Leadership Lessons from Mission Control: Making Real-Time Risk Tradeoff Decisions

Ginger Kerrick, the first Latina director of NASA Mission Control and a 30-year veteran of the Johnson Space Center, has built a trailblazing career marked by resilience and innovation. Though disqualified from becoming an astronaut, she rose to prominence as the first non-astronaut CAPCOM and later as one of NASA’s elite Flight Directors, leading International Space Station and Space Shuttle missions. Kerrick has earned numerous honors, including NASA’s Silver Snoopy award, and today serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Barrios Technology, where she applies her expertise in leadership, collaboration, and mission success. A passionate STEM ambassador, Texas Women’s Hall of Fame inductee, and Texas Tech Regent, she continues to inspire audiences worldwide by sharing lessons from her groundbreaking journey in space exploration and team leadership.

This event is part of a Women’s and Gender Studies Lecture Series funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities Grant, which was awarded to Dr. Winfrey and the WGS program in the fall of 2023.

This lecture recording can be found on the Available Recordings page approximately two business days after the event and will remain accessible for three weeks.