The search for the new head of Space Florida has come down to three men, each of whom pitched an expansive vision of where the state’s future lies during interviews with the board’s search committee.

An initial list of 14 viable candidates applied by the May 1 deadline to replace Frank DiBello, 80, who has led the state’s aerospace economic development entity since 2009. He recently agreed to stay on past his previously announced June 30 retirement.

Those 14 were whittled down to six who were interviewed last week by Space Florida’s transition team led by Space Florida board chair Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez.

The team on Thursday chose as the top three candidates a Space Force colonel from California, a two-star general who works at the Pentagon, and a retired former head of a competing state’s space authority. They will now be invited for face-to-face interviews with the entire Space Florida board.

“Filling the role of president and CEO of Space Florida at this point in time, given the vast success that we’ve had, and given the extraordinary work that Frank has done, it’s going to be almost an impossible task,” Núñez said. “So we were faced with having to fill in very large shoes.”

Earlier this year, DiBello reported Space Florida had brokered deals that added $2.7 billion worth of state infrastructure since 2011 and the agency’s goal is to increase that number to $10 billion by the end of the decade, which would approach $1 billion every year.

Space Florida’s main goal is to get companies set up with financing so they can build out their ground infrastructure in the state, although it does control some real estate such as the launch pads it leases from the Space Force at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which in turn are leased out to launch service providers.

The CEO reports to the board, which operates under an updated law that kicked in July 1 that shifted its size with more weight given to members appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Núñez has been its chair since DeSantis took office in 2019.

“I didn’t have in my mind before the interviews a clear-cut winner or someone that I felt was definitely at a strategic advantage,” Núñez said. “On paper, a lot of experience — everything from industry experience to military to academic. So I challenged myself to keep an open mind.”

The candidates are:

Col. Rob Long, commander of the Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 30 and Western Launch and Test Range at Vandenberg Space Force Base. During his 26 years in the military, Long was based part of the time at what was then Patrick Air Force Base from 2008-2010 working for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Dale Nash, who retired in 2021 as the CEO and executive director of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority. He was previously the CEO of the  Alaska Aerospace Corp. and spent 14 years as NASA’s director of launch operations at Kennedy Space Center, working on 65 shuttle launches and development of the Orion spacecraft.

Prior to NASA, he worked in commercial aerospace including a stint with United Space Alliance. His most recent role has been a consultant with Melbourne-based firm BRPH, including a project at Space Florida’s land at the former Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC.

Space Force Maj. Gen. John Olson, who is the Mobilization Assistant to the Chief of Space Operations at the Pentagon. He spent several years in government and private sector including time with NASA, executive roles with companies like Sierra Space and Polaris and a role as Assistant Director for Space and Aeronautics in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

All three touched on where they think Florida’s future lies amid the burgeoning space industry with many focusing on an expansion on the Space Coast.

Olson, who had a hand in the federal plan for the future of in-space manufacturing, thinks Florida needs to supply that need beyond launch.

“The in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing ecosystem that’s been estimated to be a billion dollars in the Earth-moon, in-space economy, I believe … Florida needs to and must be a leader in that,” Olson said.

Also coming from the Space Force, Long sees an expansion into logistics once in space something that could be based in Florida, but also wants to take advantage of the newly announced Space Force training headquarters STARCOM and its warfighting and training group known as Delta 10 coming to Patrick Space Force Base.

“Those two things going to Patrick are going to be really vital in the near-term and create a great opportunity,” Long said, especially in concert with defense simulation work going on in Orlando.

He also raised a concern about relying solely on the Space Coast for launch capability, which is projected to grow to as many as 400 launches a year.

“Capacity is going to be an issue,” he said. “It’s simply going to get full at some point. … You might as well take advantage of Florida’s geographic location to do that, whether that’s the Panhandle, further to the south or even up north.”

Not coming from the military, Nash said Space Florida should focus on collaborating with other spaceports, and “grease the wheels” of the federal government to help drive commercial efforts.

“You’ve got two very strong senators and a lot of representatives that know how to spell space, are very interested in space, and I was no stranger to the Hill and would make the rounds and then go deal with the Pentagon and the FAA and NASA,” he said.

He also has his sights set on competing for manufacturing that has their homes elsewhere.

“Why should you have Texas and Alabama and California coming after our work? Why aren’t we going after some of theirs?” he said. “Why do we just assume that all the satellite manufacturers are going to reside in El Segundo or Southern California. … It’s an expensive place to do business. Florida is much more business-friendly.”