Get to Know
WCA Leadership Team
Heather McAllen
President
Heather McAllen is the Deputy Program Manager for the WFF scope of the Systems Engineering Advanced Services (SEAS II) contract. Heather works for SEAS II prime contractor McCallie Associates Inc, in which she is based out of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. She previously served as both the Deputy Program Manager and Program Manager for the Wallops Engineering Services Contract (WESC) and Deputy Program Manager for the Repair, Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering Contract (ROME), leading projects in Engineering, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), the Balloon Programs, and Facilities.
Vince Cassara
Vice President
Vince Cassara is the Program Manager for the Wallops Range Operations Contract (ROC II), leading a 170+ team provide Range Operations and maintenance function to Wallops. As a 28-year AirForce officer veteran, Vince Cassara has an extensive launch operations background, serving in key leadership positions at both Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral, as well as in the Launch and Range Directorate at Air Force Space Command Headquarters. Vince also has vast experience with Wallops operations, serving as a Range contractor operations lead for over nine years. He has led the ROC II team as the senior RSM for all EELV missions, supporting 16 Antares missions and 2 Minotaur launches, along with countless sounding rockets and airfield missions, and was also the lead ROC project Manager for the successful Bermuda Tracking Range Renovation project, a major engineering effort involving the upgrade of 9 range systems
Nick Lutzio
Secretary
Nick Lutzio is an SAIC Director managing the Strategic Alliance Solutions portfolio consisting of SAIC subcontracts within Civil Space at all NASA centers. He is also the former Deputy Program Manager for the over $1B OMES II contract which provides engineering, integration and technical services to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and served as the PM for several smaller subcontracts with SAIC such as Space Exploration Networks Services and Evolution (SENSE), Software Engineering Tools 2 (SET2) and Program Analysis and Control V (PAAC V). He has spent the better part of 33 years working at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in various roles spanning the mission lifecycle and has been in lead and management positions throughout his entire career. He has worked in a technical role for several missions including operations for Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) and Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) in the early days, development, integration and testing for Aura and Terra, on console support during servicing mission 4 for Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and system engineering for Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Nick graduated from Salisbury University with a BS in Computer Science and grew up in the Annapolis area where he lives today with his wife and two daughters.
Jim Foley
Programs Chairperson
Jim Foley is a 23-year Wallops Flight Facility veteran who is a Director of Program Management for KBR. Jim has previously served as the Wallops Contractors Association President from 2020 through 2023.
Jim served in the United States Air Force at locations around the world as a non-commissioned officer for the Armed Force Radio and Television Service and Public Affairs. Jim is a graduate of the University of Maryland University College, holds a certification in broadcast engineering, and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).