Shana Dale Named FAA Deputy Associate Administrator for Commercial Space

Shana Dale (Credit: NASA)

Marcia Smith of Spacepolicyonline.com reports that former NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale will become the FAA’s new deputy associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST) on Nov. 3.

Dale will succeed George Zamka, who joined Bigelow Aerospace over the summer. She served as NASA deputy administrator from 2005 to 2009 under Administrator Mike Griffin.

According to Dale’s LinkedIn profile, Dale has served as a senior fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies since February 2013. This position was preceded by a stint as the principal policy advisor for the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

From October 2009 to February 2012, Dale served as a senior vice president at Perot Systems.

NASA’s official biography of Dale includes the following information about her career prior to become deputy administrator in November 2005:

Before coming to NASA, Dale was deputy director for Homeland and National Security for the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Executive Office of the President. She co-chaired the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Homeland and National Security and supervised work of the subcommittees. Dale previously served as the chief of staff and general counsel at OSTP. In this position, she led and managed the staff officials involved with homeland and national security, legislative affairs, press operations, legal and ethical issues, the federal research & development budget, and internal budget and administration.

Earlier in her career, Dale served as the assistant vice chancellor for federal relations at the University of Texas System, Federal Relations Office in Washington. In addition, Dale has 10-plus years of service on Capitol Hill including her tenure as staff director to the House subcommittee on space and aeronautics. Dale also served on the board of directors for Women in Aerospace for four years.

Prior to serving as staff director, Dale was the Republican assistant legislative director and counsel on the space subcommittee. She was appointed to the Committee on Science, Space and Technology in March 1991, as the Republican counsel on the subcommittee on science. Dale also served on the House Public Works & Transportation Committee.

Before moving to Washington, Dale was employed in private practice in San Diego, California. She received her bachelor’s with honors in management information systems from the University of Tulsa and her law degree from California Western School of Law. She is a member of the bars of California and the District of Columbia, and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.