Mr. David V. Pauling,

Vice President, Global Sustainment Strategic Planning
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

After receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in May 1970, Mr. Pauling was commissioned as a US Army Second Lieutenant.  Mr. Pauling earned his U.S. Army aviator wings in August 1971 as an Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army Helicopter Flight Training School, and served a combat tour in Vietnam as a combat helicopter pilot.  He received various air medals and a Bronze star recommendation while there. 

In 1975, after he earned a M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State University, Mr. Pauling was a flight test engineer at the Naval Air Test Center before moving to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) where he served from 1977 through 2004 in various program management and supervisory roles for propulsion and power systems for the Naval aircraft (A-6/EA-6B, A-4, F/A-18, T45, S3, P3, C130, E2C, C2, V22, H60, H53, H4, H3, H2, H1, Cruise Missile, Harpoons/SLAM, RPVs, targets, and other similar aircraft).  

Mr. Pauling was selected for the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) in 1991 and the Senior Officials in National Security Program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in 1994.  Also in 1994, Mr. Pauling was appointed as the Technical Director of the Propulsion and Power Engineering Department, responsible for the technical aspects of all NAVAIR propulsion and power systems including systems engineering and integration, fuel systems, controls, diagnostics, engine development and support, electrical power systems, fuels and lubricants, auxiliary power and mechanical systems, and engineering specialties.  As Technical Director, he led several special joint task assignments including Under Secretary of Defense request to reduce total cost of ownership of the F/A-18E/F, F22, and RAH-66 propulsion systems; Defense Science Board request to assess commercial best practices for military engines; and Assistant Secretary of the Navy (RDA) tasking for an independent assessment of the Joint Strike Fighter development and acquisition costs and alternate engine requirement. 

Mr. Pauling was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 1998 to head the NAVAIR Propulsion and Power Engineering Department and serve as the Chairman of Naval Aviation’s Propulsion Management Board, a multi-functional Board made up of Naval Aviation’s technical, logistics, industrial, programmatic, and operational leaders in propulsion addressing broad Naval Aviation propulsion readiness issues and related integrated budgets.  In 2003, Mr. Pauling was assigned to the position as the Deputy Assistant Commander for Logistics where he realigned and integrated the Command’s functional elements towards a Naval Aviation Enterprise-wide readiness focus using empirical-based cause-and-effect modeling to determine and align resource application to readiness outcomes. 

Then in 2004, Mr. Pauling moved to the Pentagon as Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Materiel Readiness and Maintenance Policy responsible for the readiness and sustainment policy and oversight of over 374,000 major weapon systems and equipment; over 654,000 maintainers; and over $81B annually.  In this capacity, he led the DoD-wide integration of Life Cycle materiel readiness performance driven outcomes (balancing materiel availability, materiel reliability, cycle time, and ownership cost tradeoffs) throughout acquisition and sustainment of major weapon system/equipment, aligning resources to readiness outcomes, and establishing governance processes for outcome oversight.  Mr. Pauling also led DoD strategy to institutionalize Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) DoD-wide, issuing the DoD CPI Guidebook, sponsoring the DoD-wide policy signed by the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and leading the DoD CPI Senior Steering Group. 

Mr. Pauling retired from the Pentagon in 2007 after more than 35 years in DoD and joined the Aerospace Industries Association as Vice President for Technical Operations (responsible for directing and coordinating common aerospace industry-wide engineering, product support, strategic standardization, quality assurance, and electronic business activities) and Vice President, Supplier Management (addressing supplier/customer issues in research, development, engineering, manufacturing, quality, product support, electronic information, etc.). 

He joined Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in May 2008 as the Vice President, Global Sustainment Strategic Planning. 

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