Space Commerce Opportunities For All – Or Just Some?
Commercial Spaceflight Federation Welcomes New Members and Leadership
“The Commercial Spaceflight Federation welcomed several new member companies at its Executive Board meeting this week, expanding its membership to more than 60 companies. … Frank DiBello, President and CEO of Space Florida, was reelected as the CSF chairman.”
Keith’s note: This seems to be a bit of a conflict of interest to me. I would think that you’d want someone in a leadership role in an organization such as this who was interested in equally spurring space commerce in all 50 states without deference to any particular state – especially when government-led programs have been focused in just a few states – such as Florida. Indeed if DiBello pushes to get things going in other states (e.g. new spaceports) he’s not doing his job in the best interest of Florida. But what do I know.
I don’t see the conflict. The AIAA has industry CEOs as Presidents. Professional societies have prominent academics/University heads in equivalent roles. I think there is a history of people blending the needs of their employer with the needs of a larger body.
http://www.aiaa.org/BOD/
http://www.aaas.org/about-aaas
I don’t think this is a super big deal. We have a similar organization in my industry (industrial robotics). This industry organization has several members that are actually competing companies, but the organization exists to push the overall industry forward. So every year when a president is elected, he or she is someone else’s competitor, but the actions the president takes are open enough that if there was chicanery going on, the competitors would surely cry foul.
Of course, I’m not familiar with the structure of the CSF, maybe their president gets to make deals in smoke-filled rooms, in which case, the process that allows that is the problem, not the fact that one competitor of many is calling the shots this year.
The hard thing isn’t being impartial for the states or the launch sites, it’s finding somebody who can actually get this difficult job done so that the industry and the nation can succeed. Frank DiBello has dealt successfully with more different companies than anyone else, and we need to repeat that success throughout the country. Will he advocate Florida as head of Space Florida? Yes, he will. Will he try to undermine other states as head of the CSF? No, he won’t. End of story.