As the Vice President of Engineering at Ball Aerospace, Dr. Mike Gazarik is responsible for overall strategic and operational leadership of the organization, which includes all disciplines of engineering, as well as program and project execution, capital investments, internal research and development and intellectual property.

Prior to this position, he served as Technical Director, where he worked to align Ball’s technology development with business development and growth strategies. Gazarik brings more than 25 years of experience in the design, development and deployment of spaceflight systems.

Gazarik joined Ball from NASA Headquarters, where he held the position of Associate Administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate. He has contributed to the development of technology with application to NASA’s exploration, space operations and science missions. In standing up the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, he led NASA’s rapid development and incorporation of transformative technologies that enable the agency’s missions and address the nation’s most difficult challenges.