CSPS Senior Advisory Council

Carissa Bryce Christensen

Carissa Christensen is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Bryce. She previously co-founded defense company The Tauri Group, acquired by LMI in 2019, and quantum computing software company QxBranch, acquired by Rigetti Computing in 2019. She is an active investor who serves on several early stage boards. Ms. Christensen is an internationally recognized expert on R&D processes, technology forecasting, and the space industry. She is currently a member of the National Research Council Space Technology Industry-Government-University Roundtable, which advises NASA. She has served on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council since 2018. She is a Senior Advisor to the annual US Air Force Schriever Wargame. She serves on the Advisory Council of the Aerospace Corporation's Center for Space Policy and Strategy. Ms. Christensen is a graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School, where she specialized in science and technology policy. She attended the London School of Economics and was a Douglass Scholar at Rutgers University. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

The Honorable Madelyn Creedon

Madelyn Creedon has had a long and distinguished career in public service, most recently as Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) within the Department of Energy, a position she held from 2014 to 2017. She also served in the Pentagon as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs from 2011 to 2014, overseeing policy development in the areas of missile defense, nuclear security, cybersecurity, and space. She served as counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services for many years, beginning in 1990; assignments and focus areas included the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces as well as threat reduction and nuclear nonproliferation. During that time, she also served as Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs at the NNSA, Associate Deputy Secretary of Energy, and General Counsel for the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. She started her career as a trial attorney at the Department of Energy. She holds a J.D. from St. Louis University School of Law.

Professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton

Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a Foundation and Regents Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration. She is also the vice president of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative, and  the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Psyche mission, selected in 2017 as the 14th in NASA’s Discovery program. Her research includes theory, observation, and experiments concerning terrestrial planetary formation, magma oceans, and subsequent planetary evolution including magmatism and interactions between rocky planets and their atmospheres. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from MIT in 1987, and then spent eight years working in business, with five years spent writing business plans for young high-tech ventures. She then returned to MIT for a doctorate. She spent five years as a researcher at Brown University, followed by five years on MIT faculty, before accepting the directorship of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Science. In 2014, she moved to the directorship at Arizona State University. 

LTG Anthony R. Ierardi, USA (Ret.)

Tony Ierardi departed active duty in the U.S. Army in August 2019. Tony subsequently joined Rebellion Defense in December 2019 leading strategic partner engagement. Over the course of his military career, Tony served in a uniquely diverse set of assignments where he led challenging missions in strategically important Army and Joint units and organizations. As a General Officer, Tony served in critical assignments at the DoD, Joint and Army enterprise-levels related to requirements, capabilities and the strategic allocation of resources. Tony’s culminating military assignment was as the Joint Staff’s J-8 Director where he oversaw JCS analytic assessments and all matters related to current and future requirements for forces, capabilities, budgets and resources for the U.S. Joint Force. Tony led Army and Joint units at every level from platoon to division, in the U.S. and abroad, including commanding the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. Earlier, he deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as the Deputy Commander for Programs, Combined Security Transition Command in Kabul, Afghanistan, and with the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment in Operation Desert Storm. He has a bachelors degree in business from Washington & Lee University, and Masters degrees from Georgetown University and the Naval War College.

Dr. Josef Koller

Josef Koller is the Principal Senior Space Safety Advisory at Amazon Kuiper. Prior to this role, he was the systems director for policy and regulatory support for the Center for Space Policy and Strategy. He is also the co-founder of The Aerospace Corporation’s Space Safety Institute, which leads and advances spaceflight safety across the space enterprise from human spaceflight safety, launch, reentry, space operations, space situational awareness, cyber, and spectrum. Before joining Aerospace, he served as a senior advisor to the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, where he directly supported key national and international strategy efforts for space-related U.S. government and DOD policy matters. Prior to that assignment, he managed and co-led more than 40 scientists in the Space Science and Applications Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. His portfolio included commercial remote sensing, space traffic management, and related congressional affairs. He has a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Rice University and master’s degrees in physics and astronomy from the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

Maj. Gen. Susan Mashiko, USAF (Ret.)

Susan Mashiko served as Deputy Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from 2010 to 2014. Her Air Force career spanned a wide variety of space and acquisition assignments, culminating in her appointment as Director for Space Acquisition in the Office of the Under Secretary of the Air Force shortly before moving to the NRO. Previously, she served as Vice Commander at the Space and Missile Systems Center from 2008 to 2009. Other notable assignments include Chief of the Programs Division in the Office of Special Projects, Executive Officer to the Department of Defense Space Architect, Director of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle System Program, Program Executive Officer for Environmental Satellites, and Commander of the MILSATCOM Systems Wing. A graduate of the Air Force Academy, she has an M.S. in electrical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and an M.S. in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Her honors include the Legion of Merit and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.

Lt. Gen. John Shaw, USSPACECOM (Ret.)

John Shaw was the Deputy Commander, U.S. Space Command. He entered the Air Force in 1990 as a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with a degree in astronautical engineering and a minor in Russian language. He has served in a variety of air and space operations and staff positions, including operations tours in the 50th Space Wing, the National Reconnaissance Office, the 32nd Air Operations Group and the Space Warfare Center. He also served at U.S. Strategic Command as Director of the Commander's Action Group and as Deputy Director for Operations, and in the Pentagon as an Air Force intern, as Deputy Chief of Space Strategy and Integration, a speechwriter and as a senior space policy advisor. Previously, he was dual hatted as the Commander, Combined Forces Space Component Command, U.S. Space Command, and Deputy Commander, Space Operations Command, U.S. Space Force, Vandenberg SFB, California. He also served as the Deputy Commander of Air Force Space Command, United States Air Force.

Mandy Vaughn

Mandy Vaughn founded GXO, Inc. in 2021 to accelerate the pace of change across the space industry. The goal is supporting new commercial space ventures quickly navigate the start up environment to start delivering capabilities and missions that matter for commercial and government customers. She was selected to serve on the National Space Council’s User Advisory Group when it was re-instituted in 2018, where she helps to streamline coordination and cooperation across the U.S.’ space enterprise. She is formerly President & CEO of VOX Space. Mandy originally joined Virgin Orbit, VOX Space’s parent company, in 2015. Prior to joining Virgin Orbit, she was with General Dynamics Mission Systems’ Space and Intelligence Systems Directorate, where she was responsible for the space control and space protection investment portfolios and analog-to-digital transitions for a variety of SIGINT payload families. She has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics, both from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).