Dave Gallagher, Incoming Director of JPL

Dave Gallagher was selected by Caltech to become the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s 11th director, effective June 2, 2025. He was formerly Associate Director for Strategic Integration.

Previously, Gallagher was the Director and Deputy Director for Astronomy, Physics, and Space Technology and before that he was manager of JPL's Advanced Optical Systems Program Office. He also managed the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Starlight project, the Pressure Modulator Infrared Radiometer instrument and Drop Physics Module reflight. In addition, he served as the integration and test manager for the Wide-Field/Planetary Camera 2 instrument, which corrected the spherical aberration for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Gallagher received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 1982. After working for IBM for several years, he started and ran a software consulting firm until he joined JPL in 1989.