Ricardo Lopez is Principal Acquisition Officer with NSPA’s Acquisition Planning and Development Office (APDO). Prior to this he was the Chief Engineer for the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) at the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). He has over 20 years of systems engineering experience on military and commercial systems in the public and private sectors, including Gulfstream IV, USAF C-17, C-9, KC-10, U2, Global Hawk; USMC Eagle Eye; US Navy Triton; and NATO Phoenix (AGS). Ricardo has been with NATO since 2010 serving different roles in support of the NATO AGS Programme. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, a Systems Engineering Professional Certificate from the University of California San Diego, a Masters in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona, a Masters in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and is a PhD candidate in Business Innovation at the Universidade de Aveiro in Portugal.

About the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA)

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) is NATO’s lead organisation for multinational acquisition, support and sustainment in all domains. NSPA is headquartered in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, with main operational centres in France, Hungary and Italy. The Agency employs over 1,500 staff and oversees over 500 contractors worldwide.