National Advisory Council

The National Advisory Council (NAC) is an advisory group to the FLC Executive Board (EB), established by the FLC Bylaws and operated in consonance with the FLC NAC policy & charter (approved by the EB). The NAC provides the Executive Board (EB) with user community views and suggestions related to the operations of the Consortium, as well as independent advice on any other topics mutually agreed to by the EB and the NAC (source: FLC Bylaws) Bylaws provisions for NAC:

  • Between six and twelve members representing entities from across the federal tech transfer ecosphere (with emphasis on industry)
  • NAC chair and members are approved by the EB
  • 3-year terms, renewable indefinitely
Dick Paul
Chair

Dick Paul

Federal lab (AFRL), industry (BA)

Richard R. (Dick) Paul is an independent consultant with more than 40 years of R&D-related management experience. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2000 with the rank of Major General after serving 33 years, and from The Boeing Company in 2007 as a vice president after serving seven years.

During his Air Force career, Dick served in three Air Force laboratories, a product center, two major command headquarters, Headquarters USAF in the Pentagon, and a joint staff assignment. His latter three AF assignments were aligned with the Air Force science and technology enterprise, and in his final assignment, he served as the first commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory. At Boeing, he served as a vice president in Boeing’s centralized research and technology organization that develops advanced technologies for Boeing’s family of commercial aircraft and defense-related aerospace products and systems.

Dick is currently the chair of the FLC’s National Advisory Council. Formerly, he served on the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR/STTR) Advisory Committee, as chair of the Innovation Research Interchange (IRI) Board of Directors, and as a member of the Missions Committee of the Sandia National Laboratories Board of Directors, the National Research Council Air Force Studies Board, and the Air University Board of Visitors. On the civic front, Dick is a current director and vice chair of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s Board of Directors.

Michelle Atchison
Member

Michelle Atchison

Industry (LM), U of TX System, Federal Gov’t

Dr. Michelle Atchison is the Director of Federal Relations and Senior National Security Strategist leads for the University of Texas at San Antonio.  From 2019-2021, Dr. Atchison was IPA within the National Counterintelligence and Security Center under the Office of the Direction of National Intelligence serving as the Federal Partners Group Chief.   Prior to joining UTSA, Dr. Atchison was Associate Vice Chancellor for Federal Relations for National Security with the University of Texas System. 

In her corporate roles, Michelle led Strategic Partnership Development for Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories and Washington Operations focused on accelerating technology transition efforts.  Her technical roles included leading the Corporate Technical Investment Program (LMTIP); designing the Corporate Engineering and Technology Research Portal to support integration and coordination of Internal R&D efforts across major corporate business areas; and serving as the first Chief Scientist for the Lockheed Martin Center for Innovation, the Corporation’s premier Experimentation and Modeling-Simulation. 

In her military roles, Michelle served for 27 years to include key military command and senior staff positions including: Chief, Science and Technology (S&T) Division, USJFCOM Experimentation; Chief Scientist for Air Force Experimentation Office and Science Advisor for the Air Force Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center.  Michelle established and managed multi-Service teams to support strategic and industrial plans to identify technology work among Services, DOD, Government agencies and commercial efforts.   

Michelle holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from UCLA; a master’s degree from Catholic University in International Affairs with a focus in senior Wargaming; and a doctorate in Higher Education with a focus on strategic development and organizational design from George Washington University.  She is a graduate of the Army Intermediate College and Air Force War College.  She serves as a member of the National Advisor Committee for the Federal Laboratory Consortium and on the National Defense Industry Association Science, Technology and Engineering Committee. 

Joe Fox
Member

Joe Fox

Industry, past IRI Chair

Joe Fox is president of FX Consulting, LLC, a consulting firm for the specialty chemicals and materials industries. Joe is a 40-year veteran of the chemicals industry, having worked at Standard Oil of Ohio, BP America, Ashland Chemical and INEOS Composites. At Ashland and INEOS, he served as the Director of Emerging and External Technologies and coordinated their collaborations with other companies, universities, and federal laboratories. Joe has been very active in IRI, the Innovation Research Interchange, throughout his career and served as Chairman of its Board in 2019-2020. Joe also serves as director of the Miracle League of Central Ohio, a baseball league for special needs children throughout the Columbus area. Joe and his wife Susan live in Dublin, Ohio. They have 4 grown children and 9 grandchildren.

Carroll Thomas
Member

Carroll Thomas

SBA, MEP, Consultant

Ms. Carroll Thomas is a recognized expert in partnership development and organizational change management with more than 35 years public and private sector experience. A former small business owner, she is the former National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Director of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and acting Associate Director of Innovation and Industry Services, as well as the former Associate Director for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program at the Small Business Administration (SBA).

Ms. Thomas is currently serving in a senior advisor capacity for the NIST MEP program and is the president of Charles in Charge LLC business consultancy.  She serves on the National Advisory Council of the Federal Laboratory Consortium- representing over 300 federal laboratories engaging in technology transfer. Ms. Thomas also serves on the boards of the Information Technology Innovation Foundation- the top innovation think tank world-wide; MxD- the only digital Manufacturing USA institute focused on manufacturing digitization; Scale for Climate Tech- advisory board to support climate technology entrepreneurs in second stage investment product development; and the State Department Federal Credit Union a $2.8 billion global credit union with over 90,000 members. Ms. Thomas participates in the International Economic Development Council’s Committee on Racism and Economic Development, and is a graduate and member of Leadership Greater Washington.  Ms. Thomas earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University in Design and a Master of Business Administration from John Hopkins Carey School of Business in International Business. She lives in Hyattsville, Maryland with her husband Charles Yancey, her mom and their mercurial cat, Midnight.