Ian Christensen is the Director of Private Sector Programs at the Secure World Foundation. He is responsible for leading SWF’s engagement activities with the commercial space industry, where his activities focus on policy and governance topics in support of the development of private sector space capabilities, including topics such as space debris mitigation, norms of behavior for responsible space operations, and space resources policy. In this role, Mr. Christensen was a member of the Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group, where he chaired the Group’s Socioeconomic Panel. He is also a member of the Secretariat for the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS), an industry group developing best practices and standards for commercial satellite servicing.

Prior to joining SWF, Mr. Christensen worked at leading space sector consulting firms Futron Corporation and Avascent. In these positions, he managed or served in lead analysis roles on market, business planning, and forecasting studies for numerous governmental and commercial space sector clients in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Mr. Christensen has supported consulting engagements with clients in Australia, Israel, the Isle of Man, Japan, and South Korea; and led in-country work in Brazil, Burkina Faso, Europe, and Japan.

Prior to Futron, Mr. Christensen was a research assistant at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, a Policy Fellow at the National Academies of Science Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, and a research assistant at the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center. Mr. Christensen holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) in international science and technology policy, focusing on space policy from the George Washington University Elliott School for International Affairs. He holds dual Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees in political science and biochemistry from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He also completed the International Space University (ISU) 2007 Space Studies Program in Beijing, China.