Board of Advisors

Anthony Velocci, Jr.

Tony Velocci is Editor-in-Chief of Aviation Week & Space Technology and Editorial Director of McGraw-Hill Aerospace and Defense Group. Before his appointment to the magazine's top editorial position, he was senior business editor and Northeast Bureau Chief. Velocci is based in New York City and has been with the magazine for 17 years. Prior to joining Aviation Week, he worked for a variety of other business, financial and defense-related publications.

Velocci has received numerous journalism awards, including the distinguished McGraw-Hill Corporate Achievement Award for Editorial Excellence. He received the Royal Aeronautical Society's Aerospace Journalist of the Year in London in 2003, and has been nominated for the award seven times. Velocci has done analysis and commentary on the aerospace and commercial air transport industries for CNN, BBC, PBS, CNBC and other major media outlets. A 1969 graduate of Syracuse University, Velocci is a member of the Board of Advisors for the University of Tennessee's Aerospace MBA program.

Lillian Tauxe Mashburn

Recently retired, Lillian Tauxe Mashburn was the director of the Office of Federal Relations for the Knoxville Campus at the University of Tennessee. She is currently consulting with the Howard Baker Center for Public Policy as a Senior Fellow for External Relations. With over 37 years of government liaison experience, Ms. Mashburn has been involved with federal, state, and local officials, agencies, corporations, and professional organizations. Her recent responsibilities involved facilitating programs and legislation involving research activities and interdisciplinary research centers. She also dealt with many of the regulatory issues facing higher education including student aid, information technology, and patent issues. She has worked to develop new relationships for the University with industry and government agencies, i.e. TVA, DOE, DOD EPA, NASA and various government laboratories. She served as the University of Tennessee’s Councilor for the Oak Ridge Associated Universities in 2005-2007.

Jack Cook

Mr. Cook has extensive management experience in strategic planning, acquisition and divestiture, economic development, contract and license negotiations, and marketing. He holds numerous patents on nuclear energy and weapons materials and commercial processing. Mr. Cook has in-depth, hands-on and management experience in research, manufacturing, testing and inspection of materials and composites. He also brings extensive knowledge of metals, ceramics, carbon materials, fiber and advanced metallic and ceramic composites.