Dr. Shelba J. Proffitt, a native of Whitesburg, Ky., is the Deputy Program Executive Officer for Air and Missile Defense, Huntsville, Ala. She was a member of Wernher von Braun's space team, and she held key positions with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and with the US Army.

In 1990, she became the first female member of the Senior Executive Service of the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, one of the Army's highest civilian posts. She is a licensed pilot, a published author, a patent-holder, and the holder of many awards including the Women in Space and Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Proffitt began her career with the Federal Government as a member of the Von Braun space team in Huntsville, Ala. She subsequently joined the US Army Missile Command where she spent 13 years developing advanced tactical weapons. In 1980, Proffitt moved to what became the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC). Her work on established her as an expert in management, communications, and space surveillance technologies. She became Deputy Program Manager for the Designating Optical Tracker Program, an exoatmospheric probe with 5 consecutive successful flights.

In 1990, she became the first female of USASMDC's Senior Executive Service. As Director, Advanced Technology Directorate, and later Director, Sensors Directorate, she managed programs to assess and resolve technology issues for both tactical and strategic missile defense. In 1995, she became Program Manager of the National Missile Defense Program in the Office for Air and Missile Defense. She directed system definition, development and test demonstrations for the ground-based elements of the NMD System, including the interceptor, radar, and associated battle management. She guided the transition of the Army's NMD Program from a technology readiness to a deployment readiness status under the NMD Joint Program Office at the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.

Dr. Proffitt became Deputy Program Executive Officer, Air and Missile Defense, in April 2000. She shares responsibilities to develop, acquire, and field air and missile defense weapon systems and sensors, including PATRIOT, MEADS, JLENS, SHORAD, JTAGS, THAAD and ARROW. She provides guidance and interfaces with the Department of the Army, the Missile Defense Agency, contractors, and community officials. From February 2001 to December 2001, Dr. Proffitt was the Acting Program Executive Officer, Air and Missile Defense, with total responsibility for these programs.

Dr. Proffitt has published over 25 technical papers, holds two patents, and has received numerous awards including a Senior Executive Service Presidential Rank Award, State of Kentucky's Outstanding Young Woman of America, second place for Outstanding Women in the Department of the Army, the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, and the National Space Club's 1999 von Braun Engineer of the Year Award.

Proffitt holds a bachelor's in chemistry and physics from Centre College, Danville; a master's from the University of Alabama in Huntsville; and a doctorate in technology management from the Southeastern Institute of Technology in Huntsville. She earned her pilot's license in 1973.