Dr. Fernando De La Peña Llaca

Dr. Fernando De La Peña Llaca has over twenty-five years of successful leadership in technology and engineering companies. He is the CEO and President of Aexa Aerospace, which provides custom software for mixed and virtual reality devices for operator use in the aerospace, medical, oil, and gas operations industries.

Dr. De La Peña Llaca's lifelong passion for space exploration and Aexa’s leading-edge expertise play a key role in his support for NASA. As an undergraduate engineering student, he completed and patented a spacecraft engine propelled by anti-matter and received additional patents, including one for a space launcher employing magnetic levitation. He received a Discovery Channel Prize in 2010 for his work developing the Mexican Space Agency.

He is the former President of the National Contract Management Association, NCMA Space City Houston chapter at NASA JSC. NCMA is the world’s leading professional resource in contract management. He was re-elected this year as Chairman of the Johnson Space Center Small Business Council. Additionally, he received the Small Business Champion of the Year Award from the Small Business Administration and NASA’s Innovation of the Year Group Award in 2022.

Dr. De La Peña Llaca serves on the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership Board of Directors (BAHEP) and chairs the Communications Committee of the Johnson Space Center National Management Association. He is a member of the College of Science & Engineering Advisory Council. He is also the aerospace liaison of the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce. He serves as the Chief of the Infragard Defense Industrial Base SIG. The Defense Industrial Base Sector is the worldwide industrial complex that enables research and development, design, production, delivery, and maintenance of military weapons systems, subsystems, and components or parts to meet U.S. military requirements.