The Potomac Officers Club is thrilled to announce Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration, as a keynote speaker for the 2025 Air and Space Summit. The July 31 event is an unparalleled opportunity to gain insights from a leader who is redefining how the U.S. Space Force secures the future of space exploration and defense. Learn more about Purdy and secure your ticket today to attend this elite GovCon conference.
Who Is Stephen Purdy?
With decades of experience in space acquisition, policy and innovation, Maj. Gen. Purdy is at the forefront of advancing the United States’ capabilities in space. As the U.S. Space Force’s top acquisition official, Purdy oversees $24 billion in annual research and development funding and administers cutting-edge initiatives like the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, and Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability, a.k.a. DARC.
Maj. Gen. Purdy began his career in the Air Force as a distinguished graduate of the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Baylor University in 1993. He has held various roles in engineering, acquisition and policy with assignments at the Air Force Laboratory, the Pentagon, Congress, the Space and Missile Systems Center and U.S. Space Force headquarters.
Maj. Gen. Purdy’s experience includes serving as a space, nuclear, cyber and congressional appropriations liaison, materiel leader for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, senior materiel leader for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency program and director of special programs at the Space and Missile Systems Center. Purdy also served as the dual-hatted director of requirements, architectures and analysis for the Space Operations Command as well as the director of plans, programs, and financial management.
Before his current role, Maj. Gen. Purdy was quad-hatted as the program executive officer for assured access to space, commander of Space Launch Delta 45, director of launch and range operations at Space Systems Command, and director of the eastern range at Patrick Space Force Base in Florida.
2025 Air and Space Summit Keynote Focus
Attendees of the 2025 Air and Space Summit can expect to hear an impactful keynote addressing the Space Force’s priorities in improving how it acquires and executes space systems and launches. In a written May testimony to the House of Representatives, Maj. Gen. Purdy outlined a number of Space Force acquisition reform initiatives, including:
- Reducing program delivery delays and cost overruns
- Prioritizing commercial technologies across all contracting actions
- Increasing the use of other transaction authorities, or OTAs
- Reducing software acquisition from giant, monolithic programs to open architecture frameworks
- Restructuring underperforming contracts and programs
Defense GovCons attending the 2025 Air and Space Summit can also expect to hear program updates on the Space Force’s most important programs. These include the Rapid Response Trailblazer-1 mission, which demonstrated the service’s ability to perform launches on a timeline reduced from 24 months to less than five months. Another is Tactically Responsive Space, in which the Space Force aims to reduce launch turnaround times to as little as 24 hours after a request, according to Breaking Defense.
Attendees of the event can also attend keynotes and panel discussions featuring leading space officials, such as:
- Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, Missile Defense Agency director
- Gen. Michael Guetlein, Space Force vice chief of space operations
- Col. Alexander Rasmussen, Space Development Agency chief of the tracking layer
- And many more!
Why Attend the 2025 Air and Space Summit?
The 2025 Air and Space Summit will provide unparalleled insights into the opportunities and threats facing the air and space industries. This unique GovCon event will help attendees better comprehend the strategic imperative of air and space defense and how best to position their companies to benefit from its advancement.
Areas of interest for the summit include:
- Engaging with sponsor firms that lead the GovCon industry, including Kepler, SAIC, Raft, BWX Technologies, Intelsat and others.
- Panel discussions on critical air and space emerging technologies, such as Golden Dome missile defense, optical data relay and resilient energy architectures for sustained space operations
- Chances to meet and develop rapport with leading defense professionals and innovators
Take advantage of this unparalleled opportunity to learn directly from leaders like Maj. Gen. Purdy at the 2025 Air and Space Summit and position your GovCon firm for success in the air and space marketplace. Register now for this can’t-miss conference for air and space professionals!
