John Elbon
Vice President and General Manager, Space Exploration
Boeing
Boeing
John Elbon is vice president and general manager, Space Exploration, a division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security at The Boeing Company. He is responsible for the strategic direction of Boeing’s civil space programs, and support of NASA programs such as the International Space Station (ISS), Commercial Crew Program and the Space Launch System. He assumed his present position on August 29, 2011.
Elbon served as vice president and program manager for Boeing’s Commercial Programs. In this position, Elbon managed Boeing’s efforts on NASA’s Commercial Crew Space Act Agreements, including the first two phases of the Commercial Crew Development program. He has leveraged innovations and capabilities from across Boeing in the development of crew transportation systems to support NASA and commercial customers in accessing destinations in low-Earth orbit.
He has been Boeing vice president of Systems Integration for the Army’s Future Combat Systems, and the Boeing program manager for several NASA programs including Constellation, ISS, and the Checkout, Assembly & Payload Processing Services (CAPPS) contract at Kennedy Space Center.
As vice president and program manager of ISS, Elbon led Boeing in its role as prime integrating contractor for NASA’s ISS contract to design, develop, test, launch and operate this orbiting facility. The multi-billion dollar contract required the coordination of several thousand Boeing employees in five major locations as well as subcontractors and suppliers located in 23 states across the United States.
Prior to leading the ISS team, Elbon managed the CAPPS contract at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., responsible for final assembly and testing of elements of the ISS as well as other space shuttle payloads.
He holds a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.