Intuitive Research and Technology CEO and leadership

As Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of INTUITIVE, William J. Marx, Ph.D., oversees the development of strategies and business planning for technology and systems required to maintain company operations and competitiveness. Dr. Marx is responsible for developing the technical vision for the company, aligned with the company’s technology needs, business objectives, and customer missions. He is responsible for setting the overall goals of the company related to Research and Development. He is working to increase INTUITIVE’s technical portfolio and capabilities associated with artificial intelligence and machine learning, big data analytics, cloud engineering and platform development, digital engineering and digital twins, and data science and visualization. Dr. Marx is responsible for development of INTUITIVE’s growing IP and patent library.

Dr. Marx joined INTUITIVE in 2013, as the Deputy Director of Design and Engineering. Later, he was appointed as Director of Research and Development. In those roles, he was responsible for providing technical direction to existing programs and projects, and for execution of several R&D initiatives. Dr. Marx has also contributed to INTUITIVE’s success in the areas of process improvement, software and technology development, and new business capture and pursuit. Prior to joining INTUITIVE, Dr. Marx held various technical and management positions with Rockwell International, The Boeing Company, and Schafer Corporation. In these capacities, he has been responsible for programs for the US Army, US Air Force, US Navy, MDA, NASA MSFC, NASA HQ, DARPA, and ARPA-E. He was also an Adjunct Associate Professor at UA-Huntsville where he taught Engineering Economics. He has written software in FORTRAN, C, JOVIAL, Matlab/Simulink, Lisp, Visual Basic, and tk/tcl. He has experience with dozens of software packages associated with flight performance prediction, structural design and optimization, finite element modeling and analysis, trajectory analyses, 6-dof performance predictions, modeling and animation.

Dr. Marx has authored and presented numerous conference papers on topics including aircraft structural design and optimization, hierarchical cost estimating, Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD), Artificial Intelligence (AI), missile guidance and control, miniature propulsion systems, spacecraft architecture design and optimization, and communication networks. He has authored and published articles in the AIAA Journal of Aircraft, and in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis, and Manufacturing (AIEDAM). He has delivered invited presentations at the National Center for Advanced Technologies on the topic of Cost as an Independent Variable (CAIV), and as part of an AIAA Professional Studies Series associated with IPPD for Aerospace Systems. Dr. Marx has authored and co-authored conference papers for multiple symposia including the Space and Missile Defense Symposium; the AIAA Space Conference; the AIAA Space Exploration Conference; the Army Science Conference; the AIAA/MDA Technology Conference; the AIAA Atmospheric Flight Conference; the AIAA Missile Sciences Conference; the AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference; the AIAA Aircraft Engineering, Technology, and Operations Conference; the International Conference on Computational Engineering Science; the Symposium on Research for Supersonic and Hypersonic Vehicles; the International Congress on Aviation Science; the AIAA Aircraft Systems Conference; and the AIAA/NASA/USAF/ISSMO Symposium on Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization. Dr Marx has been a member of the AIAA Systems Engineering Technical Committee. He has received performance and recognition awards from The Boeing Company, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Dr. Marx received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering with a Minor in Mathematics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1992. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology, in 1993 and 1996, respectively. Dr. Marx was a NASA Langley Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP) Fellowship awardee.

Melissa Hays serves as Senior Vice President of Business Operations and Chief Financial Officer. Mrs. Hays is responsible for the integrity and accuracy of all data that is distributed to both internal and external customers. She focuses on the accounting, budgeting, forecasting, cashflow management, and financial performance of the company. As well, Mrs. Hays oversees the contracts process to include contract negotiation and execution. She is experienced with the rigorous FAR, DFAR and DCAA regulations required to have a successfully compliant organization.

Mrs. Hays joined INTUITIVE in 2009 as the Director of Finance and Accounting. In this role she grew her department by threefold before officially naming a Contracts Manager and Finance and Accounting Manager to aide overseeing the day to day functions. Mrs. Hays career is composed of over twenty-seven years of diversified experience in public and private accounting positions. She started her career at Ernst & Young, LLP, an international Certified Public Accounting firm focusing on audits of public companies. She is a Huntsville native and, in that regard, had a desire to move back to Huntsville and did so as the firm’s Huntsville presence focusing on Huntsville clients, including government contractors. Mrs. Hays then worked for Intergraph Corporation in the Corporate Financial Reporting group where she was responsible for SEC compliance and preparing the corporate financial statements and being the interface with external auditors. She also served as the Revenue Assurance Manager at ITC DeltaCom, Inc., a publicly held telecommunications company where she focused on internal controls and workflows to ensure all revenue was being captured and accounted for accurately. Prior to joining the INTUITIVE team, Mrs. Hays worked as a Manager at Beason & Nalley, Inc., a Certified Public Accounting firm specializing in government contractor audits. Her experience in government contracting and accounting has helped develop accounting processes and procedures that have resulted in INTUITIVE maintaining their approved accounting system, purchasing system, and DCAA audited and approved indirect rate structure.

Mrs. Hays received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and her Masters of Business Administration with emphasis in Accounting from Troy University. She is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner, and a Certified Professional Contracts Manager.