Meyer named deputy director of Marshall Space Flight Center

HUNTSVILLE — A longtime Marshall Space Flight Center employee has been promoted to the No. 2 position at the NASA field center in Huntsville.

Rae Ann Meyer was named deputy director and will assist in leading Marshall’s nearly 7,000 on-site and near-site civil service and contractor employees and an annual budget of approximately $5 billion, the space agency announced.

The former associate director, Meyer will also help guide the center as it continues to deliver vital propulsion systems and hardware, flagship launch vehicles, world-class space systems, state-of-the-art engineering technologies and cutting-edge science and research projects and solutions.

“I am thrilled to partner with Rae Ann in leading Marshall into this new era of space exploration,” said Center Director Joseph Pelfrey. “I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside her on Marshall’s executive leadership team for the last couple years, and her dedication, intelligence and care for our teams is unmatched.

“Marshall has a bright future with Rae Ann in this role.”

Meyer previously served as Marshall’s associate director from 2022-24 and led execution and integration of the center’s business operations, mission support enterprise functions, and budget management.

Throughout her 35-year NASA career, Meyer has served in multiple leadership positions at Marshall. She was previously deputy manager of Marshall’s Science and Technology Office. Named to the Senior Executive Service position in May 2019, she assisted in leading the organization responsible for planning, developing, and executing a broad range of science and technology investigations, programs, projects, and activities in support of NASA’s science, technology, and exploration goals. The office also leads the pursuit of new partnership opportunities with other government agencies and private industry. Meyer helped oversee an annual budget of more than $475 million and managed a diverse, highly technical workforce of approximately 300 civil service and contractor employees.

Among her other roles over the years, she was manager of Marshall’s Science and Technology Partnerships and Formulation Office from 2017-19, worked a detail as technical advisor in 2016 for the Office of Strategy and Plans at NASA Headquarters in Washington, and was chief of key Engineering Directorate structure and flight analysis divisions at Marshall from 2007-17.

Meyer was manager of the Constellation Support Office in Marshall’s Science and Mission Systems Office from 2006-07. She led Marshall’s In-Space Propulsion Technology Office from 2004-06 and was assistant manager of the Space Transfer Technology Project from 2000-02, managing in-space technology program funding at NASA centers nationwide. Meyer’s NASA career began in 1989 as a control mechanisms engineer in Marshall’s Propulsion Laboratory.

A native of Chattanooga, Meyer earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee in 1989.