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 and for shaping the Agency-wide strategy that ensures NASA’s most critical mission software meets the highest standards of safety, reliability, security, and cost-effectiveness. In this role, he also serves as a senior staff member to the Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA).

As Director, Mr. Deadrick is leading the IV&V Program through a period of strategic evolution to ensure it is optimally positioned to support NASA’s Moon-to-Mars (M2M) 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 requirement, but because its capabilities measurably reduce mission software risk, cybersecurity risk, and long-term technical debt. His priorities include expanding IV&V’s contributions to broader 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 Program is also implementing a streamlined functional structure focused on maximizing execution, strengthening technical depth, and sustaining a high-value, cost-effective operational footprint from West Virginia. This value-driven approach is increasingly reflected in growing demand for IV&V’s services from NASA programs as well as external organizations, underscoring the return-on-investment and mission benefit the Program 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 managing and performing software research and tool development, he became an IV&V Project Manager, leading the IV&V execution for high-profile missions including Juno, Kepler, MSL, JWST, JPSS, MAVEN, OSIRIS-REx, and Constellation. 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 (SSO), 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 Mission Protection Services (MPS). 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 capacity, he implemented a merit-based framework to strengthen workforce capability and position the Program for expanding mission demands.

Throughout his career, Mr. Deadrick has been recognized with several prestigious NASA awards, including the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, a Space Flight Awareness Award, numerous Project Achievement Awards, and the inaugural Terrence W. Wilcutt Award for excellence in advancing safety and mission assurance.