Mike White is the Assistant Director, Hypersonics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Prior to coming to OSD, Mike White was Missile Defense Sector Head at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab where he was responsible for providing leadership for over 1,000 staff members and their sponsored work developing advanced concepts to enhance the nation’s air and missile defense capability for programs including Aegis, Standard Missile, Ship Self Defense System, Cooperative Engagement Capability, the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, and other Missile Defense Agency programs.

Mr. White also served as the Mission Area Executive for Air and Missile Defense, where he was responsible for the APL AMD program portfolio. From 2002 to 2005, he served as the Deputy Business Area Executive and Chief of Staff for the Precision Engagement Business Area in APL’s Power Projection Systems Department, overseeing both the program and technical staff solving critical challenges in the domain of precision strike, including detection and targeting, command and control, as well as kinetic and non-kinetic engagement systems.

Mr. White also served as the Program Area Manager for advanced vehicle technologies in the Research and Technology Development Center. He had responsibility for technical oversight and program management of a wide variety of programs focused on the development of advanced, high-speed flight vehicle technologies, including several programs with the Navy, Air Force, and NASA. He led the development of key Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency programs through flight demonstration of advanced hypersonic cruise missile concepts.

He has extensive leadership training at the National Leadership Institute, MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT Seminar XXI, and Harvard Kennedy School. Additionally, he is a member of the AIAA Missile Systems Technical Committee and the Surface Navy Association and serves on the Executive Committee for the Surface, Land Attack, and Air Defense Committee of the National Defense Industrial Association. Mr. White participated in the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board Defense of Forward Bases study as well as several independent review boards for DARPA hypersonic technology programs. He has authored more than 30 papers on hypersonic weapon system development and other defense system-related topics.

Mr. White earned both his bachelor of science and master of science degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.