Melanie Preisser is Vice President of National Systems for York Space Systems in Washington, D.C. Her responsibilities focus on building relationships and positive interactions with agencies and key officials in the U.S. Government and among U.S. and international customers and partners. Ms. Preisser has been a crucial figure in building York’s national defense business unit — scaled from a purely commercial segment capability and now executing on numerous defense and civil missions for the Space Force, the Space Development Agency, and lunar endeavors. Melanie and her team are committed to changing the way industry thinks about space and to making space more accessible, affordable, and faster.
Ms. Preisser brings over 25 years of diverse corporate and government experience in strategy and business development, acquisitions, systems engineering, satellite operations, and test and evaluation of space-based and airborne systems. She began her career as an acquisitions officer and project engineer for the United States Air Force and retired from the Air Force in 2014. In 2021, Ms. Preisser was selected as one of the “Top 30 Space Execs to Watch” by the WashingtonExec Magazine.
Prior to joining York, Ms. Preisser was Vice President of Government Relations for Stratolaunch Systems Corporation. She previously served with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., where she was responsible for acquisition oversight and coordination of major strategic, space and intelligence programs.
Ms. Preisser holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and master’s degrees in Systems Engineering and Business Administration.