Catherine Baroang

Catherine Baroang serves as the director of the Business Office for NASA’s Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate. As director, Baroang drives business operations optimization and efficiency across the enterprise, overseeing resource management, performance and audit activities, human resources, IT and cybersecurity, and other associated administrative functions.  

Baroang previously served as the deputy director and acting director of the Business Office for the agency’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, the former directorate focused on the development of hardware, systems, and architectures for the Artemis program and future human missions to Mars.   

Before joining NASA in 2023, Baroang served as budget and data division chief for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. She managed the formulation, justification, and execution of a $5.5 billion annual program budget and led the development and implementation of the bureau’s inaugural data modernization strategy. She joined the State Department in 2010 as a presidential management fellow.  

Baroang earned her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Rice University in Houston and holds dual master’s degrees from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and School of Social Work.