Full Name
Steven "Bucky" Butow
Job Title
Director, Space Portfolio
Company
Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)
Brief Biography
Steve “Bucky” Butow is the Director of the Space Portfolio at the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). He joined the team in 2015 as an early plank owner when DIU was known as the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) and helped establish the organization’s operating locations in Silicon Valley, Boston, Massachusetts, and Austin, Texas.
Steven also serves as Commander, California Air National Guard. In this role, he is the primary advisor to The Adjutant General on all programs, strategic planning, and operations affecting the California Air National Guard. He is responsible for the mission readiness and operational effectiveness across a broad spectrum of programs and activities involving five wings and over 4900 military and civilian personnel. Before joining DIU, Steven was the Vice Chief of the Joint Staff, California Military Department with responsibilities including cybersecurity, incident awareness, and innovation. He is a former Commander of the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Airfield, CA, where his responsibilities included organizing, training, equipping, and maintaining 970 combat-ready forces and $1 Billion dollars of MC-130P aircraft, HH-60G helicopters, and special mission equipment supporting the U.S. Air Force’s combat rescue and personnel recovery missions. He has additionally served as the Deputy Director of the Joint Search and Rescue Center for U.S. Central Command in 2005, and as Chief of Personnel Recovery for U.S. Air Forces Central in 2007 supporting Operations IRAQI and ENDURING FREEDOM. He has more than 3,500 flying hours in T-37, T-38, C-130, HC-130, and MC-130P aircraft. In his reserve capacity, Steven is a Brigadier General serving part time as a Special Assistant to the Director, Air National Guard in a federal (Title 10) status.
As a researcher with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, Steven worked on instrument concepts for Mars surface soil analysis at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. He later served as co-principal investigator for a series of airborne science missions for which he was recognized for outstanding achievement and contributions to the Space Science Division in 1999 and received an Ames Honor Award as a member of an Astrobiology Mission Project Team in 2000.
Steven graduated from San Jose State University with a B.A. in Physics & Astronomy and earned a M.S. in Management with specialization in Air and Space Strategic Studies from the University of Maryland. He has also completed executive courses at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and was a member of the National Leadership Preparedness Initiative (NPLI) Cohort 16. Steven is a lifetime member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi for academic achievement.
Steven also serves as Commander, California Air National Guard. In this role, he is the primary advisor to The Adjutant General on all programs, strategic planning, and operations affecting the California Air National Guard. He is responsible for the mission readiness and operational effectiveness across a broad spectrum of programs and activities involving five wings and over 4900 military and civilian personnel. Before joining DIU, Steven was the Vice Chief of the Joint Staff, California Military Department with responsibilities including cybersecurity, incident awareness, and innovation. He is a former Commander of the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Airfield, CA, where his responsibilities included organizing, training, equipping, and maintaining 970 combat-ready forces and $1 Billion dollars of MC-130P aircraft, HH-60G helicopters, and special mission equipment supporting the U.S. Air Force’s combat rescue and personnel recovery missions. He has additionally served as the Deputy Director of the Joint Search and Rescue Center for U.S. Central Command in 2005, and as Chief of Personnel Recovery for U.S. Air Forces Central in 2007 supporting Operations IRAQI and ENDURING FREEDOM. He has more than 3,500 flying hours in T-37, T-38, C-130, HC-130, and MC-130P aircraft. In his reserve capacity, Steven is a Brigadier General serving part time as a Special Assistant to the Director, Air National Guard in a federal (Title 10) status.
As a researcher with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, Steven worked on instrument concepts for Mars surface soil analysis at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. He later served as co-principal investigator for a series of airborne science missions for which he was recognized for outstanding achievement and contributions to the Space Science Division in 1999 and received an Ames Honor Award as a member of an Astrobiology Mission Project Team in 2000.
Steven graduated from San Jose State University with a B.A. in Physics & Astronomy and earned a M.S. in Management with specialization in Air and Space Strategic Studies from the University of Maryland. He has also completed executive courses at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and was a member of the National Leadership Preparedness Initiative (NPLI) Cohort 16. Steven is a lifetime member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi for academic achievement.
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