Steve Nixon

Mr. Steven Nixon is President of the SmallSat Alliance (a 50+ company advocacy group), CEO of a specialized security company, a technology strategy consultant, and Board Member and advisor for several companies. Most recently, he was an executive at Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Aerospace.
Before his current roles, Mr. Nixon was the Director of Science and Technology/Chief Technology Officer of the US Intelligence Community overseeing the science and technology activities of the 16 US intelligence agencies. He was the founder and first acting director of IARPA, the intelligence community’s version of DARPA. Before that he was a long-time professional staff member on the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee with oversight over a broad spectrum of DoD and IC programs.

In 2008, he was awarded the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. That year, he was also selected by the National Academy of Engineering as one of the top 100 engineers in the U.S. (Frontiers of Engineering). In 2005, Space News recognized him in its global top ten list of people making a difference in space. He was also recognized that year by the National Journal’s “Hill 100” as a top congressional staffer in the category of “Defense Transformation.” Before working for Congress, he was an analyst at the Pentagon. He has degrees in Electrical Engineering, Mathematics (Honors and Highest Distinction at the University of Kansas), and National Security Studies (Georgetown).