by Tee Quillin
Rae Ann Meyer knows a thing or two about flexibility in leadership.
Meyer recently was tapped to be associate director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, but during her 33-year tenure at NASA, she has worn many different hats. She has served in positions from deputy manager of the Marshall Engineering Directorate’s Flight Mechanics and Analysis Division to deputy manager of the Science and Technology Office at Marshall. Meyer is no stranger to constant change. There is also a quiet grace with which she goes about handling that change
Meyer is a self-proclaimed Navy brat. Born in San Diego, her family, like so many military families, was soon on the move. When Meyer was 10, her dad retired from the Navy, and the family settled in the shadow of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She remained there until she graduated from high school and went off to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
She is quick to point out that she is a quiet person and was “cripplingly shy as a child. I never talked in school.” One day, she overheard the teacher instructing the accelerated students on the science of the water cycle and she was immediately drawn in. “So, I went up to her – which took a lot of nerve for me,” Meyer said, “and I told her I wanted to be in the other class because I thought that was interesting.” Meyer was told she’d have to know her multiplication tables. So, after recess, her teacher called her in front of the class to go through them.
She missed one: 7×8.
At the end of the next week, her teacher quizzed her again – this time not in front of the class – and she found herself in the accelerated class, where she fell in love with science. That love, combined with a proclivity for math and a supportive new school system in Chattanooga, helped pave the way toward her pursuing studies in electrical engineering.
Meyer says she never really overcame her shyness, she just doesn’t let it get in her way. She found a way to use it to her advantage. She took her shy demeanor, combined it with her “never-give-up” attitude and developed it into a strong, quiet leadership style. Her shyness allows her to better connect with people, even when she has to step out from behind it. “Being a leader is more than just being firm or strict,” Meyer said.
Just after graduating from college, she took up an activity she always wanted to pursue: horseback riding. She quickly learned that it is a team sport, with the horse and rider functioning together as a unit. “If I was having a good day, but the horse was having an off day, we as a team were going to have an off day – until we learned to listen to and trust each other,” Meyer said. She has applied that lesson ever since, in all walks of life.
Meyer is only a month into her new position and said that one of the challenges has been transitioning as a leader in a remote work environment, an unprecedented paradigm shift in the COVID-19 era. Meyer’s office leads Marshall’s pandemic response, based on guidance from the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The actual work is the easy part.” Meyer said. “Our chief information officer has given us all of the tools we need to be able to work efficiently and safely from home. I need that personal connection with people when starting a new position like this.”
Yet, throughout all the uncertainty, Meyer has not shied away from taking the helm and has remained flexible while navigating her team through the many changes and challenges that have presented themselves.
For more information on NASA, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/rae-ann-meyer-bio.html