the ADDvisor® team. In over 25 years with NASA, Rick amassed numerous accomplishments and accolades, including assembling and leading the team that authored NASA STD-6030 "Additive Manufacturing Requirements for Spaceflight Systems", perhaps one of the most valuable resources available to the AM space industry.

The decision to bring Rick onto the team was highly strategic. TBGA Managing Director Laura Ely emphasized, "Rick has a wealth of experience in leading teams to solve complex problems pulling from subject matter expertise in materials and processes and space requirements. Who is better suited to help our customers build qualification plans to meet spaceflight requirements than the person who led the creation of NASA-STD-6030?"

Rick comes to TBGA with over 37 years of experience in the aerospace industry. His 25 years with NASA culminated in the role of Technical Fellow for Materials. In this Agency role he served as the senior material's technical expert for NASA within the Office of the Chief Engineer and the leader of the Agency Materials Technical Discipline Team. Rick's exposure to AM began over 10 years ago during the early stage of the Commercial Crew Program where he was the System Manager for both Materials and Processes and Fracture Control. Rick spent nearly 20 years supporting the Space Shuttle program in various roles and was a major contributor to the return to flight efforts following the Columbia disaster. Rick's other career stops include Naval Aviation, Bell Helicopter and most recently Northrop Grumman. He has a B.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urban Champaign and a M.S degree in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Florida.

"As I like to say, it's taken 25 years to build this team at TBGA", noted TBGA President John Barnes. "Rick's reputation and track record speak volumes. He wants the industry to succeed. His investment in the industry, whether it be in standards development or bringing people together, is a great fit with our ADDvisor® team and values. His personal mission aligns with TBGA's mission to get industry making parts with AM."

Rick provided his own perspective on joining TBGA; "I am extremely excited to be joining the TBGA team! Throughout my career I've been involved in solving problems, most often working with teams of world-class experts. With TBGA I get to continue to do this, by helping the industry advance and implement state-of-the-art and additive manufacturing technologies. One of TBGA's core principles is to demand innovation and I am excited about this since this is the way I prefer to attack problems, combining out of the box thinking with engineering rigor."