# Meet the SpaceX insiders Elon Musk trusts to run his $1.25 trillion empire > Source: > Published: 2026-06-20 07:00:00+00:00 Everyone knows Elon Musk is the genius behind the biggest stock market debut of all time. But even a genius, in the immortal words of Jim Collins, needs [a thousand helpers](https://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/good-to-great.html). So who, exactly, is helping him run [SpaceX](https://fortune.com/company/spacex/)? The company Musk founded in an El Segundo, Calif. warehouse in 2002 is not quite the company it was even 18 months ago. In February 2026, [Musk folded](https://fortune.com/2026/02/02/elon-musk-spacex-xai-ipo-trillion/) his artificial intelligence startup xAI into SpaceX in an all-stock deal. The deal [created](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/03/musk-xai-spacex-biggest-merger-ever.html) a $1.25 trillion private behemoth—part rocket company, part satellite constellation, part AI firm—[before handing shares](https://fortune.com/2026/06/13/elon-musk-spacex-ai-business-biggest-ipo-of-all-time/) of it to the public. Several of the executives who built SpaceX’s launch business now formally oversee xAI’s operations, too. A longtime general counsel [retired](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/in-house-counsel/spacex-details-big-legal-fees-as-ipo-proceeds-without-law-chief-1) without a named successor. And [a new board](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/technology/spacex-elon-musk-pay-board-governance.html), assembled just months before the IPO, includes two fresh faces elevated to satisfy the governance expectations of public market investors. The result is an organization that is more complex, more sprawling, and more deeply “Musk” than ever. Below is an updated guide to the power players running SpaceX and the changes that quietly reshaped SpaceX’s leadership in the months leading up to [the biggest market debut](https://fortune.com/2026/06/11/spacex-ipo-largest-history-wall-street-analysts-split-valuation-debate/) the world has ever seen. **TOP EXECUTIVES** **Elon Musk** **Cofounder, CEO, Chairman, and Chief Technical Officer** Elon Musk [founded SpaceX in 2002](https://fortune.com/2026/06/12/where-does-musk-live-spacex-stock-ipo-net-worth-trillionaire-homes-texas/) after famously trying to buy refurbished Russian ICBMs for a Mars greenhouse mission and deciding he could build rockets more cheaply himself. More than two decades later, he remains what he has always been at the company: [not just a CEO](https://fortune.com/2026/06/12/where-does-musk-live-spacex-stock-ipo-net-worth-trillionaire-homes-texas/) but its chief designer, lead systems engineer, and singular decision-making authority. As COO Gwynne Shotwell [explained](https://fortune.com/2026/06/15/gwynne-shotwell-spacex-engineer-mars-nasa-ipo/) at Stanford, Musk sets the vision while everyone else executes. **Gwynne Shotwell** **President and COO—and now xAI Operational Overseer** If Musk is the architect of SpaceX’s ambitions, Shotwell is the builder. She was [recruited in 2002](https://fortune.com/2026/06/15/gwynne-shotwell-spacex-engineer-mars-nasa-ipo/) as the company’s 11th employee. She was named President in 2008 after securing a pivotal NASA contract. Today she oversees a full-time [workforce of 22,000](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/16/gwynne-shotwell-spacex-elon-musk-ipo.html), manages all customer and strategic relationships, and sits on the company’s board of directors. Since the[ SpaceX-xAI merger](https://fortune.com/2026/02/02/elon-musk-spacex-xai-ipo-trillion/) closed in February, Shotwell also formally helps oversee xAI’s operations, cementing her position as the connective tissue across the entire Musk empire. **Mark Juncosa** **Vice President of Vehicle Engineering** Mark Juncosa [joined SpaceX in 2005](https://theorg.com/org/spacex/org-chart/mark-juncosa) and has been one of its most quietly consequential engineering executives ever since, according to the corporate transparency platform The Org. He rose through the ranks from senior director of structural engineering (2011) to vice president of structures engineering (2013) before taking on his current role as [vice president of vehicle engineering in 2015](https://www.signalhire.com/profiles/mark-juncosa's-email/10046599). In that capacity, he oversees development of SpaceX’s entire vehicle portfolio—Starlink satellites, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy among them. Juncosa is also the executive most directly associated with Starbase, SpaceX’s sprawling launch and development campus on the Texas Gulf Coast. Along with Shotwell, he is said to [oversee the facility’s day-to-day operations](https://observer.com/2025/06/spacex-top-executives/)—making him a central figure in the Starship