Retired NASA astronaut, Navy SEAL to deliver keynote at Lone Star Legislative Summit

The Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce announced that retired Navy SEAL and NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy will deliver the keynote speech during Lone Star Legislative Summit (LSLS) on April 8. Mr. Cassidy currently serves as President and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation in Arlington, Texas.

“Bringing a decorated United States veteran, a Navy SEAL, a man who has spent 377 days in space and one of NASA’s Chief Astronauts to the Nacogdoches chamber’s biennial legislative summit is generating excitement in our community,” said Chamber CEO C. Wayne Mitchell. “It will be interesting to hear more about his experiences as well as the developments at the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation."

Cassidy now leads the project to build the iconic museum, the leadership institute and monument with the mission to inspire Americans, promoting the belief that everyone is born with the potential to be extraordinary. The project will preserve and commemorate the stories of the fewer than 4,000 courageous individuals who have earned the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest award for valor in combat. Today, 67 medal recipients are alive.

“Members of the chamber’s LSLS planning committee are expecting Chris’s keynote address at LSLS to rouse our participating members of State Legislature as well as the general audience,” Mitchell said.

The Lone Star Legislative Summit will be held on April 7 - 8, 2022 at The Fredonia Hotel & Convention Center and on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus. The legislative summit was founded by the Nacogdoches County Chamber in 2006. The last summit was held in 2018 with a record number of 500 attendees.

The event is co-hosted by State Senator Robert Nichols and State Representative Travis Clardy. Chamber committee co-chairs are Donna Finley and Ted Smith. Go to www.Nacogdoches.org/LSLS for updates and registration information. Sponsorships are available.

“LSLS 2018 boasts the largest meeting of legislators outside of Austin in that year,” Mitchell said. “The public is invited to attend all or parts of the summit. There is no admission charge for the session discussions, and we offer options for purchasing tickets to meetings with meals included. Our Chamber Directors are ready to welcome another record-setting crowd to LSLS 2022!”

About Chris Cassidy

BACKGROUND

In August 2021, the Board of Directors for the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation selected Chris Cassidy to be President and CEO. Our team is on a mission to inspire America, promoting the belief everyone is born with the potential to be extraordinary. Chris is the embodiment of this truth. From humble beginnings in the upper Northeast, he chose a life of service to country. First, as an elite Navy SEAL and then as NASA's Chief Astronaut, he has always put other flrst and given back to the country which gave him boundless opportunities.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

Christopher J. Cassidy was born in Salem, Massachusetts on January 4, 1970 and considers nearby York, Maine, where he grew up, to be his hometown. A graduate of York High School, Chris completed Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, Rhode lsland 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.

MILITARY SERVICE

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.

NASA

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.

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