Michael M. Watkins became director of JPL on July 1, 2016. In this role he also serves as a vice president of the California Institute of Technology, which staffs and manages JPL for NASA.

Jim Chilton is senior vice president of the Space and Launch division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS). Chilton assumed this role in April 2018 as BDS announced a new operating structure to sharpen focus on key markets and move faster to meet customers’ needs. It realigned his previous Space and Missile Systems organization created in July 2017 to focus entirely on space and launch programs for government and commercial customers.

Paul Graziani is AGI’s CEO and co-founder. For over 30 years, he has championed the use of commercial software in the national security and space industries. Today, AGI’s software is used around the world. From the beginning, Paul spearheaded work practices that have earned local, state, and national recognition. Paul is chairman of the boards of AGI, Cesium and OneSky. He sits on the board of directors of Passur Aerospace and the Federation of Galaxy Explorers, is a director emeritus of USGIF, a member of the BoG of AIA, and an associate fellow of AIAA. He is also a former member of the BoG for the Civil Air Patrol and currently serves as chairman of the Civil Air Patrol Foundation. He has served on the Advisory Board for Penn State Great Valley and holds the honorary position of life director of The Space Foundation. Paul has a BS in biology from LaSalle College but quickly pivoted his career by virtue of his software development skills.

Sonia Phares is Vice President, Engineering and Technology (E&T) for Lockheed Martin Space. In this capacity, she is responsible for leading a 11,500-person workforce comprised of engineers, scientists, technologists and mission operators nationwide. As the principal engineering and technology leader for the Space business area, Sonia oversees the engineering performance on all Space contracts, including support of military, commercial, international and national security missions, as well as maintaining a strategic portfolio of generation-after-next technologies.

Kay Sears is Vice President & General Manager, Military Space for Lockheed Martin Space.

Rick Ambrose is executive vice president of Space for Lockheed Martin Corporation. Space is a more than $9 billion enterprise that employs approximately 18,000 people and provides advanced technology systems for national security, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include major systems for satellites, human space flight, strategic and missile defense, satellite command and control, sensor and data processing including predicative analytics and big data applications, space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft as well as a range of sensing, communications and exploration payloads.

Emily is an MIT-engineer turned Emmy-nominated science TV host. She’s the co-executive producer and Host of Netflix’s Emily’s Wonder Lab, a correspondent on Netflix’s Bill Nye Saves the World, and the Executive Producer and Host of Xploration Outer Space on FOX. Emily is the author of the children’s science chapter book series the Ada Lace Adventures. The third book in this series was selected to launch to the International Space Station to be read aloud by an astronaut as part of the Story Time from Space Program. Emily has given 3 TEDx talks and enjoys speaking on the topics of science literacy, space exploration, and women in STEM.

Sergei Krikalev was born on 27th August 1958 in Leningrad (St. Petersbourg), USSR. In 1985, he has passed through medical examination and became cosmonaut candidate in the “Buran” space shuttle team. Later, he was included to the main crew of the joint French-Soviet mission (1988).

Yuri Pavlovich Gidzenko is a Russian cosmonaut. He was a test cosmonaut of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Gidzenko has flown into space three times and has lived on board the Mir and the International Space Station. He has also conducted two career spacewalks. Although he retired on July 15, 2001, he continued his employment by a special contract until Soyuz TM-34 concluded. Since 2004 to May 2009, Gidzenko was the Director of the 3rd department within the TsPK. Since May 2009 he serves as the Deputy Chief of Cosmonaut Training Center TsPK.

Ginger Kerrick, as a child, dreamed of growing up to be either a basketball player or an astronaut. When neither dream came to fruition, Ms. Kerrick developed a fresh perspective – best summed up by the phrase “It just wasn’t meant to be” – and is today part of NASA, serving in the Mission Control Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center as a Flight Director who has, to date, supported 13 International Space Station and five joint shuttle missions.