Charles Giacomarro
Associate Director – Arizona Near Space Studies Institute, AETOS
Charles Giacomarro is an experienced, rising professional in the U.S. defensive contractor and industrial corporation trade. With almost 15 years of experience in Systems Engineering, Project Management, and Mechanical Engineering, he has driven excellence and innovation from acquisitions all the way to the hands of the warfighter. Mr. Giacomarro represents the mission of MDAA in Tucson, AZ, as he is named the Associate Director for ANSSI and AETOS.
On October 19, 2023, the MDAA partnered with the University of Arizona to create the Arizona Near Space Studies Institute. ANSSI looks to achieve advancements in areas such as strategic/low-cost dirigible platforms for rapid deployment and integration with overhead persistent passive sensors, cutting-edge aerostat, and power design for longer dwell time, quantum communication, and Directed Energy applications.
As part of this Institute, the Arizona AETOS Executive Program ’25 – Developing Technical leaders in the Near Space Domain. AETOS is led by Arizona’s renowned faculty in Engineering, along with guest speakers from current and former senior defense officials, military leaders, and experts in defense policy, strategy, operations, and innovation. The program’s hybrid design leverages innovative technology and in-person sessions that fully prepare students to lead in the field. The capstone exercise, which will be presented during the final session, will consist of group projects in which participants tackle some of the toughest problems facing government and military leaders in space and defense.
Graduating from Georgia Southern University with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, Mr. Giacomarro continued his football career in Semi-Pro, winning back-to-back national championships in the North American Football league with the Nashville Storm. Soon after, he was recruited by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Special Agent. In 2017, Mr. Giacomarro decided to leave Phase 3 candidacy, and has since then been involved with missile defense.