program’s progress toward deep-space missions. **Bret Johnsen** **CFO and President of Strategic Acquisitions Group** Bret Johnsen has been [SpaceX’s sole CFO since 2011](https://fortune.com/2026/06/13/spacex-cfo-bret-johnsen-overnight-billionaire-ipo/)—when Musk recruited him with the explicit aim of eventually taking the company public, *Fortune* previously reported . He spent nearly a decade at [Broadcom](https://fortune.com/company/broadcom/) in senior finance before becoming CFO of networking chip firm Mindspeed Technologies—where he restructured debt and raised the company’s [valuation fifteenfold](https://fortune.com/2026/06/13/spacex-cfo-bret-johnsen-overnight-billionaire-ipo/) during the 2008 financial crisis. He came to SpaceX to build the financial infrastructure of a company attempting to colonize Mars. The IPO is just the beginning of that challenge; [Johnsen now ](https://fortune.com/2026/06/12/spacex-cfo-bret-johnsen-callenge-after-75-billion-ipo/)[faces the task of proving](https://fortune.com/2026/06/12/spacex-cfo-bret-johnsen-callenge-after-75-billion-ipo/) SpaceX can deliver on its satellite, AI, and deep-space ambitions as a public company. Following the xAI merger, he also [took over xAI’s financial operations](https://fortune.com/2026/06/13/spacex-cfo-bret-johnsen-overnight-billionaire-ipo/) in February 2026. **William Gerstenmaier** **Vice President, Build and Flight Reliability** Gerstenmaier [began his career at NASA in 1977](https://www.karmanproject.org/members/william-h-gerstenmaier/), where he worked on supersonic tunnels and Space Shuttle reentry, according to Space nonprofit the Karman Project where he serves on the board. He was on the console for the first Space Shuttle flight in 1981. From 2005 to 2019, he served as NASA’s Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations. He [joined SpaceX as a consultant ](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/11/spacex-hires-former-nasa-official-william-gerstenmaier.html)in February 2020, initially supporting Dragon’s Commercial Crew flights to the [ISS](https://fortune.com/company/iss/), and was elevated to vice president of Build and Flight Reliability in 2021, CNBC reported. In that role, he [leads SpaceX’s quality engineering](https://fortune.com/2025/03/06/spacex-elon-musk-tesla-blue-origin-space-starlink-rockets-satellites/) and process development teams, oversees launch readiness, and serves as chief engineer on select missions. He was described by Purdue University as “[arguably the most influential person when it comes to U.S. space flight](https://engineering.purdue.edu/150/Consequential-Stories/150th-william-gerstenmaier)“—before he went to work for a private company that is trying to render that title even larger in scope. **Charles Kuehmann** **Vice President, Materials Engineering at SpaceX and Tesla Motors** Kuehmann simultaneously serves as vice president of materials engineering at both SpaceX and Tesla Motors, a [dual role he has held since December 2015](https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-kuehmann-00308a12), according to [LinkedIn](https://fortune.com/company/linkedin/). Before joining the Musk empire, Kuehmann spent [three years at Apple as director of product design](https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-kuehmann-00308a12) and [nearly two decades](https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/magazine/fall-2016/shaping-the-future-of-materials-tech.html) on the board of QuesTek Innovations, a materials science startup he helped cofound. At SpaceX, his team develops the advanced alloys, composites, and materials systems that make reusable rockets possible—work that extends, in parallel, to the batteries and drivetrain systems at Tesla. *Bloomberg*‘s [May 2026 ](https://fortune.com/2025/03/07/tesla-musk-openai-xai-x-twitter-boring-company-spacex-neuralink-doge/)[xAI org chart](https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-elon-musk-xai-allies-spacex-ipo/) specifically cited Kuehmann as the archetype of Musk’s strategy of sharing high-value executives across his companies, a model SpaceX has relied on since 2015. **Brian Bjelde** **Senior Vice President, HR & Operations—SpaceX / xAI / X ** Bjelde’s situation is more complicated than a simple departure. Bjelde was [one of SpaceX’s first employees](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianbjelde)—joining as an avionics engineer in 2003, just a year after the company was founded, according to LinkedIn. He was originally an aerospace engineer who worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory before joining SpaceX, where he worked his way up from Mission Manager to Product director of the Falcon 1. He was then Senior director of Product and Mission Management, and ultimately[senior vice president of HR & operations](https://fortune.com/2025/03/07/tesla-musk-openai-xai-x-twitter-boring-company-spacex-neuralink-doge/)—a role that expanded over the years to include facilities, real estate, construction, security, IT, environmental health and safety, and even merchandising. In January 2025, Bjelde [joined the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)](https://fortune.com/2025/03/06/doge-musk-venture-a16z-sequoia-tesla-twitter/), *Fortune* previously reported, as a senior adviser in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, a move that drew Senate scrutiny. But per his LinkedIn profile and reporting by *Bloomberg* in May, Bjelde simultaneously [took on HR and operations leadership](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianbjelde) at both xAI and X in November 2025. His SpaceX role [remains technically listed as active](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/02/27/us/politics/doge-staff-list.html) on his LinkedIn page. **Bill Riley** **Vice President, Starship Engineering** Riley initially worked as an [engineer at Ford Motor Company and General Motors](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-riley-cornell-fsae) before making the jump to SpaceX in 2010, according to LinkedIn. At SpaceX, he moved through a sequence of structures engineering roles—structures engineer, director of statics, senior director of structures, senior director of design reliability and vehicle analysis—before being [named vice president of Starship engineering](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-riley-cornell-fsae) in March 2020. He is one of three SpaceX executives—along with Juncosa and Michael Nicolls—who [cut their engineering teeth](https://www.wsj.com/tech/spacex-engineering-cornell-racing-team-de13905b) on Cornell’s student racing team, the *Wall Street Journal* reported. **Joe Petrzelka** **Vice President, Starship Engineering (Booster)** Petrzelka joined SpaceX in January 2012 with a [PhD in mechanical engineering from MIT](https://rocketreach.co/joe-petrzelka-email_13907046) and a background in machine design, weld engineering, and tooling, according to RocketReach. He began in manufacturing engineering roles on Falcon, moved to Dragon spacecraft engineering in 2016, and was elevated to Senior director of Dragon engineering in 2019 before becoming vice presidenllt of Starship engineering in January 2021. His LinkedIn profile currently lists his most recent title as [vice president of booster engineering](https://www.linkedin.com/in/joepetrzelka)—a refinement that narrows his scope to Starship’s first-stage Super Heavy booster, the most complex and powerful rocket booster ever constructed. **Tim Hughes** **Senior Vice President, Global Business and Government Affairs** Hughes is SpaceX’s chief diplomat and its most experienced Washington hand. He [joined the company in 2005](https://spacestudies.georgetown.edu/profiles/tim-hughes/) as its first general counsel and has remained one of its most senior non-engineering executives. Hughes began his career with the U.S. Secret Service before moving to private practice and then to Capitol Hill, where he served as [majority counsel on the House Committee on Science and Technology](https://spacestudies.georgetown.edu/profiles/tim-hughes/), a Georgetown University biography page describes. His work since has ranged from navigating FAA regulatory battles to meeting with prime ministers: in September 2024, he traveled to Hanoi for a meeting with Vietnam’s Prime Minister to [discuss Starlink deployment](https://vietnamnews.vn/politics-laws/1662508/prime-minister-receives-spacex-senior-vice-president.html) across Southeast Asia. He also represented SpaceX in a February 2025 introductory [meeting with EPA Administrator](https://www.eenews.net/articles/epas-zeldin-met-with-spacex/) Lee Zeldin. **Phil Alden** **Vice President, Starship Production** Alden joined SpaceX in 2012 from the automotive industry, where he had spent a decade as a general manager at BMW and in advanced manufacturing at Jaguar Land Rover, according to LinkedIn. That background in high-volume, precision manufacturing translates directly to one of SpaceX’s defining industrial challenges: producing Starship and Starlink hardware at a scale no rocket company has ever attempted. Alden’s LinkedIn shows he served as [vice president of Starlink production](https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-alden-a777312a) from 2022 to 2023 before transitioning to [vice president of Starship production](https://websets.exa.ai/websets/directory/spacex-executives), his current role. Alden is effectively the executive most responsible for SpaceX’s ability to manufacture at industrial scale—whether that means churning out 60,000 Starlink satellites or building the stacked Super Heavy/Starship system that is