Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021
Space exploration is on the rise. Congress appropriated $23.3 billion for NASA in 2021, 3% more than the previous year. Plus, President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2022 budget proposal asks Congress for $17.4 billion – a 13% increase – for the Space Force. The nation simply can’t explore the great unknown alone, and often relies
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Space Force’s Gen. John W. Raymond
The Space Force was founded in December 2019 as a branch of the military intended to protect the nation and its allies’ interests in space. As chief of space operations, Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond serves as the senior uniformed Space Force officer responsible for the organization, training and equipping of all organic and assigned
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Space Development Agency’s Derek Tournear
Derek Tournear oversees the Space Development Agency, established in March 2019 to unify and integrate the department’s space development efforts, monitor its threat-driven future space architecture, and accelerate the fielding of new military space capabilities necessary to ensure U.S. technological and military advantages in space. Tournear is the first permanent director of the agency, appointed
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Sierra Nevada Corp.’s John Wagner
In 2020, John Wagner is most proud of delivering increased value to Sierra Nevada Corp.’s customers despite the challenges of COVID-19, to include expanding customer bases and relationships with Sierra Nevada Corp. and now Sierra Space. This included the deep technical dives on Dream Chaser Cargo System and the technical readiness assessment for flight in
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Maxar Technologies’ Robert Curbeam
Robert Curbeam joined Maxar early 2021 after transitioning his previous workforce into a work-from-home organization. His team’s health, safety and general well-being was, and remains, the top priority, he said. Coming into Maxar, Curbeam’s first goal was to build a well-connected team despite being a new leader in an already remote working environment. “Sales and
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Peraton’s John Fant
As vice president of business development for Peraton’s space and intelligence sector, John Fant oversaw all of the sector’s growth activity and was instrumental in a number of key program awards in 2020. He supported two major corporate space campaigns focused on civil space expansion and space protection and resiliency — priority areas of interest
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: ManTech’s Bill ‘BK’ Kelley
In 2020, ManTech was closely involved in the launch of NASA’s new Demo-2 mission — the first manned test flight and water landing — and the November 2020 launch of its Crew-1 mission, the first such trek to the International Space Station. ManTech also prepared for the safe recovery of astronauts returning from space in
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Booz Allen Hamilton’s Andrea Inserra
Andrea Inserra was selected as the leader of Booz Allen’s aerospace account team in April 2020. Since that time, she has revitalized the firm’s space business through a new strategy that brings together work across the defense and civilian space missions, including the Space Force, Air Force, NASA and NOAA. Despite pandemic conditions, she has
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Inmarsat Government’s Rebecca M. Cowen-Hirsch
Rebecca M. Cowen-Hirsch was determined to ensure that even during the pandemic, Inmarsat’s U.S. government customers had unwavering access and seamless connectivity to the critical voice, video and data services made possible by Inmarsat’s satellite communications. Whether providing satellite communications to first responders fighting wildfires in California or U.S. service members supporting global missions, Cowen-Hirsch
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Northrop Grumman Space Systems’ Candace Givens
As a leader in Northrop Grumman’s payload and ground systems business, Candace Givens has overseen strong, sustained growth in 2020, positioning the company for new opportunities in innovative, resilient space payloads. Last year, her portfolio achieved more than $400 million of annual sales and double-digit growth as her leadership strengthened relationships with customers and industry.
