Gregg Maryniak

Gregg Maryniak is a pioneering aerospace innovator, entrepreneur, and space policy expert best known as the Co-Founder and original Executive Director of the XPRIZE Foundation, where he continues to serve as Corporate Secretary and member of both the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees. An Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Maryniak has earned international recognition for his contributions to space exploration and energy resources, including Russia's prestigious Tsiolkovsky Medal and the Space Frontier Foundation's Vision to Reality Award for his foundational role in launching the Lunar Prospector Team, which made the landmark discovery of billions of tons of water ice and frozen volatiles at the Moon's North and South poles. A seasoned space policy advocate, he has testified on energy and space technology before the United States Congress and the President's National Commission on Space. His distinguished career spans roles as CEO of the Space Studies Institute of Princeton, Senior Scientist at Futron Corporation, Vice President of the St. Louis Science Center, and Director of the James S. McDonnell Planetarium. As an Associate Founder of the International Space University, Maryniak served on its Board and as a Managing Director and department chair, teaching orbital mechanics, robotics, and space resource utilization. He has also served on the Director's Council of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, serves as Vice Chairman of the Lindbergh Foundation, and co-chairs the Space and Energy tracks at Singularity University. In 2017, he authored Fearless Experiments with Microcomputers, an accessible guide introducing readers to exponential microprocessor technology.