Team Spotlight: Introducing Christie Iacomini
A seasoned technical leader on having an impact, priorities, and staying grounded
Prime Movers Lab is extremely proud to welcome our newest partner as Christie Iacomini joins us as VP of Engineering. Christie brings a wealth of experience in the space industry, having worked at Blue Origin, where she served as the original Senior Director of Advanced Systems, growing that organization, and leading the development of the Blue Moon lunar lander from concept through preliminary design. She also spent over a decade at Paragon Space Development Corporation, where she was the 10th employee and helped to grow the organization as Director of Research & Development and then eventually becoming Deputy to the Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Paragon, Christie worked at NASA where she modeled and flight tested crew return vehicles. Throughout her career, Christie has worked on a variety of technologies including early orbital GPS applications, large-scale parafoils, life support, thermal control, spacesuit systems, in situ resource utilization, and fuel cells.
We were introduced to Christie by Taber MacCallum, Co-CEO at Space Perspective, one of our portfolio companies. In addition to being a phenomenal leader and a literal rocket scientist, Christie also loves being outdoors, eating fish tacos and birthday cake, and celebrating The Oscars as a holiday. Here is a quick recap of my conversation getting to know her.
Brad: Christie, you were heading for the moon and you veered off course and landed at Prime Movers Lab. Could you walk through your path to Prime Movers Lab?
Christie: It actually begins with one of my mentors, Taber. At the time I was working at Blue Origin, leading the lunar lander program and we had just finished a large contract for NASA. I was hoping for an award for a follow-on contract and had no intention of leaving. I really believe in Jeff Bezos’ vision of building the road to space to enable millions of people living and working in space. That aligns with my history of pursuing space exploration in a way that allows entrepreneurs to be successful.
Before Blue, I was at Paragon Space Development Corporation. I was about employee number 10. I learned a great deal in helping to grow that small business. I did a fair amount of technology development in a lot of broad areas that eventually led to my first space flight hardware. Before Paragon, I was at NASA for about 10 years where I had landed [pun intended?!] an internship through the engineering co-op program at Purdue. I met my husband at NASA and he left to go fly A-10’s for the Air Force. He was stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force base in Tucson. There was an opportunity at the University of Arizona to work with Professor K.R. Sridhar on a Mars mission, so I decided to go get my PhD, which was something I’d always wanted to do. I thought after my PhD I’d go back to NASA, but when I finished we had just had our first daughter and my husband still had a year left with the Air Force. I found this little company, Paragon, and I never looked back.
Working in the private sector opened my eyes to how much we could do. We didn’t have to rely on NASA to do it all. I really saw what it meant to be held accountable by a customer and to tease out and answer the core feasibility questions of a technology because you might only get so much funding.
Brad: One of the shifts that I think is interesting for people like yourself is the transition from building something physical to a role where you’re not really in the driver’s seat for the technology, how do you feel about that?
Christie: I call that “product ownership”, really owning something and getting to see it become a reality. As I move to Prime Movers Lab, I’m not the one who turns an idea into a reality but I get to help others do that across multiple sectors, multiple technologies. What really excites me more than the technology, is the mission and the impact people can have with that technology. The ability to help others get through that process is really exciting. I’m also excited at the opportunity for my continued personal growth and learning as we are able to help others down that path.
Brad: When you spoke with Taber, what was your thought process like?
Christie: Taber challenged me to think about the reasons I’ve made the decisions I did in my career. One of those big decisions was going from Paragon to Blue. It was an opportunity to have involvement in much bigger things, bigger than myself. It was an opportunity to serve Jeff’s [Bezos] vision and open the entrepreneurial space. The more I learned about Prime Movers Lab, the more I thought this was the right place for me to be able to have that larger impact on the world. What really inspires me is people collaborating to do things that aren’t otherwise possible. I get really interested in space or energy or longevity, but it is the culmination of all the hard work, grit, creativity, collaboration — and courage to do all that — that really inspire me.
Brad: You told me that the Oscars are a holiday in your household, were there any picks you got right?
Christie: I picked My Octopus Teacher and, you know, I think that might illustrate what it would be like to encounter and befriend an alien species.
Brad: Do you think aliens exist?
Christie: Oh, I know aliens exist. Space and the number of worlds it contains are too big. No doubt in my mind.
Brad: Do you have any trips coming up that you’re excited about?
Christie: I’m going on a 150 mile cycling trip on the north end of the Continental Divide with the whole family. My two daughters are in high school and now they’re strong enough to do a trip like this. I love doing long outdoor trips like this and backpacking because it’s grounding for me. It’s an opportunity to disconnect from all the electronic devices and realign on priorities. We can get so wound up in material things and all the little things that aren’t really important. It gives me a chance to connect more deeply with my family and re-align what’s important in life. It also reminds me about how this planet supports us and how we need to support it. It is a good reset and then I can make better decisions.
Brad: And at the end of the day, what’s for dinner?
Christie: At the end of a long trip like that? Cheeseburgers! Cheeseburgers and fries. You’ve earned it.
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