Walter Woltosz

Walter ("Walt") Stanley Woltosz was born in Harrison, Arkansas on November 19, 1945. He grew up mostly in Rochester, NY and joined the Air Force in 1963 out of high school and spent nearly four years in the Strategic Air Command, which included about 400 hours flying on B-52 bombers on training missions. He was then tapped for a college/commissioning program and sent to Auburn University in 1967. He completed his Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree at Auburn University in 1969, Master of Administrative Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1976, and Master of Science in aerospace engineering at Auburn University in 1977. He worked in the aerospace industry from 1971-1983 developing simulation and modeling software for the design of solid propellant rocket motors and missile systems. In 1981, Walt and his wife Virginia ("Ginger") founded Words+, Inc., a California company that offered the first PC-based communication systems for people with severe disabilities, including starting in 1985, world-famous theoretical physicist, Professor Sir Stephen Hawking. In 1983, Walt left the aerospace industry to become the full-time CEO of Words+ until 1996, when the passion he had developed in aerospace for computer simulation and modeling drove Walt to apply these technologies in healthcare, developing software tools for pharmaceutical R&D as a way to minimize animal testing, failed clinical trials, delays, and cost. Walt and Ginger founded Simulations Plus in 1996 and took it public on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 1997 (symbol SLP). Always attracted to entertainment, Walt was involved as a technical assistant on _Right to Die (1987)_, _Hugo Pool (1997)_, _A Brief History of Time (1991)_, and was on-screen in _Hawking (2013)_ as himself. He was an executive producer on _Santiago (2011)_. More recently, Walt and his son, Daniel Woltosz, have written two screenplays under Iron Compass Entertainment, LLC, formed in 2012. Together they wrote, directed, and produced _Do Not Reply_, which premiered in October 2019 at the LA Shriekfest. At the Orlando Film Festival in October 2019, _Do Not Reply_ won Best Trailer and Best Poster, and was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture. Walt has a passion for flying, and holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate as well as helicopter rating. He flies their Cessna Citation Encore business jet.