Speaker Spotlight

Steve Isakowitz has spent his career helping shape the future of space, working across government, industry, and some of the nation’s most important technology organizations.

Most recently, Steve served as President and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, leading nearly 5,000 scientists, engineers, and professionals supporting the nation’s civil, commercial, and national security space programs. Earlier, he held senior leadership roles at NASA, Virgin Galactic, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the White House Office of Management and Budget. At NASA, he helped shape early plans for human exploration of the Moon and Mars that contributed to today’s Artemis program. At Virgin Galactic, he worked at the forefront of the emerging commercial space industry. Throughout, he has advocated for bringing together government, entrepreneurs, and industry to accelerate innovation and expand what’s possible in space.

Today, Steve advises emerging space companies and serves on corporate, academic, and nonprofit boards. He is also deeply committed to inspiring the next generation: together with his wife, Monica, he co-founded the Matthew Isakowitz Foundation Programs to help exceptional college students pursue careers in commercial space.

Steve is an MIT graduate and a longtime Manhattan Beach resident, where he and Monica live near their children and grandchildren. After decades in the space business, he believes we’re entering one of its most transformative periods — when space becomes not simply a place we explore, but an increasingly important part of how we live and work on Earth.