Spotlight On: Nellie Chappell-White, President & CEO, JES Tech
August 2025 — In an interview with Invest:, Nellie Chappell-White, president and CEO of JES Tech, said that Houston’s unique positioning as a hub for aerospace and its strong talent pool make it an ideal base for company growth and diversification. “Houston is known as the hub for human spaceflight—this is ‘Space City’ after all—and its economic diversity also makes it attractive.”
Who is JES Tech, and what makes Houston and the region an ideal location for your company?
JES Tech is celebrating 21 years this year, and we’re based in Houston. We are a federal contractor, primarily serving NASA, as well as the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Energy (DOE). We provide support services in occupational health, scientific research, and engineering for NASA, DoD, and DOE. Our focus is on the human health and human performance domains. Our work began with NASA contracts, which is one of the main reasons Houston is such a natural fit for us. Our office is just two minutes from the Johnson Space Center here in Houston.
Houston is known as the hub for human spaceflight — this is “Space City” after all — and its economic diversity also makes it attractive. Beyond aerospace, we have a strong oil and gas sector, a world-renowned medical center, arts, tourism, and a diverse community. All of this drew my family here as well. However, for our company, NASA Johnson Space Center was the original and primary draw.
Looking back at this past year, can you share the developments that have most impacted JES Tech’s business and operations?
Given our role in providing government support services, there have recently been major challenges in our sector, but I am hopeful. At this moment, we haven’t experienced many significant direct changes since things are still unfolding with NASA funding. Over the past year, we’ve done well; our revenue is strong, and our business pipeline looks promising. We have worked to diversify beyond NASA, which has paid off now that things are becoming more competitive, and as NASA prepares for impending funding cuts. We’ve expanded to contracts with the Department of the Army and DOE, which helps us prepare for upcoming challenges in our industry.
It’s still too early to know exactly how the recent federal budget bill will impact our current and future contracts. Despite the uncertainty, this remains an exciting time, especially with NASA’s plans to return to the Moon and then to Mars, and the growth of the commercial space industry. We’re focused on retaining top talent and ensuring that Houston remains a destination for skilled professionals. So, while NASA may go through major restructuring, we’ll continue adjusting to their needs while also seeking opportunities with other agencies. For example, our subcontract with the United States Special Operations Command wouldn’t have happened without our work supporting astronauts. Overall, it’s been a good year, and while I know challenges lie ahead, we’re ready to face them together as a company and as a community.
What opportunities do you see for expanding your biomedical research, occupational medicine, or other support services?
We continue to explore paths to serve other agencies, as well as leverage our decades of human health and human performance experience to partner with other companies. We’re excited to explore opportunities that may come from the newly formed Texas Space Commission and the Texas Aerospace Research Space Economy Consortium (TARSEC). We’re pooling ideas through relationships with industry partners who have grant experience and who support the commercial space industry more heavily than we do.
These partnerships are invaluable. Even though we sometimes compete against each other, I believe strongly in collaboration. We may be on the same team one day and competing against each other the next, but we’re all in this together. In fact, for our DOE contract, we teamed up with a direct competitor who also provides occupational medicine services for NASA. We’ve learned a lot from working together.
Where do you see the strongest demand for your services going forward?
While NASA remains a key sector for us, I see significant growth opportunities with the Department of Defense. Much of our pipeline involves DoD-related contracts, such as our recent contract supporting the Department of the Army. Human performance is a strong focus for us—at NASA, we support the Human Health and Performance contract, ensuring astronauts are healthy and mission-ready, and at DoD, we provide similar support for elite military personnel.
Although astronauts and special operators have different missions, they face comparable extreme conditions and require holistic care, mind, body, and spirit. For instance, our first DoD contract focused on preserving the health and well-being of special operators and their families, addressing issues like the unfortunately high suicide rates due to the immense pressures they face. It’s an honor to contribute to these efforts. The DoD presents clear synergy with the expertise we’ve developed supporting NASA.
What lessons have you learned about maintaining service quality as you scale?
We participated in a NASA mentor-protégé program with KBR, a large global company. This three-year program involved a detailed plan to help JES Tech grow to the next level through introductions, processes, tools, and infrastructure improvements. For example, JES Tech made investments to upgrade our timesheet and accounting systems and enhanced how we identify business opportunities and execute our proposal capture process. The mentor-protégé program helped us develop a Quality Plan suitable for our business and commit to continuous quality improvement as our operations grow.
This relationship was truly a two-way street. We had about 80 milestones and won two national awards during this time. Strong relationships with primes are critical, not as a handout, but as a true partnership where you add value, collaborate, and contribute to team success. Sometimes, that means speaking up when things aren’t working, with the shared goal of improvement.
I also prioritize relationships with other small businesses, which can lead to opportunities to share and exchange best practices to evaluate, learn, and implement quality improvements. These relationships work both ways and are essential for growth and maintaining quality while scaling.
As a member of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, how has that strengthened your community relationships?
The Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership (BAHEP) has been instrumental in our success as an engaged and informed community partner. The organization creates a forum for NASA contractors and other industry players to come together—even competitors—to have open and sometimes hard discussions, especially during challenging times like the current funding cuts. We recently had a workshop attended by around 100 people representing over 50 companies, all in an effort to ensure our companies are well informed about the opportunities and challenges of the evolving space economy.
BAHEP fosters collaboration so companies aren’t isolated during tough times. Even though companies are affected differently, we’re able to band together, share information, and learn from one another. I serve as a BAHEP officer and board member and can’t say enough about the value and support it brings. BAHEP also works closely with NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Space Center Houston, which strengthens the collective voice and ensures we’re on the same page rather than relying on rumors or incomplete information.
BAHEP is critical to our space economy as its goal is to attract, retain, and expand industry within our entire region. As members, we have many opportunities to engage with like-minded community leaders from different sectors to collaborate and strategize on how to strengthen and expand our regional economic health, which fosters opportunities to benefit families in our communities.
How would you assess the talent pool for the specialized technical or engineering roles you require, and how are you continuing to develop your workforce pipeline?
The workforce is critically important to us. The strength of our technical and engineering performance is dependent on the talent of our workforce. At JES Tech, we are a family; we want our employees to stay long-term, and we value them deeply. We’ve experienced multiple times over, employees referring highly qualified colleagues we hired for “hard to fill” positions. Our increased activity on professional social media has also helped to attract and develop a qualified workforce pipeline.
With potential funding cuts, people understandably feel uneasy, so we’ve prioritized communication and transparency. We’re making sure our employees feel valued and understand that while we don’t have all the answers right now, we’re involved, leading, and advocating in efforts to prepare for future developments.
We’re also mindful of external pressures like the competitive commercial space sector recruiting efforts, as well as concerns about job stability as the International Space Station nears decommissioning in a few years. We’re working to reassure our employees that while programs may change, their skills are still needed, and we’ll look for opportunities to redeploy them into other roles.
Flexibility, honesty, and clear communication are key to retaining this excellent talent pool, which is vital not just for our company but for the future of human spaceflight as a whole.
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