Sean O'Keefe

Sean O'Keefe
Official NASA photo.
Administrator of NASA
In office December 21, 2001 – April 13, 2005
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Daniel Goldin
Succeeded by	Michael D. Griffin
Personal details
Born	(1956-01-27) January 27, 1956 New Orleans, Louisiana[1]
Nationality	American
Relations	Great-grandfather Arthur J. O'Keefe Uncle Michael H. O'Keefe
Occupation	Chairman and CEO, EADS North America [2][3]

Sean Charles O'Keefe (born January 27, 1956) is the Chairman and CEO of EADS North America, a subsidiary of the European aerospace firm EADS,^[2][3] a former Administrator of NASA, and former chancellor of Louisiana State University (LSU).^[4] O'Keefe is also a former member of the board of directors of DuPont. He resigned from LSU on January 16, 2008.^[5]

Asteroid 78905 Seanokeefe was named after him in honor of his time as NASA Administrator.^[6]

O'Keefe and his teenaged son were among four survivors of a plane crash on August 9, 2010 near Aleknagik, Alaska.^[7][8] O'Keefe sustained serious injuries in the crash of a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter seaplane in which former United States Senator Ted Stevens and four others perished.^[9][10][11]

Education and family

O'Keefe's great-grandfather was Arthur J. O'Keefe, Sr., who from 1926 to 1929 was the mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana. His grandfather, Arthur O'Keefe, Jr., was a member of the Louisiana State Senate from New Orleans from 1948 to 1950. His uncle is the former State Senate President, Michael H. O'Keefe.^[12]

Sean O'Keefe was born in Monterey, California, to the former Patricia Carlin (died 2010) and Patrick Gordon O'Keefe (born c. 1927), both natives of New Orleans. Patrick O'Keefe became a United States Navy engineer and over the years worked on nuclear submarines.^[13] The O'Keefes therefore lived on several naval bases during Sean's childhood. In 1973, he graduated from Wheeler High School in North Stonington, Connecticut. He then studied at Loyola University New Orleans, from which he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1977. Many in his family attended Loyola. O'Keefe subsequently acquired his Master of Public Administration degree in 1978 from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York.^[14] His wife Laura and children, Lindsey, Jonathan, and Kevin, reside in northern Virginia.

Career before NASA

After receiving his master's, he began his career as a budget analyst for the Department of Defense. He served on the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations staff for eight years, and was Staff Director of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. O'Keefe became Controller and Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Defense in 1989. O'Keefe served as acting United States Secretary of the Navy from 1992–1993 under President George H. W. Bush.^[14]

After Bush left office, O'Keefe was Professor of Business Administration and Assistant to the Senior Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at Pennsylvania State University. He next became the Louis A. Bantle Professor of Business and Government Policy, an endowed chair at the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. [Professor of Business Administration and Assistant to the Senior Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at Pennsylvania State University.^[14]

Joining the George W. Bush administration, O'Keefe served as Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget from January to December 2001, a job that strengthened his reputation as a "bean counter" — someone who counts every penny.^[15]

Tenure as NASA Administrator

Sean O'Keefe became NASA administrator on December 21, 2001 after his nomination by President George W. Bush was confirmed by the Senate. Sean O'Keefe's tenure at NASA can be divided into roughly three equal periods, each marked by a single problem or event of overriding importance:

• December 2001 through January 2003: Sean O'Keefe eliminated a $5 billion cost overrun in the construction of the International Space Station.
• February 2003 through December 2004: Space Shuttle Columbia accident and its aftermath.
• January 2004 through February 2005: Sean O'Keefe re-organized NASA to start working on President George W. Bush's newly announced plan to send humans to the Moon and Mars.

Sean O'Keefe came to NASA with a background as a former Secretary of the Navy and Director of OMB. As was the case with James E. Webb who served as administrator of NASA from 1961 to 1968, O'Keefe had no formal training in science or engineering.^[14] O'Keefe's chief of staff until 2003 was Courtney Stadd.^[16]

One of Sean O'Keefe's most controversial decisions occurred in January 2004, when he cancelled an upcoming mission by the space shuttle to service the aging Hubble Space Telescope.^[17][18][19] O'Keefe claimed that, in light of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, the mission would be too risky, especially since if the shuttle was damaged while visiting the Hubble, the shuttle would not have enough fuel to dock with the space station as a "safe haven." While supported by members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) this decision was assailed by numerous astronomers, who felt that the Hubble telescope was valuable enough to merit the risk.^[20][21] In late October 2006, O'Keefe's successor, Michael Griffin, reversed the decision, regarding the mission to Hubble, after several years of study. After several delays, the final Hubble mission, STS-125 was successfully completed in May 2009.^[22]

In the buildup to the 2004 election, a scuffle in the press occurred between Sean O'Keefe and NASA climatologist James Hansen. In 2003, it was revealed, Mr. O'Keefe warned Dr. Hansen not to discuss humans' role in global warming. "The administrator [Mr. O'Keefe] interrupted me," Dr. Hansen said in the New York Times, "he told me that I should not talk about dangerous anthropogenic interference, because we do not know enough or have enough evidence for what would constitute dangerous anthropogenic interference." O'Keefe's spokesperson said that O'Keefe did not admonish Hansen or mean to suggest that research efforts should be cut.^[23]

In 2004, O'Keefe drew criticism for openly campaigning for Bob Riley who was running for re-election as governor of Alabama and a member of Congress. He defended his action by saying that he was campaigning as a private citizen.^{[citation needed]}

O'Keefe responded to President Bush's Vision for Exploration by hiring retired Navy Admiral Craig E. Steidle who had previously led development of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as an associate administrator in charge of a new office: Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD). A mission architecture for lunar exploration was developed based on four launches of medium-lift vehicles and four space rendezvous per mission. This mission architecture was immediately scrapped by Michael Griffin upon his arrival at NASA. NASA started over with the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS), sixteen months after the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) had been announced by President Bush. That architecture led to the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles (later canceled) and the Orion Crew Exploration vehicle.

O'Keefe tendered his resignation on December 13, 2004.^[24]

Tenure as Louisiana State University Chancellor

O'Keefe has been credited with the establishment of the Louisiana State University endowment through the Forever LSU fund raising campaign - his second campaign as LSU's Chancellor. The first, known as "Welcome to the Now (Evo Devo)," was not as successful. He became popular among students for his ability to interact with them, especially during Chats with the Chancellor, that occur across the campus periodically throughout the semesters, as well as his encouraging emails. He announced on January 16, 2008, that February 1, 2008 was his last day as chancellor.^[5]

O'Keefe lightly discussed his membership in the exclusive Bohemian Club to the Louisiana State University student newspaper The Daily Reveille. As a member of the Wayside Log camp, O'Keefe traveled during July 2005, to visit the famous Bohemian Grove near San Francisco, California.^[25]

CEO of EADS North America

In October 2009, O'Keefe was brought in as CEO of EADS North America. O'Keefe's Washington connections were noted at a time when EADS was trying to secure a $35 billion contract for U.S. Air Force in-air refueling planes in a competition with Boeing.^[2]

References

• The Career and Education portions of this article are based on public domain text from NASA.

External links

• Official LSU Office of the Chancellor
• LSU Profile
• Official NASA Biography and Speeches
• NASA History Office Entry
• NASA Resignation Release

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sean O'Keefe.

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