Summary: Systems engineering executive with 40 years of leadership experience in nationally significant aerospace and energy programs, including the International Space Station power system, and 16 years of experience (part-time) applying systems engineering principles to public policy design.

Core Expertise:

• Systems engineering and integration | Large-scale program leadership
• Aerospace and energy systems | Nuclear systems and risk analysis
• Public policy design and optimization | Six-step model
• Systems engineering processes to address societal challenges
• Tax reform | Healthcare reform | Climate Policy | Education policy

Rocketdyne (1985 - 2010)

Director, SE&I, ISS power system (1985 - 1996)

• Led systems engineering and integration (SE&I) for the ISS electric power system from concept selection through early flight hardware and software development.
• Oversaw development activities involving flight hardware, software, and approximately 1,000 personnel as Deputy Program Manager.

Director, Satellite Power Systems (1996 - 1999)

• Led development of the electric power system for the Teledesic constellation of 800+ satellites.
• Advanced the state of the art in satellite solar arrays and batteries, technologies later critical to large-scale satellite constellations.

Director, Energy Systems (2000 - 2010)

• Led development of advanced energy systems leveraging Rocketdyne’s rocket engine technologies, including zero-emission power concepts and industrial applications.

US Navy, Atomics International, and General Atomics (1970 - 1985)

• Supported the design and operation of naval nuclear power plants for submarines and aircraft carriers, as an engineering officer under Admiral Rickover.
• Developed an approach for using nuclear plant operating data and quantitative risk assessment to inform advanced reactor design.
• Used systems engineering to identify why the output of a nuclear weapons production facility declined after the workforce doubled from 3,000 to 6,000 personnel. (This contributed to a major change in nuclear weapons production.)

Independent Public Policy Research | Part-Time While Retired (2010 - 2026)

Pioneered the use of systems engineering principles to develop solutions to complex social, economic, environmental, and political problems. Key accomplishments are:

• Created a six-step systems engineering model and a “system of systems” matrix approach for public policy design.
• Identified ten systems engineering strategies adaptable to public policy optimization.
• Developed a comprehensive, nonpartisan proposal for tax and healthcare reform.
• Published Rational Tax Reform, describing the proposed tax and healthcare reform and the supporting systems engineering methodology.
• Developed ten large-scale policy proposals addressing major national challenges, including taxation, healthcare, immigration, education, climate change, the justice system, governance, and international relations.
• Engaged policymakers through advocacy, policy outreach, and op-eds on climate policy.

Selected Publications:

• Rational Tax Reform: Using the Systems Engineering Process to Fix America’s Broken Tax System (book)
• Bridge the Partisan Divide and Develop Effective Policies with Systems Engineering (article published in INSIGHT, the monthly magazine of the International Council on Systems Engineering)
• How to Limit Global Warming to Less than 1.5 Degrees Celsius (op-ed published in The Hill)
• Ten Moonshots (describes ten large-scale policy proposals and how systems engineering principles informed their development)
• Lessons Learned from Major Core Damage Accidents (paper presented at American Nuclear Society annual meeting, received a “Best Paper” award)
• JimHartung.com (website describing how I use systems engineering principles develop and optimize public policies)

Education:

• BS, Physics, University of Minnesota, 1969
• Navy Nuclear Engineering School, 1971
• MS, Engineering Management, UCLA, 1985