Van Vandegrift

Last updated

Van Vandegrift
7.27.08VanVandegrift.jpg
Vandegrift at the 2008 premiere of
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Born (1969-02-13) February 13, 1969 (age 54)
Huntsville, Alabama, United States
EducationM.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Alabama, Huntsville (NASA Campus), 1996
B.S., Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M, 1990
OccupationProducer

Van Vandegrift (born February 13, 1969) is an American film and television producer and entrepreneur, known for his work on films such as Get Smart and Journey to the Center of the Earth , and for television projects, including Kings of South Beach .

Contents

Early life

Vandegrift was born in Huntsville, Alabama, where his parents worked at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. In 1985, he received a scholarship to the nearby Texas A&M University where he enrolled in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, and graduated from it in 1990. In 1988, he was selected by NASA to participate in its undergraduate cooperative education program, and began working in Mission Control at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

Following graduation, Vandegrift attended the International Space University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1990. He received a NASA post-graduate fellowship at the Marshall Space Flight Center Alabama Space Grant Consortium, [1] where he designed and built experiments and computer hardware that flew into space aboard NASA Consort Rockets and the Space Shuttle. He earned a Master of Science degree.[ citation needed ]

Vandegrift was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1992. After his promotion to Lieutenant in 1994, Vandegrift became a Naval Intelligence Officer serving with United States Navy SEALs aboard the USS Whirlwind, the USS Cole, and the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.[ citation needed ]

Career

Van Vandegrift with Matrixx crew Van Vandegrift with matrixx crew.jpg
Van Vandegrift with Matrixx crew

While still in graduate school in 1994, Vandegrift helped form TAC Systems, an early technology pioneer of CD-ROMs and video games, and was elected to its board of directors. In 1996, he joined TAC full-time as its president, working closely with the investor group, and helped bring about its successful sale in 1997. Vandegrift was then recruited as the Marketing Senior Executive for the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) outside Boston, Massachusetts. In 1999, DEC was acquired by Compaq Computer Corporation for $9.6 billion. [2] Using personal proceeds from the TAC and DEC acquisitions, Vandegrift formed a venture capital firm in 1998 called whodoweknow.com. [3]

In 1999, Vandegrift moved to Chicago and became the first outside member of the board of directors for WebPromote. Vandegrift hired the CEO and management team and led a $10 million venture capital round with other notable investors, including Andrew "Flip" Filipowski. [4] Vandegrift formed "matrixx" in 2000 as a broadband entertainment and production company and began meeting with major studio and record label executives. While at the Toronto International Film Festival, the attacks of September 11, 2001 unfolded. Vandegrift was recalled to active duty as a Naval Intelligence Officer and was deployed on a classified mission for Operation Enduring Freedom. Following that mission, he was discharged in 2002. Vandegrift then moved to Santa Monica, California, where, through his relationships with Creative Artists Agency, he formed a strategic partnership with Grosso Jacobson Communications, a Hollywood production company formed by Sonny Grosso.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David M. Brown</span> American astronaut (1956–2003)

David McDowell Brown was a United States Navy captain and a NASA astronaut. He died on his first spaceflight, when the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) disintegrated during orbital reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Brown became an astronaut in 1996 but had not served on a space mission before the Columbia disaster. Brown was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael J. Smith</span> American astronaut (1945–1986)

Michael John Smith, was an American engineer and astronaut. He served as the pilot of the Space Shuttle Challenger when it was destroyed during the STS-51-L mission, when it broke up 73 seconds into the flight, and at an altitude of 48,000 feet (14.6 km), killing all seven crew members. Smith's voice was the last one heard on the Challenger voice recorder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe F. Edwards Jr.</span>

Joe Frank Edwards Jr., , is an American aerospace engineer,former naval officer, aviator, test pilot and NASA astronaut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wally Schirra</span> American astronaut (1923–2007)

Walter Marty Schirra Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' first effort to put human beings into space. On October 3, 1962, he flew the six-orbit, nine-hour, Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, in a spacecraft he nicknamed Sigma 7. At the time of his mission in Sigma 7, Schirra became the fifth American and ninth human to travel into space. In the two-man Gemini program, he achieved the first space rendezvous, station-keeping his Gemini 6A spacecraft within 1 foot (30 cm) of the sister Gemini 7 spacecraft in December 1965. In October 1968, he commanded Apollo 7, an 11-day low Earth orbit shakedown test of the three-man Apollo Command/Service Module and the first crewed launch for the Apollo program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie</span>

Dominic Lee Pudwill Gorie is a retired United States Navy officer and NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Hauck</span>

