Pete Worden is Leaving NASA
Keith’s note: NASA Ames Research Center Director Pete Worden will announce this afternoon that he is leaving NASA at the end of March.
Keith’s update: NASA ARC Memo: All Hands Meeting: Pete Worden is Leaving NASA
“On Wednesday, Feb. 25, I informed NASA Administrator Bolden that I have decided to retire from federal service and pursue some long-held dreams in the private sector.”
Worden Announces Retirement as NASA Ames Center Director
“Earlier today, Pete Worden notified me of his decision to retire as Director of NASA’s Ames Research Center. After more than four decades of dedicated public service, Pete said it was time to pursue other opportunities. He is an innovative leader, and a tireless advocate for change who has well-positioned Ames and its people for the future exploration opportunities facing this agency.”
From Four Star General to Private Sector… So, where will he land? SpaceX? Google? Facebook? Or, perhaps Old Space hires him to stir things up?
I though Dr. Worden was a brigadier (one star) general when he retired?
You’re probably right. I just thought he was a four star.
No problem, I apologize for being pedantic. Regardless, Dr. Worden is an impressive guy.
No worries. Some people I know have worked with him and also used the ‘impressive’ description. One or two are probably freshening up their resumes in case there are opportunities at his next location.
You know, he could just retire and teach astronomy somewhere (i.e. what his Ph.D. is in).
I was referring to his comment about long held dreams in the private sector.
I agree that msny universities would love to have him. Wasn’t he at Arizona before taking up the Ames leadership?
He made a comment of pursuing dreams in the private sector. If I were headed to teach I would have said academia instead of private sector.
Edit: Based on this brief SpaceNews article, it looks like Keith is correct about academia.
http://spacenews.com/pete-w…
Why can’t he do both?
Indeed looks like Keith has it pegged.
Perhaps Worden views academia and the private sector as the same thing. I thought they were distinct but on further thought, the lines are blurring.
I agree lines are blurring. I am aware of several universities where the prime directive from “management” to “employees” is to bring in “profits”.
I hear that he is an expert at Soft Power too! I bet he could write Soft Power for Dummies 😉 Approaches to it and especially lessons learned too!
The things I’ll miss most about Dr. Worden are his costumes. The man loved his costumes.
here is he as a viking,
http://www.nickballon.com/i…
and as a Soviet general (2-star, a promotion from brigadier),
http://www.cnet.com/news/na…
He appears to have been a supporter of research and development:
http://articles.economictim…
Those are some big shoes to fill
Pete: ARC is always a productive and positive place regardless of who is at the helm. Why? Because Silicon Valley has creative and talented scientists, engineers, and leadership opportunities via nearby Ivy League universities and successful corporations. It’s the employees that make a place, not necessarily a leader.
Heard from several sources at HQ today that James Reuter (STMD) will be returning to Ames to take over Worden’s spot. Several of his underlings will accompany him enforce the new order.
This leaves a clean slate for Jurczyk to wield his new found power. Hopefully, he can advance the mission of STMD better than the last group of players.
Crazier things have happened.
You really need someone with gravitas to run a NASA field center in the middle of Silicon Valley. Just saying.
I heard he is pursuing private-sector opportunities in the frozen dessert industry – back to his roots, really: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/f…
thanks for that link.
NASA Ames has lead the way with quiet, servant leadership. Its a damn shame Pete is leaving and he will be missed.
Pete Worden certainly brought some energy to Ames. He and his first deputy, Marv Christensen, brought some significant work to the Center, like LCROSS and IRIS. Now that Pete is leaving, it might make sense to persuade Christensen to come back, to help bring home some other projects.
Not just LCROSS and LADEE. Christensen also brought tens of millions of dollars in ISS research funding, at a time when space biology seemed dead. He is a very effective leader.
Marv Christensen indeed was able to bring in great projects and he served the federal government with dignity. It would be great if he could come back to NASA!
I think Christensen would be a great interim Center Director. He knows NASA well and has a lot of programatic experience, as well as a lot of support from the rank and file at Ames. I really hope Boldin considers him.