April 29, 2021
AMA Announces John Abrams as Chief Executive Officer and Leadership Transitions
Hampton, VA: Analytical Mechanics Associates (AMA), a leading engineering services provider for NASA, is pleased to announce that Mr. John Abrams has been appointed as the company’s Chief Executive Officer, effective May 1, 2021. AMA is also pleased to announce the creation of Vice President of Operations allowing President Mr. Dave Bose to transition to Chief Engineer. Current CEO Dr. Ken Smith and President Mr. Dave Bose will continue to serve as an integral part of AMA’s senior leadership team.
For over a decade, John Abrams has been a significant force behind AMA’s growth and success, leading groundbreaking technology development while supporting business expansion. John joined AMA in 2011, during a period of substantial company growth, when he started the Denver Office.
John has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and an M.S. in Aeronautics & Astronautics from Stanford University. With a strong background in engineering, analytics, operations, business development, and project management, John became the Vice President, Advanced Projects in 2016. Under John’s leadership, the Advanced Projects group performed concept studies for multiple NASA centers, engineering services for commercial organizations, and supports AMA’s internal research and technology development. In January 2021, John was named AMA’s Chief Transformation Officer, leading AMA’s corporate transformation.
As CEO, John will continue to leverage his strength as a thought leader and change agent. John is passionate about advancing AMA’s mission, continuing to drive toward a more effective, diverse, and inclusive culture founded upon technical excellence.
For many years, Dr. Ken Smith & Mr. Dave Bose have partnered to create a culture of excellence and deliver value to the customer. Ken led the company as CEO for the past 3 years; Dave led the company’s operations as President for the past 5 years. Building upon the legacy of AMA’s modern-day founders and partners (Dr. Renji Kumar, Dr. Hans Seywald, Mr. Dave Bose, Dr. Sanjay Gowda), they developed the company’s business and infrastructure to serve customers better and increase employee job satisfaction.
During this period, AMA realized significant growth, more cost-effective operations, new contracts and many new opportunities for growth. AMA is grateful for their many significant contributions and pleased both will continue to support AMA.
Moving into a consultant role, Ken Smith will serve as the Principal Investigator for AMA’s Arc Jet work at NASA Ames and capture manager of growth opportunities at multiple NASA Centers while pursuing other business and personal interests.
Dave Bose will work to transition his operations responsibilities to a Vice President of Operations over the next few months. Dave will serve as AMA’s Chief Engineer, focusing on key technical and business development dimensions of the enterprise. As such, Dave will help maintain technical excellence within and across multiple disciplines and pursue technological advancement, which include the growth of AMA’s Analytics division.
Dave will continue to lead operations in the short-term and will work with John to seamlessly transition these functions.
Since 1962, AMA has worked with government and commercial organizations solving tough engineering, math, and business problems. AMA combines the best of engineering and mathematics capabilities with the latest in analytics, information technology, and visualization to build innovative solutions. AMA’s culture of technical excellence and our relentless commitment to our employees and customers will continue to be the blueprint for our future.