Frederick Hamilton "Rick" Hauck is a retired captain in the United States Navy, a former fighter pilot and NASA astronaut. He piloted Space Shuttle mission STS-7 and commanded STS-51-A and STS-26.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard N. Richards</span>

Richard Noel "Dick" Richards, , is a retired American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, chemical engineer, and a former NASA astronaut. He flew aboard four Space Shuttle missions in the 1980s and 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kent Rominger</span>

Kent Vernon "Rommel" Rominger is an American former astronaut, former NASA Chief of the Astronaut Office at Johnson Space Center, and a captain in the United States Navy. Rominger holds the Space Shuttle Orbiter flight time record with 1610 hours. He joined ATK Launch Systems Group in 2006 as Vice President of Advanced Programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Brandenstein</span> Retired American astronaut and test pilot

Daniel Charles Brandenstein is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of United Space Alliance. He is a former Naval Aviator, test pilot and NASA astronaut, who flew four Space Shuttle missions. He also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1987 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert L. Gibson</span> American astronaut

Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson, , is a former American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. A retired NASA astronaut, he also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1992 to 1994. Today Gibson is active as a professional pilot, racing regularly at the annual Reno Air Races. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2003 and the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2013, and has received several military decorations throughout his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David M. Walker (astronaut)</span> American astronaut (1944–2001)

David Mathieson "Dave" Walker, , was an American naval officer and aviator, fighter pilot, test pilot, and a former NASA astronaut. He flew aboard four Space Shuttle missions in the 1980s and 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel W. Bursch</span>

Daniel Wheeler Bursch is a former NASA astronaut, and Captain of the United States Navy. He had four spaceflights, the first three of which were Space Shuttle missions lasting 10 to 11 days each. His fourth and final spaceflight was a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station as a crew member of Expedition 4, which lasted from December 2001 to June 2002. This 196-day mission set a new record for the longest duration spaceflight for an American astronaut, a record simultaneously set with his crew mate Carl Walz. Their record has since been broken, and as of 2016 it is held by Scott Kelly, who flew a 340-day mission during Expeditions 43, 44 and 45.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank L. Culbertson Jr.</span> American naval officer, aviator, and astronaut

Frank Lee Culbertson Jr. is an American former naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, NASA astronaut, graduate of the US Naval Academy, and member of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. He served as the commander of the International Space Station for almost four months in 2001 and was the only U.S. citizen not on Earth when the September 11 attacks occurred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin R. Kregel</span>

Kevin Richard Kregel is an American former astronaut, and former member of the Space Launch Initiative Project at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John M. Lounge</span>

John Michael "Mike" Lounge was an American engineer, a United States Navy officer, a Vietnam War veteran, and a NASA astronaut. A veteran of three Space Shuttle flights, Lounge logged over 482 hours in space. He was a mission specialist on STS-51-I (1985) and STS-26 (1988) and was the flight engineer on STS-35 (1990).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Morin</span>

Lee Miller Emile Morin is a United States Navy Captain and NASA astronaut. He flew on STS-110 in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen S. Oswald</span> American astronaut

Stephen Scot Oswald is an American former pilot and NASA astronaut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John L. Phillips</span> American astronaut

John Lynch Phillips is a NASA astronaut. Phillips is also a Naval Aviator and retired captain, United States Navy Reserve. Phillips has received numerous awards and special honors. He is a National Merit Scholar, graduated 2nd in his class of 906 people at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1972. Phillips has also been awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Gagarin Medal and several others. Phillips has logged over 4,400 flight hours and 250 aircraft carrier landings, flying the A-7 Corsair II carrier-based light attack aircraft while on active duty in the Regular Navy and subsequently during his time as a Navy Reservist from 1982 to 2002. At the time of his retirement, Phillips had retained the rank of captain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William F. Readdy</span> American test pilot, astronaut and manager

William Francis Readdy is a former Associate Administrator of the Office of Space Flight, at NASA Headquarters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre J. Thuot</span>

Pierre Joseph Thuot is a retired United States Navy captain and NASA astronaut. He went into space three times, spending over 650 hours in space, including over 15 hours in three space walks. He is a former U.S. record holder for time spent on one spacewalk, and participated in the first three-person spacewalk.

References

  1. ↑ "Alabama Space Grant Consortium". Spacegrant.eng.ua.edu. March 8, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  2. ↑ "HP Timeline – 1990s". Hp.com. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  3. ↑ "whodoweknow.com". Secinfo.com. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  4. ↑ "The Outspoken CEO of Chicago-Based Divine Interventures Intends to Spread Internet Wealth Across the Heartland". IndustryWeek . Archived October 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.