Background
Shotwell was born in Evanston, Illinois, as the middle of three daughters to a brain surgeon and an artist, and was raised in Libertyville, Illinois.
2014
San Francisco, California, United States
Entrepreneur, scientist and author Astro Teller, Paypal Inc. Co-Founder Max Levchin and SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell speak onstage during Slingshots and Moonshots at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 8, 2014, in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac
2017
Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California
Lisa Ling, Gwynne Shotwell, Bellamy Young, Kerry Washington, Marne Levine, and Rowan Blanchard at the Women Making History Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on September 16, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by John Sciulli)
2018
Hawthorne, California, United States
paceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell, NASA Astronauts Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley, Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover, and Director of Crew Mission Management Benji Reed talk after addressing reporters in front of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, under construction in a clean room, during a media tour of SpaceX headquarters and rocket factory on August 13, 2018, in Hawthorne, California. (Photo by David McNew)
2013
Hawthorne, California, United States
Gwynne Shotwell is photographed at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne on May 29, 2013. In the background is the SpaceX factory floor for production. (Photo by Gary Friedman)
2014
San Francisco, California, United States
Entrepreneur, scientist and author Astro Teller, Paypal Inc. Co-Founder Max Levchin and SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell speak onstage during Slingshots and Moonshots at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 8, 2014, in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac
2016
Shotwell presented a SpaceX Falcon 9 model.
2017
Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California
Lisa Ling, Gwynne Shotwell, Bellamy Young, Kerry Washington, Marne Levine, and Rowan Blanchard at the Women Making History Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on September 16, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by John Sciulli)
2017
Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California, United States
Gwynne Shotwell (L) and Cynthia Leive speak onstage at the Women Making History Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on September 16, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California.
2017
Spring Studios, New York City, New York, United States
Gwynne Shotwell attends the 2017 Forbes Women's Summit at Spring Studios on June 13, 2017, in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill)
2017
Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
Gwynne Shotwell at the 33rd Space Symposium.
2017
Paris, France
Arianespace CEO Stephane Israel, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, ILS CEO Kirk Pysher and ULA CEO Tory Bruno at World Satellite Business Week 2017 in Paris.
2018
Hawthorne, California, United States
paceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell, NASA Astronauts Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley, Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover, and Director of Crew Mission Management Benji Reed talk after addressing reporters in front of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, under construction in a clean room, during a media tour of SpaceX headquarters and rocket factory on August 13, 2018, in Hawthorne, California. (Photo by David McNew)
Hawthorne, California, United States
Shotwell at SpaceX’s factory, where the inner stage of the Falcon 9 is made.
Shotwell was born in Evanston, Illinois, as the middle of three daughters to a brain surgeon and an artist, and was raised in Libertyville, Illinois.
In high school, Shotwell was an A-student who played varsity basketball and was on the cheerleading team when her mother told her she should be an engineer. "I was like, 'What does an engineer do? Drive trains?'" she recalled, laughing.
Gwynne received, with honors, a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University.
Shotwell originally planned to work in the automotive industry and was enrolled in Chrysler Corporation's management training program but desired more a hands-on engineering role and did not remain in that industry.
In 1988, she began work at the El Segundo research center of The Aerospace Corporation, and did technical work on military space research and development contracts. During a ten-year tenure, she worked in thermal analysis while "writing dozens of papers on a variety of subjects including conceptual small spacecraft design, infrared signature target modeling, space shuttle integration and reentry vehicle operational risks".
Wanting to "build, and put spacecraft together", in 1998 she left the Aerospace Corp. to become "director of the space systems division at Microcosm Inc, a low-cost rocket builder in El Segundo". There, she served on the executive committee and was responsible for business development.
In 2002 Shotwell joined SpaceX, a private, commercial, space exploration company founded by Elon Musk in the same year, as vice president of business development, also being given a seat on the SpaceX board of directors. She was its eleventh employee. The company builds the Falcon vehicle family which has launched more than 50 times representing about $5 billion in revenue. Shotwell is now President and COO of SpaceX, responsible for day-to-day operations and managing all customer and strategic relations to support company growth.
In December 2010, SpaceX became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft. It also has a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA to deliver astronauts and science instruments to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX is also working on a next-generation transportation system to take people to Mars in the near future.
On February 6, 2019, Polaris Industries announced that Shotwell will join their board of directors on March 1, 2019.
Shotwell participates in a variety of STEM related programs, including the Frank J. Redd Student Scholarship Competition. Under her leadership the committee raised more than $350,000 in scholarships in 6 years.
Shotwell has authored dozens of papers on a variety of subjects including standardizing spacecraft and payload interfaces, conceptual small spacecraft design, infrared signature target modeling, shuttle integration, and reentry vehicle operational risks.
Shotwell is keen to bring young women into the industry. She admits she finds it hard to turn down an offer from a college when they ask her to relay her experiences to students about being an engineer. However, despite the undoubted progress there has been in bringing women into the satellite industry, Shotwell believes more still needs to be done to demonstrate that engineering is a great career path for women.
Quotations:
“You can’t be on the cusp of innovation and at the forefront of technology if you’re wearing blinders. If you don’t have an exploration programme where you’re exploring your world here on Earth, underwater, and in space, then you’re wearing blinders and handicapping yourself.”
“I never felt any issues whatsoever about being a woman in tech.”
“We need people to self-check their workloads and focus on simplifying their jobs and making the task easier instead of putting their heads down and being a hero.”
“The key is to join an industry that you have a passion for. If you love cars, then automotive is where you should end up.”
Gwynne Shotwell has built a reputation as a strong, no-nonsense leader.
Quotes from others about the person
“Gwynne is dynamic. She’s a rare mix of engineering talent, business acumen and likability. That has allowed her to do extremely amazing things.” - Tim Hughes, senior vice president and general counsel at SpaceX.
Shotwell is married to an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and has a son and a daughter.