Olivia J. Carte

Olivia J. Carte was chief of staff at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, from August 2020 to June 2023, before taking a one-year assignment as executive officer for the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

Experience

As NASA Armstrong’s chief of staff, she served as an expert analyst to the center director, providing advice and guidance on center organization and management issues. In coordination with NASA Headquarters and NASA Armstrong’s organizational directors, she assisted with the integration of center-wide and institutional strategies as well as supported center activities, including programmatic, research, mission support, and technical support functions. She also was responsible for coordinating center responses to agency boards and councils.

From 2013 to August 2020, Carte was a management analyst in the Mission Integration Office, supporting the Mission Operations Directorate at NASA Armstrong. In this role, she was the business manager for Information Technology, Dryden Aeronautical Test Range, and Simulation Engineering. She provided expert advisory and analytical services to senior leadership on a broad range of operational and strategic matters, including integrated funds management, contract management, process improvement, and overall portfolio management.

Carte was a budget analyst from 2006 to 2013 at the U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center Reimbursable Budget Office and the Civil Engineer Budget Office at Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB). For the reimbursable office, she supported programs such as the F-16, F-22, Bombers, KC-135, Airborne Laser, and Foreign Military Sales. For the civil engineer office, shewas responsible for managing the budgets of the EAFB Utility Program, EAFB Fire Department, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit, and the EAFB major service contracts.

Carte first came to NASA Armstrong (then Dryden) in 2002 to support the Integrated Financial Management Program team. She also assisted with financial records, supported the Accounts Payable Office and supported the formation and implementation of the Dryden Central Travel Office, eventually becoming the office lead.

Honors and Education

Carte received NASA Honor Awards for Early Career Achievement Medal in 2019, for Group Achievement Convergent Aeronautic Solutions Collaboration Rooms in 2017, and for Group Achievement Armstrong Central Travel Office 2017. She co-authored “Creating Innovative Frameworks to Spur Cultural Change at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center” in 2017.

She is a graduate of the 2015 Foundations of Influence, Relationships, Success and Teamwork (FIRST) Class, and earned a bachelor’s degree in business management in 2012 from Grantham University in Lenexa, Kansas.

Personal

Carte spends her free time with her husband and two sons.