As the Coyote Block 3 Performance Lead, I supervised Derek Vo in his role as the Guidance, Navigation and Performance lead for Coyote block 3 at Raytheon Missiles and Defense. In the two years that we worked together, Derek distinguished himself as an excellent technical leader. He has a strong grasp of relevant conceptual areas such as control systems, guidance modes, aerodynamic effects etc. Derek also oversaw some areas in which he was not a subject matter expert. Derek would work with domain experts to ensure he understood all of the relevant concepts and could make informed decisions and explain them to program leadership. One area where Derek is especially talented is in performance analysis. He frequently supported flight testing, both on-site and remotely. His expertise in GNC combined with a strong system level understanding of the vehicle allowed Derek to be very effective in understanding flight data and quickly getting to the root cause of complex issues. Derek has demonstrated outstanding professionalism under difficult circumstances. Coyote is an extreme high-pressure environment. In the face of looming deadlines and vexing technical challenges, Derek stayed focused, identified key technical issues, and worked efficiently to resolve them. When tempers on the team ran high, Derek could be relied upon as a calm voice of reason. When things go awry, he focuses on understanding the issues and finding solutions rather than blaming. His ability to work effectively in the high pressure environment was a crucial enabler for team success. In Summary, Derek is one of the best engineers I have worked with. I recommend him as a leader and as a technical expert. Any team he works on will be lucky to have him. Regards, Jason Ard

Derek was my primary mentor as I joined the Raytheon team and became accustom to the pace of our programs work environment. During this time he quickly prioritized and distributed tasks as our GNC lead, while reliably delivering critical software and algorithm updates to support schedule as an individual contributor. I valued his direct communication and ability to identify areas for continued development within the team. His ability to clearly communicate time requirements to program management and secure hours for additional specialized team members was pivotal to our teams success.

As the Coyote Block 3 Performance Lead, I supervised Derek Vo in his role as the Guidance, Navigation and Performance lead for Coyote block 3 at Raytheon Missiles and Defense. In the two years that we worked together, Derek distinguished himself as an excellent technical leader. He has a strong grasp of relevant conceptual areas such as control systems, guidance modes, aerodynamic effects etc. Derek also oversaw some areas in which he was not a subject matter expert. Derek would work with domain experts to ensure he understood all of the relevant concepts and could make informed decisions and explain them to program leadership. One area where Derek is especially talented is in performance analysis. He frequently supported flight testing, both on-site and remotely. His expertise in GNC combined with a strong system level understanding of the vehicle allowed Derek to be very effective in understanding flight data and quickly getting to the root cause of complex issues. Derek has demonstrated outstanding professionalism under difficult circumstances. Coyote is an extreme high-pressure environment. In the face of looming deadlines and vexing technical challenges, Derek stayed focused, identified key technical issues, and worked efficiently to resolve them. When tempers on the team ran high, Derek could be relied upon as a calm voice of reason. When things go awry, he focuses on understanding the issues and finding solutions rather than blaming. His ability to work effectively in the high pressure environment was a crucial enabler for team success. In Summary, Derek is one of the best engineers I have worked with. I recommend him as a leader and as a technical expert. Any team he works on will be lucky to have him. Regards, Jason Ard

Derek was my primary mentor as I joined the Raytheon team and became accustom to the pace of our programs work environment. During this time he quickly prioritized and distributed tasks as our GNC lead, while reliably delivering critical software and algorithm updates to support schedule as an individual contributor. I valued his direct communication and ability to identify areas for continued development within the team. His ability to clearly communicate time requirements to program management and secure hours for additional specialized team members was pivotal to our teams success.

As the Coyote Block 3 Performance Lead, I supervised Derek Vo in his role as the Guidance, Navigation and Performance lead for Coyote block 3 at Raytheon Missiles and Defense. In the two years that we worked together, Derek distinguished himself as an excellent technical leader. He has a strong grasp of relevant conceptual areas such as control systems, guidance modes, aerodynamic effects etc. Derek also oversaw some areas in which he was not a subject matter expert. Derek would work with domain experts to ensure he understood all of the relevant concepts and could make informed decisions and explain them to program leadership. One area where Derek is especially talented is in performance analysis. He frequently supported flight testing, both on-site and remotely. His expertise in GNC combined with a strong system level understanding of the vehicle allowed Derek to be very effective in understanding flight data and quickly getting to the root cause of complex issues. Derek has demonstrated outstanding professionalism under difficult circumstances. Coyote is an extreme high-pressure environment. In the face of looming deadlines and vexing technical challenges, Derek stayed focused, identified key technical issues, and worked efficiently to resolve them. When tempers on the team ran high, Derek could be relied upon as a calm voice of reason. When things go awry, he focuses on understanding the issues and finding solutions rather than blaming. His ability to work effectively in the high pressure environment was a crucial enabler for team success. In Summary, Derek is one of the best engineers I have worked with. I recommend him as a leader and as a technical expert. Any team he works on will be lucky to have him. Regards, Jason Ard

Derek was my primary mentor as I joined the Raytheon team and became accustom to the pace of our programs work environment. During this time he quickly prioritized and distributed tasks as our GNC lead, while reliably delivering critical software and algorithm updates to support schedule as an individual contributor. I valued his direct communication and ability to identify areas for continued development within the team. His ability to clearly communicate time requirements to program management and secure hours for additional specialized team members was pivotal to our teams success.