Ms. Mayra Montrose is the Senior Principal for Civil Space business development in the Space and Airborne Systems Sector at L3Harris.
She recently retired from NASA, where she last served as Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs in the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) of NASA from 2018 to 2021. She was honored with the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for her contributions to SMD. From 2015 to 2018 she was Program Executive for Earth Science Missions, where she managed five spaceflight projects: monitoring solar irradiance (TSIS-1 on ISS), methane and carbon (GeoCarb), polar radiant energy (PREFIRE), surface mineralogy and dust sources (EMIT) and plant health (ECOSTRESS).
She worked at the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2006 to 2015, where she served as Manager of the Presidential National Medal of Science and the NSF Alan T. Waterman Award. She was also the Executive Secretary of the Committee on Science of the White House National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) that coordinates science policy for the U.S. Federal Government, and of the Committee on STEM Education.
Ms. Montrose began her professional career at NASA, where she managed programs, such as the Energy and Water National Applications in the Applied Sciences Program in SMD, the Education Program in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, and the Life Sciences Small Payloads program in the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications. She worked for five years as Executive Officer to the NASA Chief Scientist. Her first job was at the Kennedy Space Center.