Scott Sacknoff
Entrepreneur, analyst, investor, engineer
About Scott
After beginning his career building and testing the experimental fuel pumps that eventually powered the Space Shuttle, the past thirty-plus years has seen Scott Sacknoff engage in a number of high-visibility assignments that allowed him to cultivate a broad array of business contacts in the space, defense, and financial sectors.
Among these assignments were:
- President of the International Space Business Council, a chamber of commerce for the sector
- Vice president of a space venture capital firm where he performed due diligence on proposed deals
- Consultant to NASA Headquarters and the Pentagon supporting their understanding of technology entrepreneurs and reviewing proposals to the agencies for commercial potential
- Advising private companies and government contractors, such as ITT and Raytheon
- Founding a business information company that published, among other items, the State of the Space Industry, an annual outlook on the industry, the North American Space Directory, and The Guide to Space Careers.
Today, Scott Sacknoff is involved in a number of ventures in the defense and space sector.
SPADE Defense Index (NYSE: DXS)
Scott Sacknoff is the president of SPADE Indexes and manager of the SPADE® Defense Index (NYSE: DXS), an investment benchmark comprised of public companies involved with defense, homeland security, and government space.
The Index serves as the core to the $750+ Million Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF (NYSE: PPA), the first defense-related exchanged traded fund listed in the United States.
SPADE publishes the free “The SPADE Investor” newsletter which can be downloaded on its website.
Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly
Published quarterly since 1992, Quest is the only peer-reviewed journal exclusively focused on space history. Each 64+ page issue features articles by professional and amateur historians, oral histories and interviews, and book reviews.
An early subscriber, Scott Sacknoff began volunteering with the Volume 7 issues and today serves as publisher and the commercial space department editor.
The publication’s website, SpaceHistory101.com provides information on how to subscribe, order back issues, and search previous articles. It also contains a number of space history resources and links to “free and fun” items.
The SPACE 3.0 Foundation
Founded in 2019, SPACE 3.0 is a 501(c)(3) charitable institution that was launched to build an endowment that would provide grants to help preserve the history of spaceflight and empower entrepreneurs and visionaries.
Among the Foundation’s early efforts were:
- Publishing of the history journal, Quest
- Operating and expanding the Space Business & Commerce Archives
- Creating the Space History Challenge
- Awarding the annual Sacknoff Prize for Space History
- Offering grants to digitize and archive historical space materials
Sacknoff Prize for Space History
Awarded since 2011, the Prize is designed to encourage original research by university students in the field of space history. Winners receive a cash prize, publication in the peer-reviewed history journal Quest, and the opportunity to present at the Society for the History of Technology annual meeting. Past winners have included those considered to be among the best of the next generation space historians.
Consulting and Advisory Board Interests
Over the years, Scott Sacknoff has engaged in a variety of consulting projects, working for entrepreneurs as well as large, multinational corporations. His interests include strategy review and formation, concept and idea brainstorming, vision definition, entrepreneurship analysis, policy development, and analysis, and scenario modeling.
In the area of finance and investing, he maintains an interest in index design, ETF product review, and business strategy in the ETF space.
