Craig McArthur
Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Strategic Insights and Budget
Mr. J. Craig McArthur serves as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Strategic Insights and Budget. In this capacity, he is responsible for the annual formulation of the NASA budget and its inclusion in the President’s Budget Request; the distribution and tracking of appropriated funds in the year of execution; as well as any analysis required to provide insights to stakeholders to ensure evidence-based investment decisions. Additionally, he oversees the assessment of programmatic performance for all NASA’s mission activities; the stewardship of the project planning and control disciplines and associated policies used to measure performance and ensure acquisition rigor; and the subsequent reporting of NASA’s performance to external stakeholders in both the executive and legislative branches of government.
Prior to this role, Mr. McArthur served as the Director of the Strategic Investments Division (SID) from 2018 to 2023. He provided leadership and oversight in Agency-level strategic planning, performance evaluation activities, as well as investment portfolio and budget evaluations to inform internal Agency decision makers and external stakeholders.
Mr. McArthur has held various technical and strategic management positions within NASA’s engineering directorates, development programs, and institutional offices. He began his NASA career in 1989 as an engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, developing air-breathing propulsion systems for advanced applications. In 1999, he joined the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) where he served in a variety of leadership positions, developing propulsion systems, launch vehicles, and managing institutional offices. In 2018, he moved to NASA HQ to serve as the SID Director.
Mr. McArthur holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from North Carolina State University.
He and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons, Ryan and Chris, and a daughter, Kate. In his spare time, Mr. McArthur enjoys cooking, hiking and gaming.