James “Jim” Bridenstine has been a director of Viasat since April 2021. Mr. Bridenstine served as NASA's 13th Administrator from April 2018 until January 2021. Under his leadership, NASA launched a new human lunar exploration mission, the Artemis program; continued the commercial re-supply of the International Space Station; led partnering efforts with American commercial enterprises on the Commercial Crew Program, which again launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil, something not done since the end of the Shuttle program in 2011; helped established the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program to partner with private enterprise in landing rovers on the lunar surface; backed the development of the X-59, a quiet supersonic aircraft and the X-57 Maxwell, NASA's first all-electric airplane; and supported the development of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management initiatives to facilitate the safe use of drones for commercial use. Since January 2021, Mr. Bridenstine has worked as a senior advisor to Acorn Growth Companies, a private equity firm. Prior, from 2013 to 2018, Mr. Bridenstine was a member of Congress where he represented Oklahoma's First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and served on the Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. Mr. Bridenstine's career in federal service began in 1998 as a pilot in the United States Navy. Mr. Bridenstine earned a B.A. degree with three majors – Economics, Business and Psychology – from Rice University and an M.B.A. degree from Cornell University.