Our Executive Mentors

Lori Garver

The Honorable Lori Garver was the Deputy Administrator of NASA and leader of the Agency’s transition team for President-elect Obama from 2008 - 2013. Garver has since served as the General Manager of the Air Line Pilots Association and CEO of Earthrise Alliance - a philanthropic initiative established to fully utilize Earth science data to address climate change. Her memoir, Escaping Gravity, My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age was released in 2022.

Currently, Garver is a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School, an Operating Advisor at Bessemer Venture Partners, a member of the Board of Directors of Hydrosat and a strategic advisor to several leading aerospace corporations, including Sierra Space, World View, K2 Space and Orbite Space.

Earlier in her career, Garver founded Capitol Space and the AstroMom project - which led her to Star City where she trained and received her medical certification for a commercial spaceflight on a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station. She has previously served as an appointed special government employee and member of the NASA Advisory Council and the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Council, President of Women in Aerospace and the American Astronautical Society, and a member of the Board of Directors of Maxar Technologies.

In addition to being a co-founder and executive team member of the Brooke Owens Fellowship, Lori serves on the selection committees of the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award, the UN Call for the Code Prize and Aviation Week and AIAA’s 20 Twenties. She has received numerous awards including the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace, AIAA’s 2022 Public Service Award, the National Space Society’s 2022 Robert A. Heinlein Award, three NASA Distinguished Service Medals and an Honorary Doctorate from Colorado College. 

Lori holds a B.A. in Political Economy from Colorado College and an M.A. in Science, Technology and Public Policy from George Washington University.