Ricardo Lopez

Acting Chief of Acquisition Planning and Development Office NSPA

Ricardo Lopez spent the first half of his career in the private sector working at some of the largest defence contracting firms in the United States. During his tenure with industry he worked on several international acquisition and aviation modernization programmes with a focus on autonomous systems, system of systems integration, as well as early stage architecture and concept development. • He joined the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Management Agency (NAGSMA) in 2010 as a United States Voluntary National Contribution (VNC) and transitioning to a NATO International Civilian (NIC) in 2012 where he continued to support NAGSMA with the proposal evaluation, contract negotiation, and execution of the acquisition phase of the NATO owned and operated Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system. • He moved to the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) in 2018 as Chief of the Engineering Branch to continue the support of the AGS system, now in operation following the successful completion of the acquisition phase. • He is now a Principal Project Development Officer in the Acquisition Planning and Development Office (APDO), the Agency’s entry door for new acquisition initiatives. His portfolio includes Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDT), Innovation, and Space. Since September 2024 he has been acting as Chief of APDO.