Joan A. “Jody” Singer today was appointed deputy director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, by Director Todd May.
Singer will assist May in managing one of NASA’s largest field installations, with nearly 6,000 civil service and contractor personnel, an annual budget of approximately $2.5 billion and a broad spectrum of human spaceflight, science and technology development missions contributing to the nation’s space program. Those include the Space Launch System — the most powerful rocket ever built, able to carry astronauts in NASA’s Orion spacecraft on deep space missions, including to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars.
“Jody has tremendous depth of management experience with SLS, space shuttle and other programs, keen leadership skills and a proven ability to build partnerships — all vital to the tremendous team effort required to reach our space exploration goals and destinations,” May said. “I feel proud and fortunate to be able to call on her to serve as Marshall’s deputy director.”
Over a more than 30-year career with NASA, Singer has held leadership positions in a variety of engineering, propulsion and spaceflight development programs. She had since June 2013 been manager of the Flight Programs and Partnerships Office at Marshall, where she held primary responsibility for the center’s work with human exploration projects, flight mission programs and International Space Station hardware integration and operations, including life support systems, research facilities, and payload integration and operations. The office also develops and maintains partnerships with other government agencies and international and commercial partners that will help achieve NASA’s vision.
Prior to that, Singer was appointed deputy program manager of SLS in August 2011. She was deputy manager of the Space Shuttle Propulsion Office at Marshall from 2007 to 2011, helping lead the organization responsible for manufacturing, assembling and operating the space shuttle main engines, external tank and solid rocket boosters. In 2010, she assumed additional responsibilities as deputy for the Ares Project Office. In this dual leadership capacity, Singer helped ensure the successful conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011 and the transition of the workforce and assets to support the work of NASA and its partners for the development of SLS.
She was manager of the Reusable Solid Rocket Booster Project Office from 2002 to 2007, supervising NASA and contractor engineers and technicians responsible for the flight safety, performance and hardware integrity of the space shuttle reusable booster hardware. She also was responsible for ensuring safety through the critical ground test program and led the team through Return-to-Flight activities after the Columbia accident.
She was named assistant manager of the Shuttle Projects Office in 2000. In 2002, after being appointed to the Senior Executive Service — the personnel system covering top managerial positions in federal agencies — she was named the office’s deputy manager.
From 1990 to 2000, Singer served in progressively responsible positions in the External Tank Project Office, including business manager, assistant manager, and deputy manager. Prior to that, from 1986 to 1990, she was an engineer in the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project Office. She joined NASA in 1985 as an engineer in the professional intern program.
Singer, a native of Hartselle, Alabama, earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1983. She has completed many executive- and management-level training courses, received two NASA Fellowships and has been recognized with many awards during her NASA career, including the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive Award — the highest honor for career federal employees — in 2007; NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals in 2011 and 2002; and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1993.
For her dedication and commitment to excellence and achievement in support of the human space program, she was awarded the Silver Snoopy Award by the NASA astronaut corps in 2011, and was named a Space Flight Awareness Launch Honoree in 1991.
Singer and her husband, Christopher Singer, live in Huntsville. They have three children.
For more information about NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, visit:
June Malone
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
june.e.malone@nasa.gov