Mary Ellen Weber

Dr. Mary Ellen Weber brings unique insights and skills honed through decades of speaking to provide compelling and thought-provoking keynotes on high-stakes operations, decision making, agility, and innovation. Informing her insights are her space experience as a NASA Astronaut and NASA advisor, her executive experience, and more than 40 years as an accomplished competitive skydiver. She shares her own stories, as well as other little known lore and lessons from space, to captivate audiences.

Weber is an acclaimed speaker in wide-ranging venues. In addition to keynotes, she once hosted a NASA TV show and co-hosted a town hall with a U.S. Vice President, and she has been on tours with the State Department throughout India, Canada, Egypt, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Slovakia, and Australia. And for over 15 years, she was a “go-to” space expert for news outlets including BBC Radio, Fox Business, and MSNBC.

What sets her apart from other NASA astronauts has been her focus on creating and delivering talks meaningful for businesses and executives. She draws on thirteen years experience as Executive Education faculty at the Kellogg School of Management, giving dynamic talks on decision making, leadership, and innovation. She was invited back year after year only due to the universal acclaim from discerning executives.

Categories: Astronauts and Aviation, Leadership, New to AEISpeakers, Women Shaping Tomorrow

Show More

View Mary Ellen Weber's

Videos

Topics

Lessons from Space: Decision Making, Agility, and Leadership

Space flight demands unparalleled preparation, the ability to handle the unexpected, and the right decisions in time-critical situations.

In fact, certain Space Shuttle malfunctions demanded live or die action within mere seconds.

Furthermore, NASA's mission has been everchanging, driven by shifting political, bureaucratic, and economic forces, and NASA has had to be both agile and steadfast to adapt.

Businesses and professionals face similar challenges and must prepare for high-stakes decisions, adversity, and upheaval.

To demonstrate highly effective strategies for this, Mary Ellen draws on anecdotes from spaceflights, skydiving, and NASA's programmatic shifts.

The "New Space" Era: Commercial, Tourism, and Reaching Beyond Earth

Mary Ellen shares insights on where we are with commercial space, tourism, and reaching beyond earth--and how this new era came to be. Her insights come from decades of experience in pivotal roles.

Within the Astronaut Corps, she was at the forefront of the shift from the scrapped "Space Station Freedom" to the ISS, which was dictated by the fall of USSR just a year prior to her Astronaut selection.

She also worked with NASA leadership in the first forays in commercial space, garnering private venture capital investment for space research.

More recently, until 2023, she served as advisor to NASA HQ on future space technologies for 12 years.

Experiencing Space

Using anecdotes, humor and video footage from her two flights, Mary Ellen brings space flight vividly to life.
*The extreme risks of reaching orbit--inescapable and far greater than widely thought -
*The most surprising things about living and working in zero G -
*The personal thoughts and preparations as one faces the risk of not returning to their family and Earth -
*The team dynamics within the Astronaut Corps and flight crews -
*The most surprising sights and views of Earth from orbit -
*How one—coming from among the most unlikely backgrounds—can become a NASA Astronaut -
*And more...

STEM: Inspiring the Pursuit of Science & Math

Mary Ellen takes a fresh approach to inspiring students to pursue STEM education.

Beyond making STEM "fun," she draws on her own challenges and experiences growing up.

Her passionate message is that while many doors may seemingly be closed, as they were to her, education and excellence are what will enable walking through those doors when they open in the future.

She emphasizes the rewards that come from choosing the most arduous paths, both the personal high and the skills gained when conquered.

These STEM skills will catapult any career and keep doors open.

Books

Testimonials

I have been fortunate to listen to many great speakers, but I have to tell you, you take the cake, you really do. You are absolutely magnificent…

American Income Life

At least ten times someone offered without any sort of prompt how excellent the speaker was. All in superlatives: “best I have ever heard”, “excellent”, “outstanding”, “incredibly informative and engaging” – to name a few. You made an impact that will be talked about for a long time to come.

Wire Reinforcement Institute

It was everything that we had hope it would be …. overflowing attendance, great content and very positive feedback from everyone.

Need Help?

Call us at 617-782-3111 and we will get back to you promptly!