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: AWS’ Clint Crosier
Retired Maj. Gen. Clint Crosier said he was honored last year to be asked to help build the new AWS Aerospace and Satellite team, the newest global business segment — especially during a time of such tremendous growth and change in the industry. AWS has extensive experience helping commercial and government customers and partners in
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Viasat’s Bruce Cathell
With experience serving in senior positions in government and industry, Bruce Cathell is no stranger to dealing with complex issues and managing challenging programs. As the principal senior executive interfacing with the U.S. government, Cathell brings strategic, technical, policy, regulatory, budgetary and trade compliance leadership across all aspects of Viasat’s $1 billion-plus government business, with
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: York Space Systems’ Melanie Preisser
Since Melanie Preisser joined York Space Systems as vice president of national systems in July 2019, she has worked to build relationships with key government officials and industry partners. A former Air Force project engineer, she previously served with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics at the Pentagon,
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Jacobs’ Kate Kronmiller
Of all the business achievements she had for Jacobs Federal Government despite the pandemic, the one that makes Kate Kronmiller proudest is helping ensure all federal contractor workers were paid despite the closure of their work locations. “My proudest moment of 2020 was when Congress, in a bipartisan manner, approved paying all contractors across all
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Voyager Space Holdings’ Eric Stallmer
Last year, Eric Stallmer played a key role in Voyager’s major acquisitions of Nanoracks and the Launch Co. He also created a D.C. office for one of the fastest-growing commercial space companies in the world. “The global space economy will soon become a trillion-dollar industry,” Stallmer said. “Voyager Space and its family of companies are
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Virgin Galactic’s Swami Iyer
In 2020, Swami Iyer merged three classified subsidiaries at GKN into a single defense company technology company. His team had key positions in many platforms, either in production or development. “Where human spaceflight was once in the realm of dreams and imagination, it is now on the verge of becoming an everyday reality not only
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Slingshot Aerospace’s Charlie Mcgillis
Charlie Mcgillis has been instrumental to Slingshot Aerospace’s successful business development as a developer of space simulation and analytics solutions. In 2020, she led the initiative that resulted in Slingshot Aerospace securing a contract with the Space Force to develop Slingshot Laboratory, an immersive space simulation tool. This technology has propelled the company forward as
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Airbus’ Debra Facktor
Debra Facktor joined Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc. at the outset of the pandemic, bringing with her extensive experience in space engineering, business and communications. “Taking on a new job during a pandemic was not my plan, but Airbus has been providing U.S. customers with innovative solutions for more than 50 years,” Facktor said.
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Raytheon Intelligence & Space’s Paul Meyer
Paul Meyer’s team supports 90% of all commercial and Defense Department launches. When he looks back on 2020, he considers his biggest achievement to be leading what he describes as an “incredibly talented team” as vice president of a newly consolidated product line at Raytheon Intelligence & Space, called Space & C2 Systems. Headquartered in
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Spire Global’s Keith Johnson
Keith Johnson started the federal business unit for Spire Global, Inc. in 2017 to focus on the U.S. government. Under his leadership, the unit has grown to become an integral space partner to the federal government and global organizations. With work in maritime, aviation, space services and Earth intelligence, Spire doesn’t plan to slow down
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: HawkEye 360’s Kari Bingen
Kari Bingen joined HawkEye 360 in early 2021 — just as the Herndon-based satellite startup began ramping up operations. The company, which uses clusters of satellites flying in formation to detect, characterize and geolocate radio frequency signals, launched three new satellites in orbit in January and plans to add nine more this year. Formerly the
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: LeoLabs Federal’s John Moberly
As the newly hired president for LeoLabs Federal, John Moberly is responsible for developing and integrating all facets and capabilities to meet the urgent needs of the U.S. government, including national security space of the Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office as well as NASA, NOAA and other government agencies. His leadership comes at
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Altamira’s Jane Chappell
Jane Chappell has worked in the space industry for almost 40 years, spending more than 37 years at Raytheon before joining Altamira as CEO. Building on years of contributions to the space community, her latest accomplishments have focused on driving machine learning and automation into the national security space architecture. Moving forward, Chappell and the
Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: The Aerospace Corp.’s Ron Birk
In 2020, Ron Birk established and led three strategic initiatives aligned with national priorities for The Aerospace Corp.’s future space enterprise. The initiatives help advance capabilities in evolvable structures and ecosystems in space, optical communications, and national partnerships to develop new capabilities in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, human space exploration, nuclear modernization, strategic manufacturing
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