Jack Blackhurst, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is Executive Director, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He is the principal assistant to the commander and the senior civilian executive responsible for managing the Air Force's $2.5 billion science and technology program along with an additional $2.3 billion of externally funded research and development. He serves a government workforce of approximately 6,000 people in the laboratory's nine component technology directorates and 711th Human Performance Wing. He also serves as the Director of the AFRL Plans and Programs Directorate and Director of the Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation Directorate. He earned his Air Force commission through ROTC in 1974 and began his career as a Communications-Electronics Officer assigned to Strategic Air Command in the 509th Bomb Wing at Pease AFB, New Hampshire. After completing his master's degree through the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1979, he held numerous management positions within the Air Force personnel and human research communities, including Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science, Technology and Engineering. Mr. Blackhurst retired as a colonel in 2004 before moving to the AFRL as Director for the Human Effectiveness Directorate, 711th Human Performance Wing. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in January 2010.