Tandy Executive Speaker Series

Christopher J. Cassidy was born in Salem, Massachusetts on January 4, 1970 and considers nearby York, Main, where he grew up, to be his hometown. A graduate of York High School, Chris completed Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, Rhode Island in 1989 and received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1993. He later received a Master of Science in Ocean Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has Honorary PhD's from Husson University and the University of Maine at Augusta.

Captain Cassidy is a retired U.S. Navy SEAL. During his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star with combat 'V' and received a second Bronze Star for combat leadership service in Afghanistan. In 2004, the platoon he commanded was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for a nine-day operation at the Zharwar Kili Cave on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border.

Cassidy was selected as an astronaut in 2004. He is a veteran of three space flights and ten space walks. Chris has flown to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor and the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. He has accumulated 377 days in space to include his most recent six-month spaceflight in 2020. In 2015, he became NASA's 14th Chief Astronaut and served in this capacity for two years.