Brendon Perkins has spent much of his career as a renowned aerospace executive, developing technologies at NASA for some of our nation's most prestigious space missions. He is a results-oriented leader of technical staff and has managed numerous scientific projects for our government as well as private companies. He's also one of Orange County's most vocal community activists, supporting and fostering the current growth of political involvement at the local level. When he's not doing all that, he manages to showcase his talents in the arts as an award-winning photographer, magazine journalist and author.
His extensive work overseeing huge budgets of long term projects and organizing large teams of people to work efficiently, make him the ideal candidate for the Board of Supervisors in Orange County.
Born and raised in Flint, Michigan, Brendon is the son of a UAW auto worker and a homemaker. He put himself through college, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious General Motors Institute. When he was seventeen, he won a national science contest and parlayed that into a career with NASA. His 15-year journey with NASA took him from Alabama to Washington DC where he developed space-based technologies and led teams of engineers and technicians on a variety of complex programs. For his work, he received NASA's Performance Award six times as well as their Recognition Award for developing technically significant software. One project he is most proud of, is managing the development of the flight telescope on the famed Cassini Mission which only recently completed its phenomenal work exploring Saturn, years after Brendon worked on it.
Brendon looked west in 2006, settling in Huntington Beach with his longtime partner. He loves spending time outdoors, enjoying and valuing the county's beautiful beaches, parks and cities. For the last fifteen years, he has worked at the Leidos Corporation where he manages acquisition programs for the U.S. Air Force and uses his extensive program management skills to implement multi-million dollar budget analysis and staffing plans.
Science is one of many things that has captured Brendon's curiosity and imagination. He has entered his landscape photography every year in the Orange County Fair after winning their top award the very first time he entered. To date he's won over twenty ribbons for his work. It should be no surprise that shooting the constellations in our galaxy at night is one of his favorite things to do--he even takes people out to the desert to teach them about the universe, increasing their sense of wonder at the world we live in.
Brendon authored a book on Photoshop, which is available on Amazon, and he regularly contributed to 3D Design Magazine for many years, providing technical reviews of software applications used in high-end graphics.
In recent years, Brendon has gotten extensively involved in the political landscape of Orange County. He co-founded the 48th District Action Council, a coalition of forward-thinking groups that work together on joint actions such as voter registration and organizing candidate forums. He also co-founded the Huntington Beach Huddle, which actively seeks and encourages people to run for office. His desire to instill change in Orange County crystallized when he learned he could have the most impact on the everyday lives of residents as a member of the Board of Supervisors. With the backing of local leaders, he decided to challenge the District 2 incumbent, a position for which he is highly qualified.
Brendon Perkins has the ideal skill set to coordinate Orange County's huge numbers of companies, advocacy groups and local leaders to solve the problems we face with transparency and good will.
