THE OFFICIAL ATHLETICS SITE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH ALABAMA LIONS

Garner was a four-year letterman and quarterback on North Alabama football teams from 1985 to 1988, then for almost four decades he worked in the space industry, including as part of the Space Shuttle program at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. In March of 2021, he received the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal from the Marshall Space Flight Center. The award is for sustained exceptional service in the performance of systems engineering and integrations for the Space Launch System Stages element. NASA's Exceptional Public Service Medal is a United States government awarded to any non-Government individual for sustained performance that embodies multiple contributions on NASA projects, programs, or initiatives. The criteria must include all of the following: Sustained performance has made a significant improvement to NASA deliverables, operations, or image; Employee's record of achievements sets a benchmark for other non-Government contributors to follow; substantial improvement to a NASA program that yielded high quality results or improvements; Impact and importance of the employee's services have made a lasting impact on the success of the Agency. 

In 2015 he received the Space Launch System Manager's Commendation as a MSFC SLS Program Manager.

The manager's commendation is highest honor the Marshall Space Flight Center Space Launch System (SLS) Program Office can bestow on an employee in recognition of exemplary service and outstanding accomplishments.

In 2013 he received the Silver Snoopy Award from Marshall Space Flight Center. It is NASA's Astronauts' Personal Achievement Award for professionalism, dedication, and outstanding support that greatly enhanced space flight safety and mission success. Fewer than 1 percent of the aerospace program workforce receive it annually, making it a special honor to receive this award.

In 2011, he received his first NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal for exemplary leadership and support of the safe and orderly shutdown of the Space Shuttle Program through the development of the Transition and Retirement Project Office.

Additional honors include the Space Flight Awareness Honoree Award in 1997 and the Space Flight Awareness Return to Flight Honoree Award. 

As a freshman at UNA in 1985, he earned a starting role and helped lead the Lions to a 12-2 record, a Gulf South Conference Championship and into the NCAA Division II National Championship Game in McAllen, Texas. For his career, he completed 160 of 343 passes for 1,670 yards and six touchdowns on teams with run-oriented offenses. He started 18 games over his first three seasons. He earned Academic All-GSC honors in 1987, 1988 and 1989 while pursuing a Math and Physics major.      

Following his graduation from UNA, he was a Systems Engineer at United Space Boosters, Inc. (USBI) from 1989 to 1995. He then served as a Senior Reliability Engineer and Statistical Analyst at Hernandez Engineering, Inc., from 1995 to 1998. From, 1998 to 1999 he was a Program Manager at Benchmark Electronics and for more than nine years, from 1999 to 2009, he served as Space Shuttle Transition & Retirement Program Manager with United Space Alliance (USA) in Huntsville. Beginning in January of 2009, he  served as the Vice President of Operations with DP Associates, Inc. He had the responsibility of day-to-day operations and program management of two prime contracts providing programmatic and engineering support services at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Kennedy Space Center (KSC). He held that position for four years until he began working in Technical/Project Management in the MSFC SLS Advanced Development Office in 2013. He is currently President at Garner Technical Services, Inc., in Madison, Ala., which he established in 2013, and has also served in Technical/Project Management in the MSFC SLS Stages Project Office since 2014. 

Garner received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from UNA in 1988 and added a Master of Science in Operations Research from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1993. He has also earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Alabama in 1997. 

He currently serves on the President's Cabinet at UNA. 

A native of Gordo, Ala., he and his wife Beth have a son and daughter and two grandchildren, with a third on the way.