MELBOURNE, FLA. — Kirsten Dreggors has been elected to a second term as chair of Florida Tech’s Board of Trustees. Her new term will commence in February 2027.
Dreggors’ first term was marked by success, including record-breaking enrollment, the construction of the Crimson Crossing residential complex and approval of a pedestrian bridge across Babcock Street, the addition of four new board members and more.
“I look forward to the important work ahead that we will complete as a team,” she said of her new term in a note to the campus community.
That team includes four Trustees added in the Spring. The new members (pictured above from left) are:
- John Calcagno, president and chief executive officer of Piper Aircraft, Inc.
- Greg Donovan ‘91, executive director of Melbourne Orlando International Airport
- Terry Forde, president and CEO of Health First
- Mike Moses ’91 M.S., president of Spaceline at Virgin Galactic
The Board now includes 19 Trustees plus Trustees Emeriti.
“We are excited to welcome these new voices, including two alumni,” Dreggors said. “Our board reflects a wonderful variety of backgrounds and experiences, and John, Greg, Terry and Mike extend that depth with their unique perspectives and insights.”
Here is more about the new members.
Calcagno was appointed president and chief executive officer of Vero Beach-based Piper Aircraft, Inc. in 2021 after serving as Piper’s chief financial officer for the previous 11 years. Prior to his time at Piper, John held key leadership roles at The Acerra Consortium, Alltel Communications Products (Verizon), Coca-Cola and C.R. Bard, after beginning his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, with a minor in political science, from Southern Illinois University and is a Certified Public Accountant and active member of the AICPA. Additionally, Calcagno is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Air Force, having served as an aircrew member with extensive international experience.
A member of Piper’s Board of Directors, Calcagno is also secretary of the board of the Indian River Education Fund. He previously served as vice chairman of the Vero Beach Airport Commission.
Donovan started as executive director at Melbourne Orlando International Airport in August 2014. He served as the airport director at Pensacola International Airport prior to the Melbourne position – but he was no stranger to the Brevard County-based airport. It was at that facility where Donovan furthered his pilot’s license as an aviation management major at nearby Florida Tech before graduating with his bachelor’s degree in 1991. (He was honored with the College of Aviation’s outstanding alumni award in 2015.)
Beginning in airport operations at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, he quickly advanced his career as operations manager at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisconsin. Eleven years later he was selected to become director of Okaloosa County’s three airports, and then five years later he became airport director at Pensacola.
Since coming to Melbourne, Donovan has secured more than $280 million in grant funding to support the airport’s aggressive capital improvement program. A new air traffic control tower, three brand new runways and an updated U.S. Customs Federal
Inspection Station are just a few examples of Donovan turning continued vision into reality.
Forde joined Health First as president and chief executive officer in August 2024 after serving in the same capacity at Adventist Health Care in Maryland for the previous decade. He has served in a range of leadership roles over nearly 25 years in healthcare.
From 2007 to 2011, Forde was the CEO for Parker Adventist Hospital in Parker, Colo., and from 2003 to 2007, he was chief financial officer and chief operating officer for Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver. In 2011, he joined Adventist Health Care in Maryland as chief operating officer before being named president and CEO three years later.
Forde earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Union College in Lincoln, Neb., and a master’s in business administration from MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan. Among his industry accolades, he earned the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for leadership while with Adventist in Maryland.
Moses is an evangelist for the power, majesty and importance of private commercial spaceflight. The Florida Tech alumnus is president of Spaceline at Virgin Galactic, overseeing the company’s commercial spaceflight program. He came to Virgin Galactic in 2011 after a distinguished, 17-year tenure at NASA, where he held jobs at the heart of the storied space shuttle program.
Moses’s career began in 1995 at the Johnson Space Center, where he worked as a contracted flight controller in the Mission Operations Directorate. Three years later, he became to a full-time NASA employee. In 2005, Moses was selected as a flight director, overseeing mission planning and operations for space shuttle missions. He was the lead flight director for the STS-123 ISS assembly mission in February 2008 before moving to Kennedy Space Center at year’s end to become launch integration manager, where he oversaw the final 12 space shuttle missions.
A 1991 Florida Tech graduate with a master’s degree in space sciences, Moses also holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Purdue University.
