About joseph
Joseph “Joe” Carleone was born in Philadelphia, PA where he attended Father Judge High School. After receiving his PhD in Engineering from Drexel University, Joe helped start a company in the Aerospace and Defense industry, conducting R&D for the Department of Defense. He managed this business for nine years before being recruited to the West Coast by Aerojet.
For nearly twenty-five years, Joe held various leadership positions at Aerojet, including vice president of Tactical and Defense Rocket Motor Programs. He and his team developed military products that are still being produced today. Joe subsequently served as the vice president for Operations and also led the Remote Sensing Systems
product sector, which marketed and delivered satellite sensors for surveillance, meteorological, and earth-sensing systems.
After 25 years in the Aerospace and Defense Industry, Joe moved into pharmaceutical services. In 2000, Joe was appointed president of Aerojet Fine Chemicals which developed, scaled, and produced Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) for the pharmaceutical industry. Joe led the sale of Aerojet Fine Chemicals to American Pacific Corporation (AMPAC), thereafter serving as Chairman and CEO. He subsequently led the take-private of AMPAC with H.I.G. Capital and remained on as CEO. Joe has recently been Chairman of Avid Bioservices, a biologics manufacturing company, which was taken private by GHO Capital. He is currently Lead Director of Sensient Technologies, a food and beverage ingredients company, and is Senior Advisor to OES Europe specializing in trans-Atlantic M&A.
Over the course of his career, Joe has served as a Member of the International Ballistics Committee and the National Defense Industrial Association, Chairman of the Ballistics Division of the National Defense Industrial Association, and an Executive Board Member of the Insensitive Munitions & Energetic Materials Division. He has been a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Chemical Society, and the Board of Governors of the Aerospace Industries Association. He was also a board member of the Arthritis Foundation.
At Drexel University, the Joseph and Shirley Carleone Endowed Fellowship Fund was established to provide assistance to PhD students. Joe was inducted into the Drexel 100 and named to Drexel’s College of Engineering Alumni Circle of Distinction. He recently served on the Dean of Engineering’s Advisory Council.
Joe has also been named to the World Association Co-op Hall of Fame and the Father Judge High School Hall of Fame. He received the Firepower Award from the Picatinny Chapter of the NDIA.
Joe has published over forty-five articles and a book entitled Tactical Missile Warheads. Joe also developed a course on business leadership, presented to senior executives, which led to The Touchstones of Leadership.
Joe and his wife Shirley reside in southern Nevada – they have two daughters and four grandchildren.