I am Employee #001 and the Vice President for Special Projects at Virgin Orbit, Sir Richard Branson's satellite launch company. I had the honor of helping start Virgin Orbit while working at Virgin Galactic from 2011 - 2017. In classic start-up fashion, I've gotten to lead or contribute to just about every aspect of the business.

I am also a co-founder of the Brooke Owens Fellowship and the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, two prestigious mentorship and work experience programs focused on enabling more women and more Black students, respectively, to pursue aerospace careers. For many years, I served as a Trustee and the Chair of the Board of Advisors of SEDS-USA, the world's largest student space organization. I also mentor startup companies for the Techstars and SCALE accelerator programs.

I'm a graduate of Harvard, the NASA Academy, and the International Space University. From 2005 - 2011, I worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, serving as the primary author and manager of the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE and the $2 million Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander XCHALLENGE. I've also worked at Virgin Galactic, the Futron Corporation, Brown University, and the United Nations, among others. I was the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of SpaceAlumni.com, an early social network for space professionals. I have served on two US Federal Advisory Committees, one for the National Academies of Science and Engineeringand one for the Federal Aviation Administration.

In addition to countless presentations I've given on behalf of my employers, I've given a TEDx talk explaining why humans explore space. I'm a working father. I am married to Diana Trujillo, and we have two wonderful children.