The National Center for Defense Manufacturing & Machining
John S. VanKirk

President and Executive Director
National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining

In July 2006 Mr. John S. VanKirk was appointed President and Executive Director of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). The NCDMM is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 company whose mission is to proactively engage with all branches of the U.S. military and its supply base to control cost and improve productivity of manufactured parts and assemblies.

Prior to joining the NCDMM, Mr. VanKirk held numerous positions within Kennametal Inc. The latest as Director, New Business Development, which involved identifying new business opportunities for Kennametal, involving mergers and acquisitions. Prior to this position, Mr. VanKirk served as the interim Chief Technology Officer, responsible for the global planning and coordination of new product and process development. Mr. VanKirk also served as the Director, Innovation Partnership where he was responsible for building mutually beneficial collaborative efforts involving academic, governmental and industrial partnerships.

Mr. VanKirk has been with Kennametal Inc. for over 24 years, starting his career as an engineer and moving into R&D management where he has held various positions with sequentially greater levels of engineering and management responsibility. This included responsibility for metalworking, mining, construction and wear, product development, as well as various powder metallurgy process development activities such as part consolidation.

Prior to joining Kennametal Inc., Mr. VanKirk spent over four years with Westinghouse Electric Company, performing safety analysis on commercial nuclear power plants. He received a BS degree in mechanical engineering and mathematics from Grove City College, and a MS degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.

Mr. VanKirk holds numerous patents for various material compositions, as well as tool holder designs. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for DSN Innovations in Pittsburgh, is Vice Chair of the National Defense Industrial Association's (NDIA) Manufacturing Division and also serves on the Board of Directors for the Economic Growth Connection and Westmoreland-Fayette County Workforce Investment Board. He has served on the Board of Directors for the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, the Manufacturing Engineering Advisory Board of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the Board of the Refractory Metals Association, and the Technology Issues Committee of the Association for Manufacturing Technology. Society memberships include the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).