While many business leaders strive to expand their organization’s reach globally, one Marriott School grad oversees projects that have a more vertical approach—out of this atmosphere, actually.
Ralph Beaty is an analyst for four programs within the Planetary Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“I love my job,” he says. “I love the people I work with; they’re professionals and we all work as a team. Everyone is dedicated to our mission of exploration and discovery.”
Beaty oversees four planetary programs and their $550 million in annual resources. His responsibilities include the Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn and the New Horizons spacecraft nearly halfway to its rendezvous destination of Pluto. He is also deeply involved with upcoming missions, such as the Juno flight mission, scheduled to launch in August 2011 and to orbit Jupiter.
As much as he loves his job, Beaty is the first to tell you that working for NASA was never part of his plans as a BYU student. After earning his bachelor’s degree in finance and international business in 1987 and his MPA three years later, Beaty planned on going into city management. Just before graduation he was chosen for the prestigious Presidential Management Fellowship (previously known as the Presidential Management Internship). It was through the fellowship he was given the opportunity to take his career to a whole new world.
Beaty rotated through four federal government positions to fulfill his fellowship and even worked with the Senate Banking Committee on Capitol Hill for a year. But during the last few months of his fellowship Beaty worked with NASA on the Space Station Freedom project and was converted.
“Working with team managers and scientists is fascinating, and I enjoy contributing to various goals and scientific plans,” Beaty says. “It’s very rewarding working hard and adding value to the missions and making a difference in national space policy and research.”
Beaty, his wife, Lisa, and their two sons, Andrew and Ryan, live in Manassas, Virginia. When time allows Beaty enjoys working with tools and is a handyman around the house. He also likes to travel and is an avid reader during his almost hour-long train commute.
