From 2018 to 2024 Dan Dumbacher served as the chief executive officer of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), where he implemented aeronautic, space, and research and development strategic domain constructs to enhance impact and grow membership.

Prior to AIAA, he was a professor of engineering practice at Purdue for four years, carrying on the principles that he learned as a student and earning the coveted W. A. Gustafson Teaching Award in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Now, Dumbacher has returned to Purdue University as a professor of practice, reinstated his consulting company, and taken on the part-time role of chief innovation and strategy officer at Special Aerospace Services.

Dumbacher’s extensive resume at NASA is loaded with instrumental roles in which he developed groundbreaking launch vehicles, spacecraft and the technologies that power them. In his role as deputy associate administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, he led a team of 5,000 people and managed a budget of $3 billion to initiate the Artemis campaign. Another key milestone at NASA was managing the 2nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program, which pioneered cost-effective, reusable spacecraft concepts, resulting in the Orbital Space Plane program.