Dave Kaufman BA’90
President of BAE Systems, Inc. Space & Mission Systems (Ball Aerospace)
Dr. Dave Kaufman is the president of BAE Systems, Inc. Space & Mission Systems sector, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. Kaufman is responsible for the sector’s operations across a broad portfolio of spacecraft, instruments, ground systems, sensors, tactical systems, operations, data analytics and more. Space and Mission Systems is a major subsidiary of BAE Systems, Inc. which employs nearly 41,000 across its major operations in the United States, United Kingdom, and Sweden, and generated 2023 sales of $13.6 billion.
Previously, Kaufman was a senior vice president for Ball Corporation and the president of Ball Aerospace, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation that was acquired by BAE Systems, Inc. Dr. Kaufman has served in numerous leadership roles within the Space & Mission Systems sector, including chief operating officer and vice president and general manager of the sector’s business area focused on delivering space system solutions to the defense and intelligence communities.
During his three-decade industry career, Kaufman has served in leadership positions for a variety of space system programs including DARPA’s Orbital Express NEXTSat/CSC and the U.S. Air Force Space Test Program Standard Interface Vehicle. He began his aerospace career as a thermal engineer at Hughes Space & Communications Co. in El Segundo, California, and was awarded two patents for his research and development work.
Kaufman is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also appointed to the National Space Council’s User Advisory Group (UAG), where he will serve to enable a robust and responsible U.S. space enterprise and preserve space for current and future generations. He received a B.S. in mathematics from Willamette University, a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, and a M.S. and Ph. D. in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.