Jaclyn Jester (Keshian)

Jaclyn Jester is NASA’s deputy chief of staff, where she helps lead the coordination and execution of initiatives, programs, and policies for the administrator and agency leadership.

Jester was most recently NASA’s associate administrator for the agency’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at NASA. In this capacity, she directed a staff responsible for managing and coordinating all communications with the U.S. Congress, as well as served as a senior advisor to agency leaders on legislative matters.

Previously, Jaclyn served as senior director of government affairs at Relativity Space, where she led the Government Affairs team in Washington, D.C. and guided policy engagement for the company with all branches and levels of government. She served as a subject matter expert on space policy issues and was responsible for formulating and executing a legislative strategy aligned to company goals and objectives.

Prior to joining Relativity, Jester served as a policy advisor in NASA’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs where she advised NASA leadership on various legislative and policy matters. She also previously served as a policy advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, advising the director on space policy issues, leading legislative affairs, and serving as co-chair of the Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation interagency working group.

From 2015 to 2019, Jester served on the majority staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation where she helped develop numerous pieces of legislation and performed oversight on various government agencies including the FAA and NASA. Her portfolio included aviation operations and safety policy, with a focus on unmanned aircraft systems, as well as civil and commercial space policy. She has also spent time in state government as the chief legislative aide to a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Jester is a graduate of Boston College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and minored in economics and international studies.