Fuqua School will hold commencement exercises for the Class of 2016 on Friday, May 27 at 6 p.m. on the front lawn of the upper school campus. Keeping with the tradition of inviting alumni to deliver the commencement address, this year’s guest speaker will be Dr. Fred Garrett, a graduate of the Class of 1979.

Fred Garrett is the director of Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) Engineering in the Launch Vehicles Division at Orbital ATK in Chandler, A.Z. In this position, he is responsible for the technical supervision of the GNC designs and simulation software of all 14 programs underway in the division).

These programs include the Antares Space Launch Vehicle, the Supersonic Sea Skimming Target (SSST), the Ground Based Midcourse Defense Booster (GMD/OBV), the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Target (IRBM), the Medium Range Ballistic Missile Target 3 (MRBM T3), the Patriot Target Vehicle (PTV), the Solar Probe Plus Upper Stage (SPPUS), the Minotaur-I Satellite Launch Vehicle, the Minotaur-IV Satellite Launch Vehicle, the Minotaur-C Space Launch Vehicle, the Pegasus Space Launch Vehicle, the NASA Abort Test Booster and several other target and space launch vehicle platforms.

He is also currently the interim director of software engineering for the division as well. In his position, he is responsible for the technical supervision of the embedded flight software and ground support equipment software for the same programs above. In addition to his duties at Orbital ATK, Fred is a faculty associate (adjunct professor) at Arizona State University where he teaches classes in Aircraft Dynamics and Control, Control System Design, Orbital Mechanics, Linear Algebra, Guidance and Navigation.

Garrett started working at Orbital ATK (then Orbital Sciences Corporation) in 2002 and has held several other positions, including GNC lead design engineer for the Minotaur-II Target Launch Vehicle, the GNC lead design engineer for the Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE) Target Vehicle and manager of guidance and control design and analysis.

Garrett is a 1979 graduate of Prince Edward Academy (Fuqua School) where he attended from First through 12th grade. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1986) and completed his Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering at VPI&SU in 1988.

While working on his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he spent two summers working as an Aerospace Engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren.

While at Georgia Tech, Garrett was elected an officer in the Student Government Association. In 1991, he was awarded the Georgia Tech Presidential Citation for Outstanding Service to the Student Body. After completing his Ph.D. work at Georgia Tech in 1991, he became an assistant professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Arizona State University in Tempe, A.Z.

From 1995-99, Fred worked for AT&T Communications in Mesa, A.Z. He held several positions there, with the last being site development leader. From 1999-2002, Garrett was a manager in the network operations division of U.S. West (later Qwest Communications) in Phoenix, A.Z.

He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Fred is married to Anita Hurd Garrett and they reside in San Tan Valley, A.Z. They have four children, Nichole, Luke, Mark, and Matthew, who range in age from 30 to nine years old. Anita and Fred have been licensed foster parents for eight years and they currently have four foster children in their home.

Garrett’s hobbies include building and flying radio control airplanes, playing the guitar and attending Arizona Diamondback baseball games with his kids.

He served as an elder at Saving Grace Lutheran Church in Queen Creek, Arizona for seven years and is the former vice president and president of the congregation.