Mr. Elmendorf graduated from Texas A&M with a BS Aerospace Engineering in 1970 and joined TRW working the Apollo and Skylab Programs at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. In 1972 he transferred to California with TRW in the Applied Technology Division. There he spent the next 16 years developing state-of-the-art technologies and programs such as the Viking Biology Instrument for the Mars Lander, the MIRACL high energy laser, new rocket propulsion technologies and some of the earliest missile intercept concepts. He was also a key player in the space satellite business with lead roles on the FltSatCom satellite and other classified systems. He also helped develop space instruments such as the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) that measured the ozone level in the atmosphere. In 1988, he left TRW to join Titan Spectron Development Lab as the Director of Systems Engineering. There he was a key member of NASA Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE) Program and also managed the Optical Air Data System (OADS) Program for the then classified A-12 program. Following cancellation of the A-12 program he joined W.J. Schafer Corporation in Washington, DC and later became Vice President and General Manager of Barnes Engineering in Shelton, CT.

Mr. Elmendorf returned to TRW in 1996 and led business development for the Spacecraft Products organization until retiring in 2000. Upon retirement from TRW he joined Orbital Sciences Corporation in Pomona, CA as Senior Director of Business Development providing technology solutions for measuring chemical and biological constituents in liquid, solid and gas media. The Orbital Sciences division was acquired by United Technologies Corporation, Hamilton Sundstrand in 2001. Following 9/11 he became the Director of Business Development for Homeland Security spending most of his time in Washington, DC.

In 2005 he joined Midwest Research Institute and opened a new office in the Metro-Washington DC area working with the US Army and Homeland Security in chemical, biological and explosives detection technologies for the global war on terrorism. Today he is back in the aerospace business as Director of Defense and Intel Programs for Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation in their Washington, DC office.

While at TRW, Mr. Elmendorf completed his course work for an MS Mechanical Engineering at California State University, Long Beach and other management and technical courses and seminars. He is an active and senior member in several professional organizations including AIAA, AUSA, NDIA, NBCIG, SPIE and others.

Prior to going to Texas A&M, he spent four years in the US Air Force at the School of Aerospace Medicine. At Texas A&M he helped build the Cyclotron, opened the Flight Mechanics Lab as part of the Aerospace Engineering Department and performed flight experiments as a student technician and pilot.