Gwynne Shotwell is the president of SpaceX, an American space transport company founded by PayPal co-founder and Tesla founder Elon Musk. Headquartered in Hawthorne, California, SpaceX was founded with the goal of revolutionizing rocket and space technology in order to take space exploration to the next level. The reusable Dragon cargo capsule is set to become the first private spacecraft to visit the International Space Station in May of 2012.
Gwynne Shotwell joined SpaceX in 2002 as vice president of business development, fostering SpaceX's customer base and managing strategic relations. Now president, Mrs. Shotwell's responsibilities include providing strategic direction to support company business development and government affairs as well as managing day-to-day corporate operations. Prior to SpaceX, Mrs. Shotwell's experience includes over ten years at the Aerospace Corporation, where she held positions of increasing responsibility in space systems engineering and technology, and project management. While at Aerospace Corporation, Ms. Shotwell was recruited to be director of the Space Systems Division at Microcosm, where she served on the executive committee and directed corporate business development. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees with honors in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics from Northwestern University.
Gwynne will join us as our featured speaker to share the story of her rise within the aerospace industry to become an influential leader of one of the country's most innovative companies.