Gwynne Shotwell

Speaker Bio

As President and COO of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell is responsible for day-to-day operations and managing all customer and strategic relations. She joined SpaceX in 2002 as Vice President of Business Development and built the Falcon vehicle family manifest, launching more than 450 times including safely flying 56 astronauts from 14 different countries to orbit, developing the world’s largest and first fully reusable rocket – Starship, and connecting the globe with Starlink’s high-speed internet from space. Shotwell is a member of the SpaceX Board of Directors.

In addition to being inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, Shotwell was honored by the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation’s National Space Trophy in 2023. She was previously named the Satellite Executive of the Year, included on Time’s 100 Most Influential People and Fortune Magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, awarded the AIAA Goddard Astronautics Awards, Von Karmen Wings Award as well as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Ralph Coats Roe Medal.

Shotwell was also elected to the honorable grade of Fellow with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Gwynne has also served on the National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group, the United States Export Import Bank's Advisory Committee, and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Management Advisory Council.

Through leadership in both corporate and external science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs, Shotwell has helped raise millions for STEM programs reaching thousands of students nationwide. Shotwell received, with honors, her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics and serves on their Board of Trustees. She has authored dozens of papers on a variety of space related subjects.