NCDMM appoints John Schmitt as Executive Director of new Advanced Manufacturing Innovation and Integration Center
May 13, 2021
The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) has announced the appointment of John Schmitt as the Executive Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation and Integration Center (AMIIC), a new Limited Liability Company (LLC) based in Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
“The NCDMM team has had the privilege of working with John throughout his career as a US Army Acquisition Corps Officer and afterwards,” stated Gary Fleegle, NCDMM president and CEO. “John is a high-caliber professional with advanced manufacturing expertise, the strategic vision, and natural leadership abilities necessary to carry out AMIIC’s mission and establish it as an advanced manufacturing centre of excellence in Northern Alabama. He is a dynamic individual, who is committed to and engaged in the community of Huntsville. We are proud to welcome John to our leadership team.”
AMIIC represents a collaboration among government, industry, academia, and the defence community aiming to bridge Alabama’s workforce gap. The company seeks to provide students and workers with more opportunities for training, certifications, and apprenticeships to fill highly-skilled positions and hopes to achieve these goals by developing a collaborative and innovative environment for the maturation and demonstration of advanced manufacturing technologies. The technologies, in this case, will be centric to meeting the modernisation manufacturing needs of the US Army and the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Aviation & Missile Center in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
“It’s an honour to be named the Executive Director of AMIIC,” commented Schmitt. “I am excited to collaborate with our strategic partners on our mission of leveraging innovative technologies and promoting education and workforce development opportunities to empower Alabamians with the skills needed to compete and succeed in tomorrow’s highly skilled workforce.”
Prior to his AMIIC appointment, Schmitt contracted with the NCDMM through his consulting firm, Schmitt Consulting Group LLC, working closely with personnel in the centre’s Huntsville office.
In 2019, Schmitt retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after more than two decades of service from a diverse career as a US Army Aviator and Acquisition Corps Officer. He completed two combat tours in Iraq as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, maintenance test pilot, and company commander. In 2012, he moved to Huntsville, serving as an Acquisition Corps Officer at Redstone Arsenal where he worked on the development and delivery of major weapon systems. His assignments in this capacity included the Fixed Wing and Apache Program Offices, the Joint Multi-Role Technical Demonstration office, the Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center, and the Cargo Helicopter Project Office.
Schmitt is an active participant in his local community where he serves on the boards of a community-based mental health nonprofit (Little Orange Fish), a biotechnology company (GeneCapture, Inc.), and a non-profit seeking to archive and assist in social reform relating to Huntsville’s contribution American Civil Rights Movement (Rocket City Civil Rights LLC). He was also among the founders of the Inner Defense Initiative, a research collaborative committed to serving victims of post-traumatic stress through biopsychology.
Prior to moving to Huntsville, Schmitt was an Assistant Professor and Course Director within the Department of Chemistry and Life Science at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.
Schmitt holds a BS in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Davis and an MS in Microbiology and Immunology from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
