Our Executive Mentors

Paula S. Trimble

Policy Chief and Director of Small Business Programs, Space Development Agency

Paula Trimble has built her career working in disruptive organizations at the nexus of policy and technology. Paula is the Policy Chief and Director of Small Business Programs at the Space Development Agency (SDA) in the U.S. Department of Defense. Now five years old, SDA is building a space-based architecture to provide next-generation warfighting capabilities, leveraging spiral development of a proliferated satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit. At SDA, Ms. Trimble is driving policy solutions to reduce barriers in the acquisition process and enable small businesses and start-ups to work more easily with the federal government. She formulates and leads SDA’s congressional engagement strategies in support of the annual defense appropriations and authorization processes.

Paula’s career started in Washington, DC as a reporter at Space News and Federal Computer Week. She served in the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Space Commercialization and worked for Patti Grace Smith as an industry analyst at the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, helping shepherd a new reusable launch sector and supporting the historic 2004 SpaceShipOne X-Prize flights. Paula spent more than eight years overseeing prototyping efforts in the DoD’s Rapid Reaction Technology Office. Most recently, she was Senior Principal at Lewis-Burke Associates LLC, leading the lobbying firm’s national security practice in support of university researchers, scientific societies, and national research institutes. 

Paula lives in Springfield, VA, where she seems to collect hobbies. When she’s not cycling or practicing yoga, she’s a wine hobbyist and foodie always ready with a wine or restaurant recommendation. Paula chairs the judging committee for the annual Gerald R. Ford Prize for Reporting on National Defense and serves on the board of The Holiday Project, a non-profit group organizing holiday visits with residents of rehabilitation centers. She is also the Communications Director for the Information Professionals Association. She is a member of Women in Aerospace and the U.S. Air and Space Forces Association. Ms. Trimble earned her B.A. in Journalism from The Pennsylvania State University.