Astra Ascend embraces the idea that all people and organizations are rising stars, with the capacity to realize their full potential and attain a brighter future.
What We Do
Astra Ascend helps people and organizations to envision, design and pursue their future paths, and supports leaders and teams to achieve their goals and lasting results.
Who We Are
Kris Brown, President + CEO
Executive Leader | Strategist | Engineer | Builder
Kris is a results-driven, visionary leader with over 35 years of executive, organizational leadership and program management experience. She has been recognized for her work as a strategist, innovator, and change agent with a track record of orchestrating institutional transformation with lasting impact.
During her tenure as a NASA senior executive and throughout her career in engineering and organizational leadership, Kris built a broad portfolio of experience leading large-scale enterprises, programs, and teams across the federal sector and aerospace. She is also recognized for driving stakeholder engagement to advance mission outcomes, leading strategic communications, and building and operating enterprise-wide programs that engage students, educators, and the public.
Kris has worked in the public, private and non-profit sectors, effectively cultivating partnerships and coalitions to create impact. As a speaker, advocate and thought leader, she has engaged with stakeholders and leaders across our nation’s STEM education ecosystem. Kris is especially driven to inspire young people, helping them to think big and chart exciting paths forward.
In her most recent position, Kris served as NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for STEM Engagement, departing the agency in late 2025 after 36 years of service. In this role, Kris served as a senior executive leader accountable for NASA’s education enterprise and programmatic efforts devoted to creating unique learning opportunities for students and providing direct support to educators and educational institutions across our nation.
Previously, Kris served in leadership roles across a spectrum of disciplines including strategic communications and public engagement, technical organizational management, program management, and systems development, building on many years of experience as a systems and discipline engineer. With that technical foundation, Kris brings in-depth expertise in space systems planning and development.
Raised in a small town and the first person in her family to attend college, Kris experienced firsthand, the power of education in enabling people to realize their full potential and thrive. That belief, paired with her career in public service, shapes the service mindset she brings to all of her endeavors today as a consultant and volunteer across a rich fabric of people and organizations.
