Joseph Pelfrey

Joseph Pelfrey serves as the senior advisor to the Deputy Associate Administrator, NASA headquarters and is currently on assignment as the senior NASA liaison to the Auburn University Applied Research Institute. Prior to this role, he served as the 15th center director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center where he led Marshall’s nearly 6,500 onsite and near-site civil service and contractor employees and managed its annual budget of approximately $5 billion. He helped guide Marshall's broad portfolio of human spaceflight, science, and technology development efforts, which touches nearly every mission NASA pursues. Pelfrey also served as deputy center director with his appointment in April 2022. A native of Cheraw, South Carolina, Pelfrey received a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Auburn University. He resides in Huntsville with his wife, Nicole, and daughter, Adelyn.