A new adventure
Farewell Mercatus Center, hello Boom Supersonic
After five incredible years at Mercatus, this is my last week. I’m starting in a new role as head of global policy and communications at Boom in mid-April.
I’m thrilled to be joining Boom. Boom’s vision of routine and affordable supersonic flight is exactly what I had in mind when I started working last year to Make America Boom Again. While policy changes are not strictly necessary for Boom to succeed as a company, they are needed to fully realize Boom’s vision. Most obviously, the “speed limit” on flight over the United States prevents coast-to-coast supersonic travel, a trip Boom’s first production plane would be able to cover in about two hours.
My job at Boom will be to make the principled case for routine and affordable supersonic flight to policymakers and the public. Faster travel is like a superpower—it expands the capabilities of the human race. New business models suddenly become possible. New cultural experiences become practical. New romances. More time with loved ones. A richer and deeper experience of life and the world.
As Boom overcomes the technical challenges associated with this superpower—making supersonic flight more fuel-efficient and quieter than ever before—we can’t let policy barriers prevent us from realizing our full human potential. I’ll be based out of DC, working here as well as in foreign capitals to make the case for sensible rules that allow supersonic aviation—and humanity—to flourish.
I am enormously grateful for my time at Mercatus. The last five years have been the best of my life. It has been a special joy to work with my colleagues past and present in the Technology Policy Program. Together, I think we have made a real mark on the tech policy landscape in DC.
I also want to thank the numerous people at Mercatus working behind the scenes to support my work in countless ways. Many of the opportunities I have had would not have come about without their dedication. I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with each of them.
Life at Mercatus is pretty good. It would be easy to be…complacent…and stay put. I will always look back on my days at Mercatus with nostalgia, but the work beckoning at Boom is too exciting to pass up. I hope that some day soon, when my former Mercatus colleagues board a cross-country supersonic flight, they will remember me fondly.
