Jim Valenti is performing the duties of Director for the Office of Low Earth Orbit Observations (LEO). Jim most recently served as the Assistant Director for the Office of Geostationary Earth Orbit Observations (2022-2025), where he supported the Director with oversight of the program’s ground and flight projects. Prior to this role, Jim was the Project Manager (2012-2021) and Assistant Project Manager (2010-2011) for the GOES R Ground Segment.
Before joining the GOES-R Program, Valenti served in many capacities in multiple offices within NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). From 2001 to 2002, he worked in the Office of Satellite Operations (now Office of Satellite and Product Operations) as the Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) Engineering Team Lead. In 2002, Valenti transferred to the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Program Office to be the Ground System Division Lead.
Prior to his work with NOAA, Valenti served as a Space Operations Officer in the United States Air Force where he worked as the project manager for the Air Force’s Nuclear Detonation (NUDET) Detection System ground data processing system. He also served as the field liaison and as an operations flight commander for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Office.
Valenti holds a Master of Space Operations degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology along with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State University.