Project AIR FORCE Management Bios

Vice President and Director

Andrew Hoehn is Vice President and Director of Project AIR FORCE at the RAND Corporation, where he is responsible for directing studies and analysis programs that focus on strategy, force employment, personnel and training, and resource management. Prior to this, he directed the Strategy and Doctrine program in Project AIR FORCE. Before joining RAND, Mr. Hoehn was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, where he was responsible for the development and implementation of U.S. defense strategy, force planning and assessments, and long-range policy planning. Before then, Mr. Hoehn was Principal Director for Strategy and Director for Requirements in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. As Director for Requirements, he was responsible for policy oversight of resource planning, materiel requirements, and military roles and missions. During this time, Mr. Hoehn led the development of the annual Defense Planning Guidance. Prior to joining government, Mr. Hoehn was associate editor of the Marine Corps Gazette. Mr. Hoehn earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Baldwin-Wallace College and a master's degree in public and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Associate Director

Cynthia R. Cook is the Associate Director of Project AIR FORCE. In this capacity, her primary responsibility is overseeing the PAF quality assurance process. She remains an active participant in and leader of PAF research. Since joining RAND in 1997, Cynthia has led and worked on a wide range of studies for the United States Air Force (USAF), the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the United States Navy (USN), and the United Kingdom (UK) Ministry of Defence on subjects including defense acquisition, cost analysis, defense industrial base, aircraft production alternatives, and contracting practices. For the USAF, she has investigated potential cost savings from lean manufacturing in military aircraft production, the effect of price-based acquisition on a variety of weapon systems, best practices in purchasing and supply management, and alternative approaches for depot sustainment surge. Studies for OSD and the UK Ministry of Defence include research on final assembly alternatives for the Joint Strike Fighter. Prior to joining RAND, Cynthia was a research specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working on the Lean Aerospace Initiative. Before her graduate studies, Cynthia worked in New York as an investment banker, specializing in high-yield finance. Cynthia holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University, and a B.S. in management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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Director of Operations/Air Staff Liaison

Rich Moore joined the RAND Corporation as a Senior Engineer in 1999, where for four years his research focused primarily on the U.S. Air Force's development and employment of advanced technologies and weapon systems. Prior to joining RAND, Lieutenant Colonel Moore was a member of the staff of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, where he served as the Program Element Monitor for the Air Force Research Laboratory's portfolio of human systems technology development programs. He began his Air Force career in 1977 by directing flight test programs for air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Then, as the Director of Research and Associate Professor in the Air Force Academy's Department of Aeronautics, he guided experimental and analytical research programs, and led the aircraft propulsion curriculum cadre. As the Chief of the Advanced Propulsion Division, Lieutenant Colonel Moore led Wright Laboratory's high-Mach jet engine technology development activities. In response to the Secretary of the Air Force's request for a new technology program in hypersonics, he established and led the Air Force's Hypersonic Technology Program, or HyTech, with the goal of developing the technologies that are enabling for sustained hypersonic flight. Rich earned a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Academy; an M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology; and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. He is also a graduate of the Defense Systems Management College's Advanced Program Management Course.

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Director of Staff Development and Intra-RAND Research Coordination

Michael Kennedy is a senior economist who has been with RAND since 1977. He has served as the Project AIR FORCE Program Director for Resource Management and System Acquisition and as Associate Program Director for Aerospace Force Development. In his current position, he addresses issues of recruitment and professional development of the PAF research staff. His recent research has included analyses of new U.S. Air Force gunship, aerial refueling, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaisance systems; and of space-related issues, including GPS and operationally responsive space launch systems. Dr. Kennedy holds a Ph.D. (1974) in economics from Harvard University.

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David Ochmanek: Program Director

David joined RAND in 1985 and served as director of PAF´s Strategy and Doctrine Program from 1989 until 1992. From 1993 until 1995, David served in the U.S. Department of Defense as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy. Since 1995 his research at RAND has focused on force planning, air operations, strategy for countering terrorist groups abroad, and the consequences of nuclear weapons in the hands of regional adversary states. David spent five years as an intelligence officer in the United States Air Force and another five years as a foreign service officer in the U.S. Department of State. He received his B.S. in political science and international relations from the U.S. Air Force Academy and his M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Jennifer Moroney: Associate Director

Jennifer is a Senior Political Scientist and has been with RAND since 2003. Her work has focused on U.S. government security cooperation, building partner capacity, global defense posture (i.e., basing and access) in Europe/Eurasia, and training U.S. military forces to work better with inter-agency and coalition partners. Jennifer has authored a variety of publications inside and outside of RAND, and she has been a contributing author to many PAF, Arroyo, and NDRI publications. Prior to joining RAND, Jennifer worked for DFI International, as Washington DC-based consulting firm. Jennifer also has held positions with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and as a NATO fellow. Jennifer received her Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Kent, England.

