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Trump Taps NJ Billionaire High School Dropout To Helm NASA: Meet Jared Isaacman

Jared Isaacman, a North Jersey high school dropout who founded a billion-dollar company, has been nominated to be the new administrator of NASA.

Jared Isaacman

Jared Isaacman

Photo Credit: NASA/Norah Moran/Wikimedia Commons

President-elect Donald Trump announced Isaacman's nomination in a post on his Truth Social account.

"Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in space science, technology, and exploration," Trump wrote. "

Over the past 25 years, as the Founder and CEO of Shift4, Jared has demonstrated exceptional leadership, building a trailblazing global financial technology company. Jared’s passion for space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new space economy, make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new era."

Isaacman was born in Summit before moving to Union Township and later Westfield. He later attended Ridge High School in Somerset County before dropping out to focus his efforts on a website design company, and later, an extremely successful payment processing company. Isaacman and his family reportedly also lived in Washington Township, Warren County.

Last September, Isaacman was the mission commander of SpaceX's mission Polaris Dawn, which was launched into space.

Isaacman founded Shift4 at just 16 years old in the basement of his parents' home, according to his bio on the Shift4 website. In 2011, he co-founded Draken International, the largest private airforce training pilots for the U.S. armed forces.

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