As Director of the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, he has responsibility for planning and directing safety, reliability, and quality assurance operations for all Marshall programs and projects. He started his NASA career in 1994 as a senior technical advisor in the Safety and Mission Assurance Shuttle Integration Office. A native of Virginia Beach, he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1980 from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He served on active duty with the U.S. Navy from 1980 to 1991, including tours on three U.S. Navy destroyers, one of which included a tour as combat systems officer on the USS Caron during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. He also spent two years at the Pentagon in Washington, where he served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Malone received numerous awards for meritorious achievement and distinguished performance throughout his military career. Before joining NASA, from 1991 to 1994, he was a senior quality engineer with PRC, Inc., of Huntsville, an engineering and scientific support contractor providing safety, reliability, and quality engineering services for the Safety and Mission Assurance Program at the Marshall Center. During his NASA career he has received numerous honors and awards, including a Space Flight Awareness Leadership Recognition Award in 2001. He received a NASA Certificate of Appreciation in 1999 for his role in Marshall's ISO 9000 registration and a Space Flight Awareness Launch Honoree Award in 1993. He also has received numerous Marshall Center Group Achievement Awards, Special Service Awards, and Sustained Superior Performance Awards.