Sponsored Focus: Delivering Greater On-Orbit Capability through SmallSat Technology Innovation

Over the course of his career, Dan has served in senior leadership roles across a wide range of aerospace programs, spanning human spaceflight, satellite development, launch, and missile defense, and running through all phases of the aerospace product life cycle, from research and development through design, production, and spaceflight operations.

Dan currently serves as President and CEO for Virgin Orbit, Richard Branson’s pioneering commercial space firm, which launches small satellites into space from a rocket carried under the wing of a modified Boeing 747. It is Virgin’s contribution to the massive transformation going on in space technology, and has the clear goal of opening access to space to improve life on Earth.

Dan joined Virgin Orbit after more than three decades of aerospace leadership at the Boeing Company, where he most recently served as Vice President of Government Satellite Systems. In that position, he oversaw Boeing’s government satellite programs, developing and managing missions for the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA, and other national programs. Dan’s portfolio included marquee programs such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Wideband Global SATCOM, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) system, and the X-37 spaceplane.

Outside of Virgin Orbit, Dan serves on the U.S. Investment Advisory Council (IAC), which advices the Secretary of Commerce on the development and implementation of strategies and programs to attract and retain foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States. Additionally, in early 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom selected Dan to join the Governor’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery, which works to develop actions government and businesses can take to help Californians recover from the COVID-19 induced recession.

Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the State University of New York at Albany and attended the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program. He is a passionate and committed advocate for STEM education, and serves on the Executive Board of the California Science Center, as well as the Dean’s Advisory Council for California State University, Long Beach’s College of Engineering