Born: United States of America
Primarily active in: United States of America

Marc Sheffler is Chairman, Board of Trustees, of the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center (AHMEC) in West Chester, PA. The museum’s purpose is to collect, preserve, research, publish and exhibit the objects, artifacts and documents relating to the origins and development of rotary-wing aircraft in the United States. One of the few all rotary wing museums in the world, it features a collection that ranges from early World War 2 helicopters to state of the art rotorcraft. Among its unique vehicles are a V-22 Osprey, a portion of the Aerovelo Atlas Human Powered Helicopter that won the Igor Sikorsky Prize, and a one-of-a-kind Boeing Model 360. AHMEC also has an extensive STEM education program serving students from kindergarten to college. Mr. Sheffler led the museum through an extensive transformation that significantly increased its footprint, improved interactivity and added a modern theater. He has represented the museum on television, radio and in print media.

One of Mr. Sheffler’s first assignments with Boeing following graduation from Virginia Tech in 1973 was as a staff engineer in the Wind Tunnel Technology group. Among his early accomplishments was establishing the design and supporting testing of an alternate tail rotor configuration for Boeing’s UTTAS entry in what would become the Blackhawk program.

After leaving the Wind Tunnel organization, he was a member of the BO-105 Bearingless Main Rotor (BMR) team. He helped establish the configuration, performed portions of the analysis and supported the successful whirl tower demonstration. When NASA decided to test the BO-105 BMR in the 40x80 wind tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center, Marc served as Program Manager. He led the preparation for the test and managed the on-site Boeing support team. For his work he received several Engineering Excellence awards and a letter of commendation from NASA.

From 1981-1984, Marc was the Principal Dynamists for the JVX program which was to become the V-22 Osprey. He teamed with his Bell Helicopter counterparts in performing aero elastic stability analyses and testing in the NASA Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT) at NASA Langley that drove some important configuration changes.

One of Marc’s longest assignments was from 1985-1996 as part of the LHX and RAH-66 Comanche Program team. In the pre-competitive days, he worked with the Government in establishing requirements and identifying available technology trends. Later, he supported the overall configuration trade studies being conducted by the Institute for Defense Analysis and the Rand Corporation. Once the Request for Proposal was issued and Boeing and Sikorsky had agreed to team, he was a key contributor to the proposal effort. He was a member of the “Committee of Six” that led major configuration trade studies to select the main rotor and tail rotor arrangements. Following contract award, he was named Air Vehicle Design and Technology Manager with responsibility for air vehicle design, technology integration and signature/survivability integration. He also was a senior member of the proposal teams during a number of the program restructures.

When Bruce Blake retired, Marc was named Director of Research and Technology, responsible for development of new technologies and processes in support of Rotorcraft program requirements at the Philadelphia site.

Following Boeing’s merger with McDonnell Douglas, Marc became Director of Flight Technology for the Boeing Philadelphia site. He was instrumental in the integration of the two diverse engineering groups into a combined workforce. His areas of responsibility included Aerodynamics, Dynamics, Propulsion and Military Technology (signatures, electromagnetics, ballistic tolerance, crashworthiness, mission effectiveness). He also Chaired the Philadelphia Rotorcraft Safety of Flight Review Board and the Philadelphia Site Review Board for the Technical Excellence Program.

In 1999, Marc was transferred to the Mesa, Arizona site to become Director of Apache Airframe and Dynamic Systems and functional Director of Design Engineering. In that role he led the Apache Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) for airframe, rotor, drive system, propulsion, controls, and systems, insuring technical integration across all Apache programs to maximize commonality of configuration and minimize risk. He worked with Program Analysis and Integration Teams (AITs) to resolve conflicts in resources, schedule and technical issues. As the Director of Design Engineering, he provided resources and processes to the IPTs, including Lean Engineering implementation.

Marc was Director of Apache Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) from 2001-2003. He was charged with maturing the Apache Integrated Product Teams in Mesa into cross functional, high-performance teams. This included developing and deploying Best Practices for the teams using metrics and lean tools, resolving critical, technical issues confronting the Apache Program while working closely with the Chief Engineer and serving in unofficial role as Deputy Apache Chief Engineer.

From 2003 to 2004, Marc was Director of Engineering for Boeing’s Mesa, Arizona site. He was responsible for all site Engineering Management including personnel development and hiring, resource allocation, establishment of processes and tools in support of the Boeing Mesa Apache programs, as well as Phantom Works contracts and support contracts to other Boeing sites. During that time, he transformed Engineering by separating senior functional management from IPT leads to establish a leadership team dedicated to process improvement. Mr. Sheffler established new metrics to track software development where none had existed. He was the Executive sponsor for CMMI deployment and Mesa was the lead Boeing site for transformation to a Common Processes set. Marc provided technical oversight as necessary to Mesa’s programs, including non-advocate reviews (NARs) and served as President of the Boeing Mesa Safety of Flight Review Board.

His most recent assignment was Chief Technology Integrator for Boeing Advanced Mobility, representing rotorcraft. His responsibilities included technology planning, development and acquisition. He chaired the Rotorcraft Technology Strategy team and was the Boeing representative to the National Rotorcraft Technology Center/Vertical Lift Consortium’s Technical Advisory Council. He led the creation of technology roadmaps in coordination with external customers, Program Managers in Philadelphia and Mesa, Business Development Senior Managers, and Phantom Works executives. His development of new business opportunities for Rotorcraft, working closely with senior technical leadership in Army, Navy, NASA, DARPA, other Government agencies resulted in winning 17 of 19 R&D contracts in a two-year period. Marc retired from The Boeing Company in 2011 after 38 years of service.

Marc is a 1973 graduate of Virginia Tech with a BS in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering and holds an MS from Widener University in Engineering Mechanics and Engineering Management. He served as the Boeing Executive Focal for Virginia Tech, is a current member of the College of Engineering’s Committee of 100 and is past Chair of the Dean’s Advisory Board. He was awarded the Virginia Tech 2009 Distinguished Service Award and in 2016 was named to the inaugural class of the Academy of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Excellence.

Marc is an Honorary Fellow of the American Helicopter Society International and Ex-Officio Technical Chairman. He has authored or co-authored numerous technical papers and has been published in the Journal of the American Helicopter Society.

He serves on the Board of Directors of JDRF (formerly Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) and has previously served as President of the Board.

Marc Sheffler was a member for over 20 years of the Board of Directors of the Delaware Aerospace Education Foundation and still serves in an advisory capacity.