Gary Wentz Jr., VP of Government and Commercial Programs at United Launch Alliance

Gary Wentz Jr. serves as vice president for government and commercial programs at United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. ULA manufactures spacecraft and provides space launch services, military capabilities, severe weather tracking and personal device-based navigation.

In his role, Wentz is in charge of mission management, hardware integration, program management and launch operations for government and commercial customers.

He also leads a team that provides support to the CST-100 Starliner capsule. Wentz previously served as VP of human and commercial systems, ULA said.

Before joining ULA, Wentz was the CEO of Stratolaunch Systems, an aerospace company specializing in testing hypersonic vehicles. He is credited with playing a key role in leading Stratolaunch Systems through all startup activities in its phase as a small entrepreneurial company.

Wentz had also spent nearly 18 years in various engineering and technical roles at NASA, according to his LinkedIn profile. He served as NASA’s space and missile systems chief engineer, deputy manager for exploration systems, technical assistant and Kennedy Space Center lead systems engineer.

For his service, Wentz was honored with the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, NASA Certificate of Commendation and NASA Space Station Program Team Excellence Award, among others.

Wentz earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Central Florida.