Charles J. Pellerin, Jr., PhD

Dr. Charles Pellerin, known as “Charlie,” has a lifetime of productive creativity.  During his 20’s, he invented a magnetic sensor for space flight, which was subsequently commercialized for airport security applications. He was awarded the Goddard Space Flight Center’s highest patent-related monetary award. He then published papers on the composition of the solar surface and large-scale galactic magnetic field structure in referred journals.

During his late 30’s, he began what was to become nearly a decade of leadership of NASA’s Astrophysics Division. With $750M / year in contracts and $2B more in support funding, the division built and launched 12 scientific satellites, including the Hubble Space telescope. He is best known for creating the “Great Observatories” program strategy that brought $5B+ to space astronomy. The discovery of the flawed Hubble mirror in 1990 was one of his greatest challenges. Charlie assembled the team that performed the telescope’s successful space repair.

During his late 40’s, the naming of “leadership failure” as the root cause of the Hubble mirror flaw led him to the Business School at the University of Colorado. As a professor of leadership, he developed and taught “A+” rated “21st Century Leadership” leadership to undergraduates, MBA’s and executives.

During his 50’s he merged his physics training with executive management experience to create a set of processes called “4-D Systems.” These provide anyone with “burning desire” and the capability to “Actively Manage their Team’s Performance.” Today, his company “4-D Systems” has sales of ~$4M / year and is working with 80+ project teams, mostly in aerospace.

Charlie’s awards include NASA’s highest award, the “Distinguished Service Medal,” two “Outstanding Leadership Medals” (the second for  mounting the Hubble servicing mission), and the Catholic University of America “Alumni Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science.” His has a BS in Physics from Drexel University, an MS and PhD in Physics from the Catholic University of America, and the “PMD” from the Harvard Business School.

He resides in Boulder, Colorado where he enjoys living a purposeful life with his wife, traveling, eating good food, skiing, and improving 4-D Systems.