Gwynne Shotwell

As president and COO of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell is responsible for day-to-day operations and for managing customer and strategic relations to support company growth. She joined SpaceX in 2002 as vice president of Business Development and built the Falcon vehicle family manifest to more than 70 launches, representing more than $10 billion in business. She serves on the SpaceX board of directors.

Before joining SpaceX, Shotwell spent more than a decade at the Aerospace Corporation, where she held positions in space systems engineering and technology as well as project management. She was promoted to chief engineer of an MLV-class satellite program, managed a landmark study for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on commercial space transportation, and completed an extensive analysis of space policy for NASA’s future investment in space transportation. She was subsequently recruited to be the director of Microcosm’s Space Systems Division, where she served on the executive committee and directed corporate business development.

She has received the World Technology Award for Individual Achievement in Space, was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame, and is an elected fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. SpaceX supports science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs locally, as well as national engineering programs and competitions. Through leadership in both corporate and external programs, Shotwell has helped raise over $1.4 million for STEM education programs reaching thousands of students nationwide. Shotwell received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics, and she serves on the advisory council for Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering. She has authored dozens of papers on a variety of space-related subjects.

As of 2020, she was listed as the 49th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. Shotwell was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020. Shotwell is married to Robert Shotwell, an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.