Janet Petro was named the 11th director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 30, 2021. She had been serving as acting director since May 2021 following NASA Administrator Sen. Bill Nelson’s announcement that Robert D. Cabana, previous Kennedy director, would assume the role of NASA’s associate administrator.
Prior to being named director, Petro served as Kennedy’s deputy director since April 2007, where she shared responsibility with the center director in managing the Kennedy team of civil service and contractor employees, determining and implementing center policy and managing and executing Kennedy missions and agency program responsibilities.
During her tenure as deputy director, Petro helped Kennedy transition into a multi-user spaceport, leading cross-agency initiatives with the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Air Force to streamline government processes and support commercial space operations to increase government efficiency and limit redundancy. She served a 12-month appointment at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. as the deputy associate administrator and acting director for the Office of Evaluation.
From 2017 through January 2020, she served as the Program Executive leading the agency-wide initiative for a phased implementation to restructure all mission enabling functions to ensure efficient and effective support of NASA’s missions. Her assignment to the Mission Support Future Architecture Program (MAP) concluded in January 2020.
Prior to joining NASA, Petro served in various management positions for Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Corp. At SAIC, Petro held a number of management positions within the corporation’s operations. She interfaced with NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, and commercial entities on numerous aerospace and military programs.
At McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, Petro advanced from mechanical engineer and payload manager to multiple management positions including program manager for executing a classified, multimillion-dollar U.S. Department of Defense program, to senior manager for Communications and Data Systems Division.