Management

The leadership of Astrobotic Technology combines top robotic technologists, space and defense mission experts, and leaders in commercial space enterprise.

Chairman and Chief Technical Officer Dr. William “Red” Whittaker is a leading world expert on building robots with the intelligence to select their own path through unstructured environments. He won the 2007 Urban Challenge (sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) with an SUV able to handle city traffic without a driver at the wheel and currently is executing a NASA research contract for a future lunar drilling robot. Dr. Whittaker is successful at meeting government data needs, having won more than 80 contracts from NASA, the U.S. Energy Dept. and the Defense Dept.

President David Gump led companies that marketed lunar rovers to major networks, corporate sponsors and space agencies. Sponsorship events include producing the first television commercial filmed on board the International Space Station on behalf of RadioShack and providing the first funding for *NSYNC singer Lance Bass’ effort to visit the Station. At Transformational Space Corp., he executed a $6 million NASA contract to advise the agency on how to structure its Moon-Mars program.

Alex Gutierrez is the business operations officer, responsible for all business operations, collaboration with the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, and leading many of Astrobotic’s bid proposals. During his graduate studies at the Robotics Institute, he co-founded and led the “Red Team,” which competed in both DARPA Grand Challenges, in which robots were required to drive 150 miles autonomously across the desert. Prior to joining Astrobotic, Alex was a Project Manager for UBS Investment Bank. In this capacity, he helped to manage a $200 million Global Data Management Program to ensure global regulatory and business supervision and compliance.