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Fortune
Fortune
Luisa Beltran

SpaceX org chart: The top executives running Elon Musk’s space tech company

(Credit: Ludovic Marin—AFP/Getty Images; Courtesy of SpaceX)

SpaceX made its most important hire in 2002 when Gwynne Shotwell joined as vice president of business development. Shotwell is a former high school cheerleader who is trained as an engineer but lacks their nerdiness, instead she has been described as smooth and well-spoken. She is a trusted Musk advisor who can speak honestly without annoying Musk. Shotwell oversees SpaceX’s day-to-day as president and COO. Mark Juncosa, another Musk lieutenant, was previously in charge of Starlink, the satellite internet constellation that is expected to go public. Last year, Shotwell and Juncosa were put in charge of overseeing the facility and operations of Starbase, one of four active SpaceX launch sites. On the SpaceX board you'll find Antonio Gracias, a long-time friend and confidant of Musk's (Gracias stepped down from the Tesla board in 2021). His growth firm, Valor Equity partners, has invested in many Musk companies including SpaceX, Tesla, the Boring Company, and Neuralink. Here's a look at the top execs redefining space exploration at SpaceX.

Elon Musk

Cofounder, CEO, chairman, and chief technical officer

Executives 

Gwynne Shotwell

President and COO

Mark Juncosa

VP of vehicle engineering
A top SpaceX exec, Juncosa, along with Shotwell, is said to oversee the facility and operations of SpaceX’s Starbase location.

Bret Johnsen

CFO and president of strategic acquisitions group

William Gerstenmaier

VP, build and flight reliability 
Leads SpaceX quality engineering and process development teams. He previously oversaw NASA’s spaceflight efforts.

Charles Kuehmann

VP, materials engineering 
He also crosses over to work on Tesla.

Michael Sagan

Deputy general counsel

Bill Riley

Senior director, design reliability and vehicle analysis 
He worked on the Starship launch vehicle. 

Joe Petrzelka 

VP, spacecraft engineering

Tim Hughes

Senior vice president, global business and government affairs 
He was also recruited to work at Twitter when Musk bought the company.

Will Heltsley

Vice president of propulsion

Phil Alden 

VP of starship production

Kiko Dontchev 

VP, launch at SpaceX

Jacob McKenzie 

VP, Raptor at SpaceX

Richard Morris 

Senior advisor, production

Board of Directors 

Elon Musk 

Antonio Gracias

Founder, CEO, and CIO of Valor Equity Partners, a growth firm that has invested in SpaceX, Tesla, the Boring Company, and Neuralink.

Luke Nosek 

Cofounder of PayPal and Gigafund

Steve Jurvetson

Founder of Future Ventures; cofounder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Gwynne Shotwell 

SpaceX president and COO

Donald Harrison

President, global partnerships and corporate development at Google

See who runs Musk's other companies:

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