Bernard C. Soriano is a Deputy Director for the California Department of Motor Vehicles and is in charge of the California’s autonomous vehicles program. He has over 35 years of engineering and management experience in the private sector and public sector. He previously held engineering and management positions at Hughes Space and Communications (now Boeing), where he designed satellite control systems and participated 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 CIO for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and for the Office of the Secretary of State. In addition, he was the information technology task force leader on Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Performance Review.

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

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