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Donald Stevens: Program Director

Don has been with RAND for 19 years and has led numerous large studies. Prior to RAND, Don worked for ten years at Northrop Corporation, where he was a senior engineer and worked on advanced programs, such as the Advanced Tactical Fighter (later the F–22), the B–2 bomber, and the F–20 fighter. Some of his recent work at RAND includes developing options for improving the Air Force´s modernization plans, near–term options for countering the threat of terrorism and improving security at Los Angeles International Airport, the role of the Air Force in fighting terrorism, and the avionics requirements of the F–22 fighter. He has coauthored numerous books and articles, including The Next–Generation Attack Fighter: Affordability and Mission Needs (1997) and “Modernizing the Combat Forces: Near–Term Options,” in Z. Khalilzad and J. Shapiro, eds., Strategic Appraisal: United States Air and Space Power in the 21st Century (2002).

James Chow: Associate Director

James Chow received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. Dr. Chow has studied a variety of issues in the defense field ranging from aircraft– and weapons–related force mix issues to detailed modeling and simulation of aircraft and air defense interactions. His research has included an examination of the threat to commercial aviation from shoulder–fired missiles and a study of system trades improving aircraft survivability and looking at new roles for unmanned air vehicles.

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Al Robbert: Program Director

Al Robbert joined RAND in 1994. During his tenure here, he has conducted research on compensation, workforce planning, outsourcing, training infrastructure, leader development, and other aspects of human resource management. He has also helped create a body of work on senior leader competency requirements that has stimulated changes in the way the Air Force develops and manages this critical resource. In 1999, he became the associate director of the Manpower, Personnel, and Training Program; and he was named program director in 2004.

Bart Bennett: Associate Director

Bart Bennett joined RAND in 1984. He received his B.S. in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles and his Ph.D and M.S.E. in mathematical sciences at the Johns Hopkins University. He has conducted research on a range of topics concerning senior officer management, personnel training, new technologies, and the employment of airpower. Much of his work involves modeling and simulation of military manpower and forces, including the effects of enlisted initial skills training, advanced weapon system employment, aircraft survivability, intelligence and information operations. He is particularly interested in advances in modeling and simulation methodologies, exploratory analysis, and quantifying force effectiveness. He recently concluded his fifth and final year as the Management Sciences Group Manager. Bart is also a Professor of Operations Research at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

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Laura Baldwin: Program Director

Laura Baldwin joined RAND in 1994 after completing a Ph.D. in Economics from Duke University. Her research has addressed a variety of Air Force logistics and acquisition challenges associated with System Program Office (SPO) staffing, the structure of transfer prices for reparable aircraft components, growth in aircraft heavy maintenance costs as aircraft age, public/private competitions for provision of services, implementation of best commercial purchasing and supply management practices, and provision of combat support activities in a joint contingency environment. She helped evaluate the option of using commercial sources for CONUS aerial refueling as part of the recent analysis of alternatives for recapitalizing the U.S. Air Force KC-135 aerial refueling tanker fleet.

In addition to her program management and research responsibilities, Laura is a co-organizer of RAND's Defense Economics sessions at the annual Western Economic Association International professional meetings.

Obaid Younossi: Associate Director

Since joining RAND in 1998, Obaid Younossi’s research has focused on weapon system acquisition alternatives, cost analysis, defense industrial base issues, and security cooperation-related projects. He has advised the Investment Panel of the Defense Science Board Summer Study on reducing the vulnerability to weapons of mass destruction. Recently, he was a member of a National Academy’s committee for replacing the engines on the U.S. Air Force’s large fixed wing aircraft. He also participated in a study that developed a framework for establishing an Afghan air force, issues related to security cooperation with Afghanistan, and another that analyzed the regional implications of the fall of the Taliban. Obaid holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Pittsburgh, a M.A. from George Mason University, a M.P.P. and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from The George Washington University.

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