Oschmann retiring as GM of Ball Aerospace’s civil space division

BOULDER — Jim Oschmann, vice president and general manager of Ball Aerospace’s Civil Space division, will retire effective Aug. 10. He will be replaced by Makenzie Lystrup, Ph.D, currently senior director, Civil Space Advanced Systems and Business Development. Ball Aerospace is a division of Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL).

“My thanks to Jim for his leadership and many contributions to Ball, where he has been an advocate of the science community and helped foster long-lasting relationships with our NASA, NOAA and civil customer base,” said Rob Strain, president of Ball Aerospace. “I’m pleased to welcome Makenzie into her new role, where her strong business acumen, unique blend of science and technical expertise, inspiring support of employee development, and passion for building diverse and inclusive teams will be an asset to our Civil Space business unit, in addition to the continued growth of Ball.”

Since joining Ball in 2004, Oschmann has held several key leadership positions. While he is retiring, he plans to balance retirement and family with his current role as the SPIE (international society for optics and photonics) president-elect, and as the society’s president in 2019. He will also continue some of his current engagements on several industry advisory boards.

Prior to her current role, Lystrup served as director for Space Sciences, Strategic Operations, based in Ball’s Washington, D.C., office. Previously, she worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as a congressional science and technology policy fellow. During her time working in Congress, she managed an issue portfolio ranging from technology and privacy to national defense to nuclear energy and nonproliferation.

Lystrup is a planetary scientist and astronomer. Her scientific work has been in understanding the relationships between a planet’s atmosphere and its surrounding space environment. Her Ph.D in astrophysics is from University College London.

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