Return to SMC-INCOSE Home Page

Seattle Metropolitan Chapter - INCOSE

2009 Board of Directors

NOTICE:  If your bio is missing below, please forward one via the link at bottom of page.

John Wirth President John.M.Wirth@Boeing.com
Maurice Okagua Past President okagua@yahoo.com
Casey Rushton President Elect keith.rushton@us.labinal.com
Ray Willaford Secretary ray.willaford@boeing.com
Paul Kostek Director p.kostek@ieee.org
Tracy Farwell Director farwellt@msn.com
Sten Dahlberg Director sten.o.dahlberg@boeing.com
Halil Kizilca Director exacal@yahoo.com
Derek Van Alen Treasurer derek.j.vanalen@boeing.com

Back to>  SMC Home Page


John Wirth, President - John Wirth is a Senior Systems Engineer with The Boeing Company. John is currently working within the 737 AEW&C Program for the Turkish Peace Eagle contract within the Systems Engineering and Integration Team.

During his 24 years with Boeing, his experiences have included a wealth of government programs, concept development contracts, and technology development initiatives.

John Wirth earned his Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Washington on a full fellowship awarded by the Boeing Company. His Bachelor's degree was in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University.

John was Technical Committee co-chair for the INCOSE National Symposium held in Seattle, and chaired the INCOSE Communications Committee for several years. He has also taught several Boeing-sponsored systems engineering courses and continues to press for more efficient and disciplined systems engineering practices.


Maurice Okagua, Past President - Maurice Okagua is a systems Engineer with the Boeing Integrated Defense Systems MMA program. Prior to his current position, he was a System of Systems Engineer on the Future Combat Systems Program. Previous Boeing Engineering positions include, 767/747 Electrical Avionics and 737 Airplane Level Integration Team.

Prior to joining Boeing in 1997, Maurice worked at Dell Computer Corporation in Austin, TX. He is currently a PhD candidate in Computer Science and Information Systems.


Casey Rushton, President Elect - 


Ray Willaford, Secretary - Ray Willaford is a systems Engineer with the Boeing Integrated Defense Systems MMA program. Prior to his current position, he was a Systems Engineer on the Air Traffic Management Program. Previous Boeing Engineering positions include 747 Functional Test, 777 Airplane System Integration, Airborne Surveillance Testbed and Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM) Team.

Prior to joining Boeing in 1989, Ray worked at Navy Undersea Warfare Engineering Station in Keyport, WA.

He is currently an officer with the Washington Air National Guard


Paul Kostek, Director - Paul J. Kostek is a Principal Systems Engineer with Physio Control. Paul received his BSEE from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, in 1979. 

Paul is the VP Communications and Public Awareness for IEEE-USA. He also served as VP Career Activities in 2007 and has Chaired the IEEE-USA Communications Committee and the Career and Workforce Policy Committee. Paul was the 2003 Chairman of the American Association of Engineering Societies. In 1999 Paul was the President of IEEE-USA, and a member of the IEEE Board of Directors. He has also served as President of the IEEE Aerospace & Electronics Systems Society and was a director of the Washington Aerospace Alliance (PNAA.net). He was the 2002 President of the Seattle Metro Chapter of INCOSE and 2006 Chair of the Pacific Northwest Section of AIAA. Paul Chaired the 2004 IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference and the 2006 IEEE/AIAA Digital Avionics Systems Conference.

Paul is a Senior Member of the IEEE, an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a member of the International Council on Systems Engineering, SAE, and the Project Management Institute. 


Tracy Farwell, Director - Tracy J. Farwell is a past President of the Seattle Metro Chapter, with over thirty years’ experience in the systems engineering of aircraft (737, 777), defense and space electronics/systems products including US and UK assignments. Currently he is a principal systems engineer with a network centric design and development program.

Mr. Farwell has participated in the SE Principles Working group and is a published INCOSE author.


Sten Dahlberg, Director


Halil Kizilca, Director - Halil Kizilca is a System Engineer with the Boeing AEWC 737 Peace Eagle Program. He is currently working on System Level Verification and Validation activities. Before his current position he supported Software Process Improvement activities as a Software Quality and Risk Management Engineers in HAVELSAN Company

Halil is currently enrolled in the Software Management Master Degree at the Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University.


Derek Van Alen, Treasurer - Derek Van Alen is presently working for the Boeing Company.  He is an Associate Technical Fellow responsible for the system design of the Future Combat System.  He has been with the Boeing Company for over twenty-six years.  Derek started his career at Boeing as a circuit design engineer and has gradually expanded his skill base to encompass the skills necessary to perform systems engineering.


 Return to SMC-INCOSE Home Page

LAST REVISED: