Who is the billionaire backed by Trump and Musk to head NASA and race to space

Billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are competing to define humanity’s next frontier: space. Both are betting big that interplanetary travel will happen within their lifetimes — and now, one of Musk’s closest allies may be about to lead NASA itself.

Jared Isaacman, self-made billionaire and founder of Shift4 Payments, was again nominated this week to head the US space agency — a move that could shape the future of US space exploration.

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Isaacman founded his payment processing company in 1999, aged just 16. He has since become one of SpaceX’s most prominent private astronauts, leading two missions to orbit aboard Musk’s rockets.

Originally nominated by former President Donald Trump in December last year, his confirmation was halted in June following a public disagreement with Musk.

But Trump’s decision to reappoint him on Tuesday signals a renewed effort to put a “results-oriented outsider” in charge of the 67-year-old agency.

According to a 62-page transition plan, written by Isaacman and obtained by Bloomberg, his vision for NASA is ambitious: revitalize lunar missions, expand partnerships with universities and the private sector, and streamline internal bureaucracy.

One of his priorities is to end a practice that tends to hold organizations back: endless meetings.

Under the rules proposed by Isaacman, meetings at NASA would be limited to one hour, scheduled in 15-minute blocks and limited to around 10 participants. Any gathering of more than 20 people would require your personal approval. Recurring meetings that could be resolved by email? Canceled.

And if a meeting needs to happen, participants must be fully present — no multitasking. In fact, once someone’s role in the meeting is completed, there is no need to stay until the end.

The changes reflect the desire to “free the agency from unnecessary inefficiencies” and “promote a culture of urgent execution,” according to the document.

Business leaders also have criticisms of meetings

Isaacman’s confirmation still depends on the United States Senate, but he is not the only one to be irritated by the excess of unproductive meetings.

In recent months, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has also expressed his disdain for unproductive meetings.

During Fortune’s Most Powerful Women event in October, he said he comes fully prepared and expects the same from others — no distractions allowed.

“No napping, no reading emails,” Dimon told editor Alyson Shontell. “If you have an iPad in front of me and it looks like you’re reading messages or receiving notifications, I say close that thing. It’s disrespectful.”

Similarly, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told CNN that small meetings require total focus — or are a waste of time.

“If it’s a small meeting and someone in front of me is lost on their cell phone, I would say, ‘Why don’t you come back when you actually have time?’” he said.

Research confirms this frustration. A study conducted by a professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, in partnership with Otter.ai, found that professionals spend more than a third of their working time in meetings — and 46% say many of them are unnecessary.

Who is Jared Isaacman?

Isaacman was born in New Jersey, but dropped out of high school at age 15, later earning a college degree. He described himself as a “terrible student,” as recounted in the Netflix documentary “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space.”

After the success of Shift4 Payments — now valued at around $6 billion — Isaacman turned his passion for flying into action. He started taking flying lessons in 2004 and, five years later, broke a world record for flying around the world in an airplane.

In 2021, he commanded the Inspiration4 mission, the first all-civilian spaceflight in history, which raised more than $240 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Last year, he led the Polaris Dawn mission, becoming the first private citizen to undertake a spacewalk.

Isaacman is also the founder of Draken International, a defense company that provides tactical fighter training to the U.S. military and its allies.

Currently, he has accumulated more than 7,000 flight hours and has an estimated fortune of US$1.3 billion.