Marshall Space Flight Center announces latest executive hire

Roger Baird has been selected as associate director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

In this role, Baird will lead execution and integration of the center’s business operations, mission support enterprise functions, and budget management.

In addition, he will be a senior adviser in advancing the direction of the center’s future.

Baird will also help manage the center’s 7,000 civil service and contract employees and help oversee an annual budget of approximately $5 billion.

“I know Roger will make an excellent addition to Marshall’s leadership team,” said Center Director Joseph Pelfrey. “His dedication to NASA’s missions has helped shape Marshall into a powerful technical solutions provider for the agency and our industry partners. Roger’s leadership will be invaluable in this new era of space exploration.”

Baird previously served as associate director for operations of Marshall’s Engineering Directorate from 2020-2024, after being detailed to the position in 2019. Named to the Senior Executive Service position in March 2020, he provided senior management and leadership expertise for the evaluation of spacecraft, payloads and launch vehicle systems, and the integration of the associated budgets and resources authority for these efforts.

He was responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating engineering project management and integration activities in support of Marshall’s programs and projects, and oversaw an annual budget of approximately $550 million, including management of a highly technical workforce of more than 2,500 civil service and contractor employees.

In 2018, Baird was selected as manager of the Engineering Resource Management Office, where he was responsible for advising, coordinating, monitoring, directing and performing work associated with planning, programming, budgeting and managing the Engineering Directorate’s financial, human and infrastructure resources.

Baird brings a wealth of expertise to the role, with 34 years of NASA experience in the areas of engineering design, development, testing, facility and budget management, and strategic workforce acquisition and development.

He joined NASA in 1990 as an avionics engineer in Marshall’s Astrionics Laboratory and served in multiple technical leadership positions within the Engineering Directorate’s Space Systems Department, Spacecraft and Vehicle Systems Department, and Propulsion Systems Department.

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Baird earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.