Paula Trimble is the Secretary for The Holiday Project and has been a volunteer with the organization for several years. She and her daughter have participated in holiday visits and have helped organize visits with residents of nursing facilities and rehabilitation centers. 

Paula is the Chief of Policy and Director of Small Business Programs at the Space Development Agency in the U.S. Department of Defense. The Space Development Agency (SDA) is building a space-based architecture to provide advanced missile tracking and targeting to meet the needs of the joint warfighter. At SDA, Paula is driving policy solutions to reduce barriers in the acquisition process and enable small businesses and start-ups to work more easily with the federal government.

Paula has always been attracted to disruptive organizations at the nexus of policy and technology. She started her career in the Washington, DC-area as a reporter at Space News and Federal Computer Week. She served in the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Space Commercialization, helping promote the expansion of commercial markets for GPS, satellite communications, and satellite imagery. Following that, she served at the Office of Commercial Space Transportation in the Federal Aviation Administration, helping shepherd a new reusable launch sector, and supporting the agency during the historic 2004 SpaceShipOne X-Prize flights. Paula spent more than eight years overseeing prototyping and experimentation efforts in the DoD’s Rapid Reaction Technology Office and most recently was Senior Principal at Lewis-Burke Associates LLC, leading the lobbying firm’s national security practice in support of university researchers, scientific societies, and national research institutes.

Paula and her teenage daughter live in Springfield, VA, where she seems to collect hobbies. When she’s not cycling, running, or practicing yoga, she’s a wine hobbyist and foodie always ready with a wine or restaurant recommendation. In her spare time, Paula chairs the judging committee for the annual Gerald R. Ford Prize for Reporting on National Defense and serves as the Communications Director on the Board of the Information Professionals Association, a professional organization that promotes cognitive security.