James Alan Abrahamson
James Alan Abrahamson is a retired U.S. Air Force general who served as a designated astronaut, Associate Director of NASA and former director of President Ronald Reagans Strategic Defense Initiative from 1984 until 1989. He is a successful businessman who served as chairman of the board of GeoEye, a company he helped to transform into the worlds largest space imaging corporation and that merged with DigitalGlobe Inc in January 2013. Previously, he served as chairman of Oracle Corporations board of directors from 1992 until 1995.
Abrahamson was born in Williston, North Dakota on May 19, 1933. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955 and a Master of Science degree in the same field from the University of Oklahoma in 1961. He completed Squadron Officer School in 1958, Air Command and Staff College in 1966, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1973.
Source: Wikipedia