Dr. Peter A. Swan is President of the International Space Elevator Consortium. As such, he leads a team who further the concept with incremental studies and yearly conferences. Over the last ten years he has published eight books on the topic as co-author and/or co-editor. He graduated from the US Military Academy in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree and served 20 years in the Air Force with a variety of research and development positions in the space arena. He taught at the Air Force Academy and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. Upon retirement in 1988, he joined Motorola on the Iridium satellite program. He lead the team responsible for the development of the Iridium spacecraft bus. In 1998, he helped develop Teaching Science and Technology, Inc. that teaches space systems engineering. Pete received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles in Mechanical Engineering with a specialty in space systems.