Huizenga Business School Featured Paul S. Hill as Distinguished Lecturer

J. Preston Jones; Paul S. Hill; Mary Harris

J. Preston Jones, D.B.A., dean NSU’s Huizenga Business School; Paul S. Hill, director of NASA Mission Operations and Distinguished Lecturer; Mary Harris, senior vice president BankUnited.

Paul Sean Hill, the Director of Mission Operations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, spoke as a Distinguished Lecturer at the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship. Approximately 140 guests attended the lecture which was held in the Huizenga Sales Institute’s Executive Conference Center.

Hill is responsible for all aspects of the manned spaceflight mission planning, flight techniques, flight controller and crew training, simulators and mission control. He covered many leadership characteristics for space missions but also spoke on how these traits translate into the business environment. His lecture began with a look into the control room and spaceflight mission facts explained through video clips. He noted there were three critical characteristics to mission control: technical truth, integrity and trust. He indicated that the one question that keeps him up at night is “What have I missed?” Hill discussed the many scenarios where communication of information and details impacted outcomes. His many examples of NASA situations illustrated leadership skills that can be applied in the boardroom.

He spent time in the Air Force following his university training in Aerospace Engineering and joined the Johnson Space Center in 1990 as a Space Shuttle and Space Station operations engineer. His responsibilities expanded and in 1996, he was appointed the Space Shuttle and International Space Station Flight Director. He has managed a $650 million, 3000 person enterprise, while leading increasing capabilities in the midst of fixed costs cuts. Included in his advice to accomplish any mission, “Don’t let emotion, politics and the like to cloud your judgment.”

Mary Harris, senior vice president, Marketing and Public Relations, BankUnited was present along with colleagues Sandra Mayor and Greg Milford. Harris and J. Preston Jones, D.B.A, dean of the Huizenga Business School, presented a certificate of appreciation to Hill.