Senior Executive (SES) that oversees >$300M annually distributed through an exciting set of innovation programs and activities:—Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR)—Prizes and Challenges—Space Technology Research Grants—NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts—Technology Transfer—Center Innovation Fund/Early Career InitiativeSenior Executive leader for a portfolio of programs aimed at empowering a community of innovators pioneering aerospace research and transformative technology ventures to enable NASA’s mission and invigorate our economic future. Leads a premier science and technology organization supporting applied research and development, including management of functions such as personnel, programmatic and fiscal oversight, budget formulation, and stewarding partnerships.

Provided executive leadership and management oversight for NASA's ~$200M annual SBIR and STTR Programs. The SBIR/STTR program selects over 550 technology and innovation projects annually, investing in more than 300 small businesses and entrepreneurs in the United States space industry. In this role oversees approximately 45 full-time employees and thousands of part-time employees. Invests in technology proof of concept, prototype and commercialization projects on topics including robotics, autonomy, AI, propulsion, communications and navigation, materials, advanced and additive manufacturing, in-space assembly, resource utilization, life support systems, scientific sensors, detectors and instruments, energy, UAVs, urban air mobility, and more.Conceptualized and led an ambitious multi-stakeholder strategic re-alignment process which modernized of the program’s mission, vision, strategic goals and objectives, organizational structure, investment vehicles, business processes and support information technology. Maintained steady leadership in the wake of the 2019 government shutdown, minimizing impacts on a 5-week shutdown on small businesses and NASA employees by implementing efficiency improvements to maintain schedule. Developed numerous new partnerships to advance the program’s commercialization outcomes and increase the diversity of companies funded through the program. Published a conference paper (pending peer reviewed publication) sharing the strategic and collaborative approach leveraged to transform NASA’s SBIR/STTR program to be more business friendly.Also co-chaired the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Interagency Working Group on Making for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from Dec 2016 - Mar 2018 with Craig Buerstatte.

(On detail to the White House from NASA from Sept 2014-May 2106 as the Government-wide Assistant Director for Open Innovation)Senior NASA official, chief strategist, expert, and public face for OI within the Office of the Chief Technologist. Due to her performance in this role during her time at NASA, the White House recruited Ms. Gustetic to join OSTP (as a detail from NASA) to perform this work for the entire federal government.Funded, with the Human Exploration Mission Directorate (HEOMD), the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (COECI), a program of six FTE/WYE staff at Johnson Space Center. Effectively doubled OCT’s prize budget by requiring matching from participating NASA divisions. Led assessment teams for NASA's Grand Challenges, which are bold, but achievable science, technology and innovation goals that seek to unify public and private constituencies around a clear “call to action.” Leading assessment teams involved managing an agency-wide process within a four month period during FY2014 to develop candidate concepts for Grand Challenges, including developing the Charter and Terms of Reference, recruiting and training 30+ NASA personnel from HQ (each center that served on one of five working groups) and developing concepts and summary recommendations to be presented to agency leadership for decision. Led the formulation of NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge to “find all asteroid threats to human populations and know what to do about them” in consultation with the White House OSTP and other NASA stakeholders. Spearheaded agency efforts to double the agency’s Near Earth Object (NEO) Observation budget through the Presidents and Congressional budget processes from $20M in FY2013 to $40M in FY2014.Identified the strategic need for and oversaw the implementation of NASA Solve, a communications strategy and website that acts as a one stop shop for sharing all NASA prize, challenge and crowdsourcing opportunities with the public.

Chairs the Finance Committee and member of the Executive Committee. Championed an investment subcommittee to consider ways the organization could consider leveraging the investment assets of the organization in the most mission aligned way. Methods that will be assessed range from ESG investing to grantmaking to impact investing

Provides board leadership during a transition time for the Van Alen Institute (VAI), a 125-year-old non-profit that helps create equitable cities through community-led inclusive design. VAI partners with leaders of historically disinvested communities to support their immediate needs and long term visions with VAI’s network, knowledge, and resources. VAI shapes diverse interdisciplinary teams, builds cross-sector public/private coalitions, and invests VAI’s own funds to support neighborhood priorities. VAI’s inclusive design method responds to the urgent need for social justice in citymaking by centering community in everything VAI does.

Actively participated in the board working group that assessed the strategic value of, and then decided to sell, VAI’s real estate assets during a market peak to establish a large endowment (compared to other architecture and design non-profits) to enable VAI to pursue higher impact work in the future. Chaired the VAI Strategy Working Group, comprised of board members, VAI staff, and advisory group members, to develop VAI’s near-term strategy for pursuing a new initiative around re-imagining city growth that is designed for inclusion. Participating in effort to transition a new Executive Director to lead VAI into this future. Voted to become secretary of the board starting January 2020.

