Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt is the Program Executive Officer and Director for the F-35 Lightning II Program. In this capacity, he leads the F-35 Joint Program Office in the life-cycle program management of the F-35A, F-35B, and F-35C, the fifth-generation strike fighter of choice for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, seven international partners, and seven current Foreign Military Sales customers.

Lt. Gen. Schmidt entered the Air Force in 1991 after graduating from Iowa State University as an Industrial Engineer and ROTC distinguished graduate. He served in numerous engineering, program management, and leadership positions. He worked as a Lockheed Martin program manager via the Education with Industry program. He served as Aide-de-Camp to the Commander of Air Force Materiel Command, both an Air Force Legislative and Appropriations Liaison, the F-35 Program Element Monitor, an advisor to the Afghan National Army, and commanded the 696th Armament Systems Squadron. Lt. Gen. Schmidt then served as Deputy for Tactical Aircraft Systems in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and as Senior Materiel Leader for Contractor Logistics Support Division at Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center. He also served as Program Executive Officer for Fixed Wing Programs at U.S. Special Operations Command; Program Executive Officer for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Special Operations Forces at Air Force Materiel Command; Program Executive Officer for Fighters and Bombers; and, most recently, as Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, and Networks. He is a graduate of the Air Force Legislative Fellows Program and the National War College.

Donald W. Thompson, Jr., is the Director, F-35 Directorate, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.  He is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping the F-35 Joint Program Office’s Air Force workforce to enable the development, delivery, and sustainment of all airborne, surface, and ground-based assets, and advanced capabilities for the U.S and international partners.

Prior to his current assignment, Donald Thompson was the Deputy, Air Force Program Executive Officer for Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He was responsible for the development, production, fielding, sustainment, and modernization of the Air Force fighter portfolio, which includes the A-10, A-29, F-15, F-16, F-22, and special programs; as well as the development of the Next Generation Air Dominance program and other advanced aircraft capability development activities, to include the Skyborg Vanguard program.

He has also served as the Deputy, Air Force Program Executive Officer for Tankers and Deputy Director for the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate to which he assisted the Director in managing foreign military sales programs with totals exceeding $138.3 billion supporting more than 102 foreign countries. As AFMC’s center of excellence for international affairs, his responsibilities also included managing the command’s international cooperative programs and its foreign disclosure policy. Mr. Thompson also served as Chair for the Miami Valley Combined Federal Campaign. In this capacity he exercised executive management of a regional charity drive that encompassed 75 federal organizations in eleven counties in Southwest Ohio that realized total contributions of over $2.1 million in 2013.