Mark Lester steps down as CEO of Alaska Aerospace Corporation

While it is the end of Mark Lester’s tenure as CEO of the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, he is adamant that the story of spaceflight in Alaska is only in its first chapters.

“I think our kids will look back on it, our grandkids will look back on it. And they will be routinely going through space to reach their destinations on the earth, or going to the moon or even going to Mars and putting satellites in space- and someone will read in a history book, how Kodiak back in the 2020s was a key place for doing that. And it will still be a key place for doing that,” Lester said.

Lester has a striking analogy to describe where he sees the industry going.

“iPhones and Samsung Galaxy devices- there were no apps for those phones, before they were created. And then people started getting ideas of navigation tools, a game with to play on it or entertainment and streaming stuff. And now there’s a multibillion-dollar industry that grew from nothing. To create applications for the smartphone- I see the same thing happening with space,” Lester said.

Lester has been CEO of the Alaska Aerospace Corporation since 2018, but he has been involved in the aerospace industry since he was a lieutenant in the Air Force Space Command in the early 90s. He’s still staying the industry too- he’ll be joining the executive team of Phantom Space Corporation in Tucson.

In the interim, John Cramer will be stepping in as CEO while the board of directors searches for a new acting chief executive.