Greg Autry

Dr. Greg Autry is an educator, space policy wonk, writer and tech entrepreneur. He researches and publishes on space commerce, entrepreneurship, technology innovation and trade policy. Greg is a Clinical Professor of Space Leadership, Policy and Business with the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. He teaches entrepreneurship and space policy courses and is working with Professor Linda Elkins-Tanton, Managing Director of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative (II), and Professor James Bell, Director of ASU NewSpace Initiative (NewSpace) to develop a cross-disciplinary Institute of Space Leadership and Management.

He also serves as Chair of the Safety Working Group on the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) at the FAA. Greg teaches space entrepreneurship for the International Space University in the Commercial Space Studies Graduate Certificate Program at Florida Tech. He previously served as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship with the in the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, where he taught entrepreneurship and technology commercialization courses from 2013 to 2020. He left USC when he was nominated by the President to serve as the Chief Financial Officer at NASA (due to circumstances of #2020, the U.S. Senate never held a final confirmation vote on the CFO nomination).

Greg is a firm believer in humankind’s future in the solar system. He has been conducting research in the commercial space field since 2003. He writes and comments regularly on space topics and serves on the editorial board of the New Space Journal and the Space Force Journal. He served on the NASA Agency Review Team and as NASA’s White House Liaison. He was an early advocate of returning to the Moon (now Artemis), of engaging public-private partnerships in space and establishing the U.S. Space Force as a new military branch. He advocates for increasing funding for space science, exploration and development in both the traditional and entrepreneurial models.

Greg serves on the advisory board of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring America’s strength through trade reform and practical industrial policy. Greg’s opinions have been published in major news outlets including the San Francisco Chronicle, LA Times, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal and SpaceNews. He is a regular Forbes Contributor.

Greg holds a BA in history from Cal Poly Pomona as well as an MBA and a PhD (policy-econ & strategy comps) from the Merage School of Business at UC Irvine. Greg’s dissertation research studied the influences of government on entrepreneurial environments within the context of emerging commercial space industries.

Greg entrepreneurial ventures include: HAL Labs, a game developer that coded the Apple version of Pac-Man for Atarisoft; Dr. Micro, a PC services firm sold to CompuCom System; Wired Images, an ecommerce content creator for Planet Rx; Network Corps, a developer of healthcare enterprise applications for Kaiser Permanente and Elevated Materials (121C), an upcycler of aerospace carbon fiber scrap.

Greg is the co-author of the book Death by China and a producer on the documentary film, Death by China, (narrated by Martin Sheen and available on Amazon Prime). Greg is a vocal critic of the U.S. appeasement of state dominated economies and totalitarian regimes. He is an unabashed advocate for global democracy, capitalism and human rights. He strongly advocates exporting the enlightenment model of economic and individual liberty around the globe and into the solar system.

Greg has testified to the U.S. Congress and has presented at the Canadian Parliament. He has spoken at the Heritage Foundation, the National Association of Business Economists, The National Press Club, the Space Symposium, the AIAA Space conference, the California Democratic Party Convention and many other events. He served as Chair of the 2019 International Space Development Conference in Arlington, VA.

Companies

• Consultant NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration (2022)
• Visiting Professor Imperial College London (2021)
• Clinical Professor of Space Leadership, Policy and Business Thunderbird School of Global Management (2021)
• Chair, Safety Working Group, COMSTAC Federal Aviation Administration (2018)
• Board Member, Co Founder Elevated Materials (2015)
• Consultant University of Oxford (2020 — 2021)
• Adjunct Faculty (summer) Center for Space Entrepreneurship, International Space University (2019 — 2021)
• Nominee (unconfirmed) for Chief Financial Officer NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration (2020 — 2021)
• Assistant Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship University of Southern California (2013 — 2020)

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) University of California, Irvine - The Paul Merage School of Business (2008 — 2013)
• Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) University of California, Irvine - The Paul Merage School of Business (2000 — 2002)
• Bachelor’s Degree California State Polytechnic University-Pomona (1985 — 1999)