Wes Deadrick

Wes Deadrick is the Director of NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Program, located at the Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia. He is responsible for the leadership and technical direction of the IV&V Program, where his team ensures that software developed for NASA’s most critical missions meets the highest standards of safety, reliability, security, and cost-effectiveness. In this role, he also serves as a senior staff for both the Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA). 

As Director, Mr. Deadrick is guiding the IV&V Program through a period of strategic evolution to ensure it is optimally positioned to support NASA’s Moon-to-Mars architecture and the Agency’s most consequential human spaceflight and science missions. Central to his leadership philosophy is strengthening IV&V as a value-centric, mission-focused partner—an organization sought out not simply because of requirements or directives, but because its capabilities measurably reduce mission software risk, cybersecurity risk, and long-term technical debt. His priorities include expanding IV&V’s role in Agency software assurance and technical authority functions; maturing AI/ML-enabled analysis capabilities; strengthening the Program’s Mission Protection Services (MPS); and advancing digital engineering, including the introduction of digital-twin–based assurance approaches. Under his leadership, the organization has implemented a streamlined functional structure focused on maximizing mission impact, deepening technical expertise, infusing innovation, and sustaining a high-value, cost-effective operational footprint from West Virginia. This approach is increasingly reflected in growing demand for IV&V’s services from NASA programs and external partners, underscoring the return on investment and mission benefit the organization provides. 

Mr. Deadrick began his NASA career in 2002 at the IV&V Program as a research engineer within the OSMA Software Assurance Research Program (SARP). After five years leading and performing software research and tool development, he became an IV&V Project Manager, overseeing IV&V execution for high-profile missions including Juno, Kepler, the Mars Science Laboratory, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Joint Polar Satellite System, MAVEN, OSIRIS-REx, and the Constellation Program. In 2010, he served on detail at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the software lead for a Constellation Program component. 

Following his project management roles, Mr. Deadrick served as Lead of the IV&V Program’s Safety and Mission Assurance Support Office, providing engineering and software assurance reach-back support to OSMA and the Commercial Crew Program. During this time, he initiated the Program’s cybersecurity assurance capability—now known as Mission Protection Services. Immediately prior to becoming Director, he led the IV&V Office, responsible for executing IV&V services across NASA’s highest-priority missions. In this role, he implemented a merit-based framework to strengthen workforce capability and position the organization for expanding mission demands. 

Mr. Deadrick is a West Virginia native and resides in Morgantown with his wife and four children.