Paige (Cooley) Webster
Paige (Cooley) Webster joined ATLAS Space Operations in November of 2021 as a Technical Sales Engineer in Client Solutions after completing three internships at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her keen eye for identifying process improvements led her to spearhead the development of a new role that aligned the Operations, Integrations, Engineering and Client Solutions teams to create a more streamlined approach to customer relations. Paige’s exemplary performance in this new role she helped create led her to be promoted to her current position of Director of Commercial Solutions, a position in which she focuses primarily on sales and business development, developing ground station solutions for a wide variety of unique missions. She has a unique talent for explaining complex topics in a way that is accessible to diverse audiences, allowing her to bridge the gap between engineering and sales. As a Director of Commercial Solutions, Paige led ATLAS’ effort to design the ground station solution to support Blue Origin’s DarkSky-1 and follow-on Blue Ring missions. Simultaneously, she oversaw the solution development for more than 12 customer campaigns and managed ATLAS’ commercial contracting, resulting in great customer satisfaction. Since joining ATLAS in 2021, Paige has quickly become a significant contributor to the company. She has closed approximately 40% of 2024’s current revenue, and is on track to close more than 70% of ATLAS’ Commercial and Fed Civil sales by the end of 2024.
Before her time at ATLAS, Paige contributed to multiple flagship missions at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, implementing rigorous flight system and payload verification and validation procedures on the Mars 2020 and Europa Clipper programs. Her work on Europa Clipper ensured that the suite of more than 10 sensors and science instruments onboard were fully tested so they perform and adequately meet their mission objectives once on orbit. Paige was published in the 2021 and 2022 IEEE Conference on Aerospace proceedings as part of her work on the mission, and launch of the project is currently scheduled for October 2024. During this time, Paige also worked at the University of Michigan as a Graduate Student Research Assistant, where she researched magnetic modeling of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa while supporting active NASA mission proposal efforts. Her achievements prompted a former professor from Principia College, where Paige completed her Bachelors of Science in Engineering Science, to ask her to teach a full course load in the Mechanical Engineering department for the 2023-2024 academic year, which Paige did while continuing full time work at ATLAS. She has since been asked to return for the 2024-2025 academic year. Paige also holds a Master of Engineering in Space Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of North Dakota.
Outside of work, Paige mentors undergraduate engineering students, advising them in their professional career preparation and assisting with internship placement. Additionally, she teaches a review course for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam, preparing students to successfully pass the exam upon graduation. Paige is also a competitive triathlete, who races on the local, national, and world stage, including at the 2023 Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.
