Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Aberdeen
Engineering Physics ,
Chemistry,
After graduating from South Dakota State University in 1973 with degrees in Engineering Physics and Chemistry. Gordon Niva attended graduate school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Gordon received a Masters in Physics in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics in 1979. In 1979, Gordon was hired by Rockwell International of Anaheim, California, and worked in systems engineering and management of advanced missile systems until 1996. In 1996, Boeing acquired Niva’s business unit. From 1996 to 2002, he was assigned as the cruise missile defense (CMD) technical director and business development manager. In 2002, Niva was assigned to the Missile Defense National Team (MDNT) in the Washington, D.C. area where he served as the lead for defensive system architectural definition, the functional working group lead for Threat Systems Engineering and Lethality, the lead for definition of an advanced Battle Management discrimination architecture and finally as the deputy for modeling and simulation for Command and Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC). In addition to his technical and leadership contributions to the MDNT, Niva was also designated the Boeing program manager and the Boeing Director of C2BMC. Gordon retired from Boeing in 2011 and continued to contribute technically to missile defense as an independent consultant. Gordon spent 30 years in the U.S. Army National Guard and progressed to the rank of Colonel. Gordon’s wife, Susan Lahr, is a 1975 graduate of the SDSU College of Pharmacy.