Board of Directors
Meet our Board
Our volunteer Board of Directors is responsible for setting the The Planetary
Society's policies and future directions. They are all leaders, chosen for
their passion about and knowledge of space exploration.
The Society presently has 13 board members (more or fewer are permitted
by charter) elected by their peers. The Planetary Society’s
Board comprises 13 members and meets two times a year. The Society
has a Chairman, President, and Vice President who, along with our Executive
Director, comprise an Executive committee; they meet weekly via telephone.
Nominations are sought and considered periodically from a variety of sources,
including from members of the Board and Advisory Council, Society Members,
staff, and experts in the space community.
Chairman of the Board
DANIEL T. GERACI
Dan Geraci joined the Planetary Society’s Board of Directors in 2003. He
is Chairman and CEO of ClubAchilles – The Iron Age, a new luxury indoor
golf club located in Palm Springs, California. Privately controlled,
ClubAchilles is a unique recreation industry concept.
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President
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Astrophysicist and Director, Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural
History
A childhood glimpse of the Moon through binoculars helped steer Neil deGrasse
Tyson towards his lifelong passion for science, space exploration, and unraveling
the universe's far flung mysteries. Eventually, that closer look at another
world also led Tyson to his role on The Planetary Society's Board of Directors,
serving first as Vice President for three years and now as Chairman of the
Board.
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Vice President
Bill Nye
Science Educator
As a student at Cornell University, Bill Nye the Science Guy was introduced
to the wonders of astronomy in a class taught by Carl Sagan himself,
one of the original founders of The Planetary Society. So for Nye, it was
like coming full circle to join the Society’s Board of Directors and
later to become the organization’s newest Vice-president.
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more »
Executive Director
Louis D. Friedman
When Louis Friedman helped co-found The Planetary Society, he brought to
his position as Executive Director a wealth of experience in the space
exploration community, including 10 years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
and five at AVCO Space Systems Division. He has been a guiding force with
the Society for over 20 years and remains as excited as ever about humanity’s
journey into the solar system.
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Jim Bell
Associate Professor, Cornell University Astronomy Department
Jim Bell joined The Planetary Society’s Board of Directors in 2005.
An Associate Professor in the Cornell University Astronomy Department,
Bell is the lead scientist for the Pancam color imaging system on the NASA
Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit and Opportunity) missions,and is working
on a book titled "Postcards from Mars" (Pi Press, 2006) which
will be a pictorial history of the rover missions. Bell served as the science
team liaison for The Planetary Society's Red Rover Goes to Mars student
program and the sundial experiment on the Mars Exploration Rovers.
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more»
Heidi Hammel
Senior Research Scientist with the Space Science Institute
Heidi B. Hammel joined The Planetary Society's Board of Directors in 2005.
A Senior Research Scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder,
Colorado, Hammel herself lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
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more »
G. Scott Hubbard
Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University
G. Scott Hubbard has been recognized as an innovator and leader in science, technology and management for more than 30 years - including 20 years with NASA. He currently is a Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University.
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Wesley T. Huntress, Jr.
Director, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Dr. Wesley T. Huntress holds the distinction of being chosen as the first
President of The Planetary Society who was not one of the original three
founding members. He succeeded Bruce Murray to the position in 2001, having
served as the Society’s vice-president from 2000-2001.
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more »
Lon Levin
President, SkySevenVentures
Lon Levin is an entrepreneur and executive with more than 20 years experience in the space, new media, and telecommunications industries. Lon is President of SkySevenVentures, which works with and invests in new technologies, particularly space based businesses.
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John M. Logsdon
Director, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University
John M. Logsdon is a long-time supporter of The Planetary Society, who
first served as chair of the Advisory Council and is now a member of the
Board of Directors. In his role as Director of the Space Policy Institute
at George Washington University (GWU)’s Elliott School of International
Affairs, Logsdon is often interviewed by the media regarding space policy
issues.
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Advisory Council Chair
Christopher P. McKay
Planetary Scientist
Board member Chris McKay has been active with The Planetary Society since
its early days. McKay was awarded the Thomas O. Paine Memorial Award
for the Advancement of Human Exploration of Mars by the Society in 1994.
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more »
Bruce C. Murray
Professor of Planetary Science and Geology, Emeritus, California
Institute of Technology
Former Director of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Bruce Murray is professor of Planetary Science at the California Institute
of Technology, where has been on the faculty since 1960. He participated
in the development and interpretation of television images of the first
successful Mars probe, Mariner 4 (1965); the subsequent Mars flybys,
Mariners 6 and 7 (1969); the first successful Mars orbiter, Mariner 9
(1971-72); and the first probe to Mercury (by way of Venus), Mariner 10
(1974-75).
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Elon Musk
Chairman and CEO, SpaceX
Elon Musk, founder of three companies, joined The Planetary Society’s
Board of Directors in 2003. Currently CEO and Chief Technology Officer
of SpaceX, Musk is a strong supporter of space exploration. SpaceX is developing
a family of launch vehicles intended to reduce the cost and increase
the reliability of access to space.
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Joseph Ryan
Ryan Investments, LLP
As one of the longest serving members of The Planetary Society’s
Board of Directors, Joe Ryan has been a steadfast supporter of solar
system exploration.
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Steven Spielberg
Director and Producer
One of the most celebrated directors in film history, Steven Spielberg
first became affiliated with The Planetary Society in 1985 when he donated
$100,000 to finance a new radiotelescope search for alien civilizations – META,
the Megachannel Extraterrestrial Assay, based in Harvard, Massachusetts.
A few years later, he joined the Society’s Board of Directors.
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more»
George Yancopoulos
President and Chief Scientific
Officer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
The first medical doctor to join The Planetary Society’s Board of Directors
(2005), George Yancopoulos received his MD and PhD degrees in 1987 from Columbia
University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons.
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