intended to carry people to the Moon and eventually Mars. **Kiko Dontchev** **Vice President of Launch** Dontchev [joined SpaceX in May 2010](https://aero.engin.umich.edu/people/dontchev-kiko/) as a battery development and power systems engineer—helping to develop core electrical systems for the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9. In 2015, he led a Pad Abort Test that was a critical safety milestone for human spaceflight, earning a prestigious National Academy of Sciences award for early-career achievement, a University of Michigan biography page reported. He subsequently took over Dragon ground operations, overseeing the company’s first human spaceflight missions—NASA’s Demo-2 and Crew-1—in 2020. He has served as [vice president of launch since May 2022](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kdontchev), overseeing all launch, recovery, vehicle integration, and marine operations across SpaceX’s sites in California and Florida. He was confirmed in that role as recently as May 2026, when he appeared as a [panelist](https://x.com/SERobinsonJr/status/2060121520488214999) at Airspace World in Lisbon, Portugal, per a post on X. **Jon Edwards** **Senior Vice President, Falcon and Dragon** Edwards is, by any measure, one of SpaceX’s most historically significant engineers. He [joined the company in April 2004](https://www.potomacofficersclub.com/jon-edwards-vp-of-spacex-falcon-launch-vehicles/)—when it had fewer than 50 employees—as one of the first engineers tasked with [developing and qualifying](https://engineering.purdue.edu/AAE/people/alumni/distinguished/oae/2017/Jonathan-Edwards) the Merlin and Kestrel engines for the Falcon 1. His fingerprints are on nearly every milestone in SpaceX’s Falcon program: the first orbit-capable private liquid-fuel rocket in 2008, the first Falcon 9 launch in 2010, the first Dragon splashdown that same year, and the record-shattering run of 96 Falcon launches in 2023—a number Edwards himself celebrated publicly. His X profile, updated in 2026, now reads: [Senior vice president](https://x.com/edwards345?lang=en) of Falcon and Dragon at SpaceX. The [title change](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-edwards-2a2a236) from vice president of Falcon launch vehicles to senior vice president of Falcon and Dragon took effect in January according to his LinkedIn. **Jacob McKenzie** **Vice President, Raptor** McKenzie is the custodian of SpaceX’s most important engine: the Raptor, a full-flow staged combustion engine that represents one of the most technically ambitious propulsion systems ever built. He [joined SpaceX in June 2015](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakemkz) as a propulsion components engineer, working his way up through lead engineer, manager, and senior director roles before being [named vice president of Raptor](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakemkz) in July 2022. McKenzie was elevated to the vice president role in the same general period that Musk became intensely hands-on with Raptor development, according to LinkedIn. **Jonathan Hofeller** **Vice President of Private Astronaut Recruitment (and Vice President of Starlink Commercial Sales)** Hofeller has one of the most unusual dual-title arrangements at SpaceX. His LinkedIn profile lists him simultaneously as [vice president of Starlink commercial sales (a role he has held since August 2019)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-hofeller-4b92871) and vice president of private astronaut recruitment, his LinkedIn profile details. Hofeller [joined SpaceX in 2007](https://lachamber.com/clientuploads/Global_Programs/DCOG/DCOG_09.19.18/DCOG_Speaker_Bio_(Sep).pdf) after working as a senior mechanical engineer at [Raytheon](https://fortune.com/company/raytheon/) on optical satellite programs. Over nearly two decades at SpaceX, he has built out the company’s commercial customer base globally, originated the rideshare launch program, and led SpaceX’s entry into the private human spaceflight market. **Derek Turner (New Addition)** **Vice President, Production** Turner has been [vice president of production](https://theorg.com/org/spacex/org-chart/derek-turner) at SpaceX since 2022, overseeing high-volume manufacturing across Falcon, Dragon, and Starship programs, The Org reported. Turner [came to SpaceX](https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-turner-22157489) through the military and higher education pipeline before ascending through several senior manufacturing leadership roles at the company, his LinkedIn shows. His scope encompasses the full production engineering stack—the industrial infrastructure required to build and refurbish rockets at the pace SpaceX now operates. **Subscribe to Fortune Gulf Brief**. 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