Keynote Speaker

Wes Salandro, a graduate of Penn State Behrend, serves as vice president of production at SpaceX.

Salandro earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Penn State Behrend and a doctorate from Clemson University. At SpaceX, he leads production teams for the Falcon and Dragon programs, overseeing operations with a focus on safety, reliability, and efficiency.
 

Credit: Contributed Photo

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2026 Keynote Speaker

Wes Salandro '09

Vice President of Production, SpaceX

Wes Salandro '09 is vice president of production at SpaceX, where he leads the production teams for the Falcon and Dragon programs. Since 2019, he has overseen production operations with a focus on safety, reliability, and efficiency.

Before joining SpaceX, Salandro served as senior director of manufacturing at Vector Launch Inc., leading teams that built rocket prototypes and established in‑house core manufacturing competencies. Earlier, he held a leadership role at the Silicon Valley electric‑vehicle startup Lucid Motors, where he established a quality department and created an EV battery production line from scratch. He also spent five years with the BMW Group in the United States and abroad, supporting multiple new‑model launches at the Spartanburg and Oxford plants and later overseeing multiple production assembly teams at Plant Oxford.

Salandro earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Penn State Behrend and a doctorate focusing on manufacturing research from Clemson University.