Gene Ray earned the master’s (1962) and doctoral (1965) degrees from UT in physics. He then worked for the Aerospace Corporation, in San Bernardino, California, then moved on to head a team of civilian and military scientists at the Pentagon. After two and one-half years there, he went back to California to work for Science Applications International Corporation as executive vice president and a member of the board of directors. In 1981 he left SAIC (he says he “had an argument with his boss and lost”) and founded Titan Corporation with a couple of personnel from SAIC. Within two weeks of opening shop, the group landed a $560,000 contract from GTE to design a communications system, and the company grew to one earning in excess of $1 billion a year. He continued to serve as chairman, president, and chief executive officer until, in accord with his planned retirement, Titan was acquired by L-3 Communications on July 29, 2005. Ray left at that point, joining the board of Global Secure Corporation as chairman. Global Secure, founded in 2003, provides homeland security products and services.