Don Gabrielson is the founding Senior Manager for Marine Operations at SpaceX. His team supports the reusability of Falcon 9 rockets and the offshore recovery of Dragon human spaceflight capsules, and also Global range surveillance and recovery for Starship.
Gabrielson served 32 years as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy, retiring as a Rear Admiral (Upper Half) upon concluding duties as Commander, U.S. Fourth Fleet and Naval Forces U.S. Southern Command, building relationships and leading naval forces in the Southern Hemisphere. His command tours also included Carrier Strike Group 11/NIMITZ Carrier Strike Group, and Commander Logistics Group Western Pacific/Task Force 73 based in Singapore. Don also Captained the AEGIS Cruiser USS CAPE ST GEORGE (CG 71) and USS FREEDOM (LCS 1) during design, construction and initial operations, and deployed many times aboard four more ships before his five command tours, including five deployments to the Middle East, plus nearly every ocean on the planet.
Ashore, Gabrielson served as Executive Assistant in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, as well as tours in Washington, D.C. supporting the Navy, Joint Staff and Secretary of Defense, working in legislative affairs on Capitol Hill, and as Aide to the Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
Gabrielson is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and also holds two Master’s degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School and the National War College, as well as MIT Seminar XXI, University of Virginia Darden School of Business and a CNO Fellowship in the Navy’s CNO Strategic Studies Group, a future concepts think tank. He was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, and many other personal and unit awards recognizing his teams. Gabrielson holds the rare accomplishments of having sailed all the Great Lakes and circumnavigating the Globe, both as a ship captain, and has worked with and visited more than one hundred nations.
Gabrielson is a lifelong musician and athlete, performing at high levels in both passions along his life’s path, and above all finding a calling for helping growth-minded people, ev naming his business Dream Bigger Strategies, LLC. Gabrielson’s wife Navenka Gabrielson is a talented health coach, author and artist, and they have two amazing children. An international family, they’ve collectively lived in nine states, six countries, and now reside in Florida.