Identified and executed partnerships to further policy and methods to explore the implications of the future of work, workplaces and workforces on society. In collaboration with Bill Eggers/ Deloitte, developed tools and methods to (1) architect future government work that creates higher value through human machine collaboration, (2) humanize the future of work by creating a persona-based methods for developing the jobs of the future, and (3) ease the process to visualize the impact of technology on jobs to empower organizations, employees, and individuals to create a more positive future. In collaboration with the Stanford Cyber Initiative and IDEO CoLab, applied design thinking and prototyping practices to develop actionable policy solutions involving federal, state and local governments, corporations, educators and individual workers to equip Americans with the right skills to thrive in this emerging, dynamic work environment. Delivered plenary remarks and keynotes on this topic across the globe at events ranging from MIT EmTech NEXT 2018 to the Center for Workplace Leadership’s Future of Work Summit 2018. Resulted in numerous publications.This is an outside activity from NASA and thus none of my work in this fellowship represents the views of NASA or the US Federal Government.

While on detail from NASA, acted as White House’s chief strategist, expert, and public face for open innovation (OI). Personally provided advice and critical review to more than 50 of the 450 prizes conducted in the federal government as of May 2016. Proven ability to lead and work in teams, often from behind the scenes, which has been recognized by leadership and peers. Awarded the White House OSTP Excellence Award in October 2015 (only one awarded per month to over 125 OSTP employees) for exceptional work in increasing awareness and use of OI approaches inside and outside the federal government. Recognition was for leadership and management of a year’s work of two separate 15+ person teams to develop new federal-wide policies, training resources and public and private sector commitments in support of two large-scale events in September/October 2015. Awarded, through a peer-nomination process, the “Challenge.gov Trailblazer” Award from GSA in October 2015 for work in support of the federal prize community. Recognition was for work to educate hundreds of federal employees, contractors and participants in fellowship programs about how to best leverage OI approaches within government laws, processes and policies, through individual mentoring; and the stewardship of relevant federal communities of practice, including a 200+ person federal citizen science and crowdsourcing community, a 700+ person federal prizes community, and a 600+ person Fellows in Innovation community.Co-founder of citizenscience.gov, a government program at the GSA designed to accelerate the use of crowdsourcing and citizen science across the U.S. government. Provided leadership for this massive volunteer effort with more than 120 people from 24 agencies.Represented the White House delivering keynotes and plenary remarks at numerous events including SXSWi, the Grand Challenges of our Era Summit, Global Partnerships Week and CityLab.

As an associate director, managed work for over 30 POCG employees performing open government (open gov), innovation, social media, prize and communications work at over a dozen client sites. Responsible for business development, staffing and employee professional development, often under short timelines in high-pressure environments. As a consultant, provided advice and guidance on challenging problems in innovation and technology to eight different federal agencies. Developed communications strategies to inform, educate and persuade the general public, specialized groups, internal organizations, other agency heads and executives, private sector leaders and the media of the value of federal agency’s innovation efforts. Directly supported numerous high-impact federal agency’s innovation efforts. For example, at the personal request of the DOT Deputy Chief of Staff, ensured the launch and operational success of a multimillion-dollar internal ideation and collaboration program, IdeaHub. Awarded the company’s “Thought Leadership Award” in 2010 (one awarded for 125+ employees per year) for developing the company’s open government service offering and for excellent support in the development of DOT’s Open Government Plan.

-Project Advisor for the deployment of the IdeaHub program at DOT, scheduled for release in the summer of 2010. Advised deployment of first department-wide employee ideation/ innovation program. Oversaw communications execution, change management strategy, and the development of sustainable resourcing strategies.-Acted as the Executive Officer for the DOT Open Government Initiative: managing the completion of the DOT Open Government Plan, coordinating and overseeing the over 200 federal members of the working groups and subgroups charged with making change at DOT, advising the development of and providing the content for the www.dot.gov/open webpage, identifying and supporting interagency partnership opportunities with GSA, OSTP, OMB, EPA and HUD, and developing methods for strategic alignment and open government planning. Also facilitated, for the Department of Transportation's Chief Information Officer, the development of a grants management modernization strategy, an IT policy process improvement plan, and a data prioritization and release plan through data.gov.-Led a campus recruiting effort for POCG in the Fall of 2009 and 2010 targeting MIT and local MBA graduates.-Co-lead of the POCG Open Government and Innovation community of practice, leading the development of an Open Government methodology, advising the development of innovation strategies for the federal government, developing an Open Gov blogging schedule, authoring white papers on key Open Gov issues, and coordinating speaking opportunities at Gov 2.0 events.

-Represented TSA at the Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston Regional Transit Security Working Groups (RTSWG), working with stakeholders to make risk-based decisions about which projects should be funded with over $200 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, 2008 and 2009 grant funds.-Supervised the development of a long-term communication strategy to improve stakeholder relations including creating a world-class TSA grants website and one of the first federal government registration-only (secure) blogs.-Acted as Director of the $400M TSA Grant Programs during June 2008 while the Director was away, managing a staff of four, briefing both the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees, overseeing the FY 08 awards announcement and supervising the release of a $6M re-compete for transit agencies.