Rex Geveden
President and CEO, BWX Technologies
This episode will air March 5, 2026 at 7:00pm ET.
If you don’t win AI, you don’t win the future. And if you don’t win energy, you don’t win AI.
Summary
In this episode of Leadership Matters, Alan sits down with Rex Geveden, President and CEO of BWX Technologies and former Chief Engineer and Associate Administrator of NASA, to explore a leadership journey rooted in technical mastery and shaped by high-stakes decision-making. Rex’s career spans missile defense, space exploration, and nuclear energy — and at every stage, he has led at scale.
Rex reflects on his upbringing in Kentucky, the mentors who influenced his early development, and the intellectual spark that led him to physics. He shares lessons from leading NASA’s Gravity Probe B mission – a decades-long test of Einstein’s theory of relativity – and explains how cultivating an “underdog culture” helped his team achieve what many believed was impossible. The conversation moves from space to energy, as Rex outlines why nuclear power is essential to America’s economic competitiveness, decarbonization goals, and AI-driven future.
Throughout the episode, Rex offers insights on risk management, innovation within compliance-driven industries, talent erosion in public institutions, and the leadership discipline of maintaining conviction under pressure.
Mentions & Resources
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance by David Epstein
Guest Bio
Rex D. Geveden is president and chief executive officer of BWXT, a $3.1B nuclear technology and manufacturing company headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia. As CEO, Mr. Geveden directs all business operations and leads strategic planning, capital allocation and leadership succession.
BWXT manufactures nuclear reactors, fuel and components for the U.S. Navy; provides nuclear technical services at contractor-operated Department of Energy and other government laboratories and facilities; develops and manufactures microreactors for national security and space applications; and processes special nuclear materials and advanced nuclear fuels. BWXT also manufactures medical radioisotopes and supplies precision manufactured components, engineering services and fuel for the commercial nuclear power industry.
With about 10,000 employees, BWXT has 20 major operating sites in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., comprising over four million square feet of manufacturing space. In addition, BWXT joint ventures operate at more than a dozen U.S. Department of Energy and Canadian Nuclear Laboratory sites.
Mr. Geveden joined BWXT in 2015 as chief operating officer (COO) before advancing to CEO in 2017. Previously, he advanced to the position of executive vice president at Teledyne Technologies over an eight-year period, ultimately leading the Digital Imaging and Engineered Systems segments of the business.
He spent 17 years at NASA, including service as the agency’s COO responsible for a $16 billion portfolio of work in NASA’s mission areas of science, aeronautics, space operations and exploration, along with oversight of NASA’s 10 field centers.
Mr. Geveden chairs the board of TTM Technologies, Inc., a global electronics manufacturing company. He is also on the Board of Trustees of the Universities Research Association and is a member of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from Murray State University.
Episode Transcript
Transcript will be uploaded upon the episode’s premiere.