4 thoughts on “Gwynne Shotwell”

  1. I don’t know whether she reads this blog, but congratulations, Gwynne!

    She always seemed like a real-life Dagny Taggart to me.

    1. She always seemed like a real-life Dagny Taggart to me.

      Hmm, I see in non-posted fake news, when spokespeople at ULA were asked for their comments, the director of the Atlas program just shrugged….

      Seriously, congratulations. A Northwestern grad does good. Go Big Ten!

  2. I first met Gywnne at the very first FAA/AST conference back in…uh…maybe 1998. She was Gwynne Gurevich back then, wive of the son of one of the MiG family of Gurevichi, a phenomenally gorgeous brunette young woman who worked for Aerospace Corporation. As such, she was steeped in OldSpace culture so deeply that it almost shocked me: she was too young for that!

    The last night of the conference, we sat together in a private booth in the bar and just talked. It was a wide-ranging conversation, about space transportation, safety, risk-taking, and entrepreneurship. But it was also about kids (we both had young families, and lots of kid stories), and our concern for them. It was highly emotional, and we wound up talking until closing time. She’s probably forgotten that night, but I never will.

    The next time I saw her was at COMSTAC, as a blonde. She told me about some of the changes in her life, but never again with the warmth or ingenuousness of that first night (a positive, by the way). Since that time, she has re-invented herself as no one else I have ever seen do. Her strength of character, combined with an intelligence rare these days, propelled her through some intermediate positions to the CEO of the most successful space company ever.

    There aren’t many women out there to admire – so many try for status by being victims, which is the ultimate turnoff. There are two I admire, though: my wife (who was self-made from her first self-awareness), and Gwynne, who is an absolutely incredible woman. Yes, she is the real Dagny Taggart incarnate.

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