About Jim Aksel    I am a native of Syracuse, NY and have been working in the aerospace sector since 1976.  My first assignments were at General Electric Military Electronics in Utica, NY.  From there I moved on to Boeing in Seattle, WA for several years where I worked in new product development and did a lot of computer work. From there, we went down to Los Angeles, CA to work on the B-2 Bomber program. I held several positions of increasing responsibility all related to the electronics of the B-2 and keeping it well supported. This is where I learned most of my Project Management skills including Earned Value and Microsoft Project.  I got to rub elbows with some of the big names in the EVMS world as well. Always looking to improve myself, I was contacted by Toshiba America who wanted me to set up their Program Management Office in one of their divisions.  Yes, I am one of those guys who invents the telephone applications for electronic banking, airline reservations, etc. That was a fun job and I still maintain some of those friendships today. Toshiba taught me the value that should be expected for a dollar of effort and what people are really willing to pay for in a project.   From there, I moved to Rockwell Collins (also in Southern, CA) where I lead the engineering effort for several commercial ventures for in-flight entertainment including Aeroflot, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways among others. International business gives a whole new aspect to project management. Since that time, I have been working with the people at Celeris Systems, supporting our troops in Iraq with software for all their communication gear. Our clients include Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and some others. Along the way I picked up a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering/Aerospace from Clarkson University, a Master of Arts in Management from University of Redlands, another Master of Science in Computer Science from Azusa Pacific University. It is important to keep current with these skills so I completed a professional certificate program in Program Management through Villanova, and sat for the Project Management Professional exam. I am a current PMP in good standing. I live in Southern California with my wife; we have two grown sons who live in the area. We  have two grandchildren.