Bernard C. Soriano is a Deputy Director for the California Department of Motor Vehicles and is in charge of the department’s autonomous vehicles program. He has over 30 years of engineering and management experience in the private and public sector. He previously held engineering and management positions at Hughes Space and Communications, Inc. in Los Angeles, where he designed satellite attitude control systems and was involved in their launch missions.  He was also the Assistant Technical Director at the USGA Research and Test Center in New Jersey.  In the public sector, Bernard was the Chief Information Officer for the Office of the Secretary of State and was the information technology task force leader on Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Performance Review.

Bernard was also a member of the part-time faculty at the California State University, Sacramento, where he taught courses in the College of Engineering and the College of Business Administration.

Bernard holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from U.C. Irvine, a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and a B.S. in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from U.C. Davis. He also holds an M.B.A. from California State University, Sacramento.  He was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve and has numerous publications and patents.  His honors and achievements include selection as a finalist in the NASA astronaut program.