Dr. Jonathan W. Cirtain

President

Dr. Jonathan W. Cirtain serves as President of IBX, where he provides strategy and technical expertise across the portfolio to advance the development of new technologies and commercial opportunities.

An accomplished physicist and technology executive, Dr. Cirtain brings extensive experience spanning both the space and nuclear industries. Prior to joining IBX, he spent seven years at BWX Technologies (BWXT), where he held senior leadership roles including Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer, President and CEO of BWXT Medical, and Chief Technology Officer. At BWXT, he drove innovation, technical development, and commercial expansion across multiple business lines.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Cirtain spent nearly a decade at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, where he served in leadership roles such as Manager of the Heliophysics, Planetary, and Space Weather Office and Chief Strategist. He also conducted research as a Research Astrophysicist at Harvard University.

A recognized leader in science and innovation, Dr. Cirtain has developed and led teams working on revolutionary technologies, including scientific space payloads, plasma confinement systems, solid rocket motor systems for suborbital vehicles, and advanced graphics processing technologies. He also co-founded Astraea, Inc., a machine learning and data science analytics company focused on Earth observation technologies.

Dr. Cirtain earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Montana State University and completed a doctoral fellowship at Harvard University. He holds dual bachelor's degrees in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Memphis. Throughout his career, he has served on advisory committees for organizations including NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, the Royal Academy of Sciences, the European Space Agency, and numerous universities.