David Kaufman, chief operating officer of Ball Aerospace, has been promoted to succeed the retiring Robert Strain as president of the Boulder, Colorado-based spacecraft and payload developer in a move that takes effect Jan. 1.
Kaufman has held the COO post since the beginning of 2020 and will bring more than 25 years of industry experience to his next role, Ball Corp. said Wednesday.
He started his career at the corporation's aerospace segment two decades ago as a spacecraft systems engineer and later elevated to vice president and general manager of the unit's national defense strategic division.
His work has included oversight of programs such as the Orbital Express NextSat and the Space Test Program Standard Interface Vehicle.
Earlier in his career, Kaufman worked at Hughes Space & Communications Co. as a thermal engineer.
