A Conversation With: Dan Brandenstein

Daniel C. “Dan” Brandenstein joined United Space Alliance as is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in October 2007 after serving as Vice President and Program Manager for the Mission Support Operations Contract at the NASA/Johnson Space Center for Lockheed Martin Mission Services. A former astronaut, Brandenstein piloted Space Shuttle mission STS-8 in 1983 aboard Challenger on the first Shuttle night launch and landing mission. He commanded three flights, including STS-51G in 1985, STS-32 in 1990, and the maiden flight of Endeavour, STS-49, in 1992 to retrieve and repair the Intelsat satellite. In this issue, the USA Update talks to Brandenstein about his early impressions of USA and the outlook for USA’s future in a competitive marketplace.

UPDATE: You’ve been with USA for almost five months; what are your impressions of USA so far?

BRANDENSTEIN: I have not had the opportunity to see all the elements within USA; however, I have worked very closely with USA in my previous job, so I had a good knowledge and understanding of USA’s level of expertise. Since I have been here, it has become even clearer. Having had an opportunity to go around and visit some folks in the work place, I can see this is a very dedicated team, and they take a lot of pride in what they do, and that’s good. What became obvious almost immediately was the safety culture. That has always been a high priority of mine, and I am pleased to see it has a high priority in the workplace at USA. The other thing that caught my attention early on was the focus on process improvement. Everywhere you go, there is an emphasis on Lean-Six Sigma and process improvement. That is something I have come to know and value very much. To see that it is alive and well at USA is very encouraging. This is just a great team; they take a lot of pride in what they do. You see it as you walk through the workplace, and the performance speaks for itself with a score of 97 on the latest evaluation. I am real happy to be here.

UPDATE: What are your top priorities as Chief Operating Officer for USA?

BRANDENSTEIN: First and foremost is to ensure that we safely fly out the Shuttle Program and that we retain the people to do that effectively. Along with that, obviously, comes continuing to maintain a safe working environment. We also have the responsibility for a lot of high-priced equipment, so it is important to maintain the safety culture that is here at USA. We want to keep people safe and healthy and to take good care of the equipment that is entrusted to us by our customer. The next priority is looking for ways to transition effectively. We already have a number of contracts on key elements of the Constellation Program. As Shuttle winds down and these other programs are gearing up, doing an effective transition is very important. With the large sole source contracts, USA has not been a part of the competitive environment, but that is now changing. I will offer any experience I can bring to help develop the skills and the talent we need and the approach we need to be competitive in the upcoming environment.

UPDATE: Your past management experience includes highly contract-competitive environments. What is USA going to have to do to be successful in that type of environment?

BRANDENSTEIN: The thing we hear from our customers over and over is innovation and cost efficiency. So, once again, USA has been doing an outstanding job in the Shuttle and Station Program, but we have to look beyond our comfort zone, doing business the way they have always done business. While USA has demonstrated excellent performance, the customer is probably looking for something above and beyond that on future contracts. We have to be sure that we can step back and look beyond how we have been operating and look for innovations that contribute to a much more cost-effective way of performing. While looking for cost efficiency is important, continuing to demonstrate excellent performance has to be a focus of USA as well. That is what you sell to the customer. I think another part that is key is the customer interface that includes good customer service, good customer relations and making them want you. You do that up and down the line; that isn’t just at the management level. It’s everyone that has an interface with the customer. The fact that we can make the customer feel comfortable, that we are going to go out of our way to help the customer get the job done and do it safely; those are also key ingredients in winning new business.

UPDATE: What are USA’s competitive strengths, and what areas do we need to work on?

BRANDENSTEIN: I’m still learning the details of the many strengths of our team. I think Flight Operations and their mission support, the vehicle processing and launch and recovery support at the Cape, the many aspects of crew equipment support and the crew support in the training arena are all excellent strengths. But, as I said earlier, we can’t rest on those laurels. We have to take where we are now and be more innovative as we go forward. I think the area that is going to be a challenge is becoming a more cost-effective organization so we can produce the cost efficiency the customer wants. When I arrived, a lot of work was already in place preparing for that. It is just a matter of continuing to look at the most effective way of becoming more competitive in this very competitive environment.

UPDATE: What advice would you give to employees who want to continue their careers in the space program but are unsure of the opportunities with USA beyond Shuttle?

BRANDENSTEIN: Well, I think the best thing is to continue to do the job you are doing, do it very well and look for opportunities in USA as we transition to the Constellation Program. We are going to do our best to communicate what’s coming and what opportunities are out there. We plan to make as many opportunities as possible available within USA. If there aren’t enough opportunities here, we’ll turn to our member companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Both Dick and I have a heritage with these companies, and we can also look there for opportunities for people that will keep them interested, happy and doing something that is very challenging and motivating. I think it is important for our future to continue to do as good a job or better than we are doing now, for everyone to focus on doing their job the very best that they can. Continue to be safe, that is our customer’s and our top priority, and, once again, good customer interface. Make the customer feel you are the only one who can help him.

UPDATE: Any final thoughts?

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