Bill Hill currently serves as the Director, Safety and Mission Assurance at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Named to this position in January 2021, he is accountable for planning and directing all safety, reliability, and quality engineering and assurance operations for Marshall and NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Under his leadership, the organization objective is to protect all team members, processes, facilities, and program/project hardware, and to develop and oversee safety planning, procedures, and response across Marshall partner facilities, laboratories, test stands, and proving grounds.
A career NASA Civil Servant since 1994, Bill joined Marshall in 2019 as director for advanced technologies in the Science and Technology Office, later becoming the deputy director for Safety and Mission Assurance in 2020. Bill joined the ranks of the Senior Executive Service in May 2006. As the Director for Advanced Technology in the Science and Technology Office at Marshall Space Flight Center. In this role, Bill provides programmatic oversight and direction on a myriad of technical initiatives including Cryo Fluid Management and Nuclear Thermal Propulsion.
Previously served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development in the NASA Headquarters Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. In this role, Bill provided executive leadership and program management for the development of Exploration Systems: Space Launch System, Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, Exploration Ground Systems Programs, and the overall Systems Integration.
Prior to that for the last five years of the Space Shuttle Program, Bill provided executive leadership for the Space Shuttle Program in the role as the Assistant Associate Administrator for Space Shuttle in the Space Operations Mission Directorate in safely executing the last 21 missions following the transition from post-Columbia return-to-flight era through the complete assembly of the international Space Station, as well as the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. He directed the NASA Headquarters post-Columbia return-to-flight activities from the contingency response from the moment the accident occurred and directed the response and recovery activities in the days and weeks following the accident.
Mr. Hill holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia [University] Institute of Technology and Masters in Business Administration from Frostburg State University. Mr. Hill is the recipient of the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Service, a NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the Space Flight Awareness Silver Snoopy, and numerous other Agency awards.
