Paul Propster
Paul Propster is a Self-employed Fractional Leader at Fretless, the Founder and former Chief Story Architect of StoryLab at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and a keynote speaker on strategic storytelling and narrative thinking, with more than 25 years of experience in strategic communications, business development, and capture management across the aerospace and defense industry.
Paul is best known for pioneering the integration of storytelling into NASA’s mission formulation process, establishing StoryLab as the agency’s first “story accelerator” to help scientists and engineers communicate complex ideas in ways that build emotional investment and drive funding.
During his decade-long tenure at JPL, Paul helped capture billions of dollars in mission funding and drove a cultural shift in how the laboratory communicates its science to stakeholders. Read NASA’s ‘Story Architect’ is driving a cultural shift in communications.
As a Fractional Leader since June 2025, Paul brings his leadership skills in business development, capture management, and strategic communications across industries to engineer engagement that builds belief and creates emotional investment in stakeholders, driving enrollment and funding.
Between 2014 and 2025, Paul spent over ten years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, holding progressively senior roles. He joined JPL as a Capture Manager in June 2014, and in his first two years led strategy and capture on four NASA proposals, resulting in a $100M award for an Earth space science instrument investigation (MAIA), a Heliophysics mission (SunRISE), and an Astrophysics CubeSat mission (SPARCS).
He also led the creation of JPL’s 2016 Technology Highlights Annual Report for the Office of the Chief Technologist, which received the 2017 Communicator Award of Distinction and was a Platinum winner at the 2016 MarCom Awards.
From July 2016 to October 2018, Paul served as Proposal Center and Storytelling Lead, supporting JPL proposal teams in creating compelling mission proposals to NASA across planetary science, astrophysics, Earth science, and Mars exploration. He led the infusion of storytelling and narrative into the formulation process. Between October 2018 and March 2021, he was Sr Strategist for Project Formulation, supporting formulation activities across the Lab through the Office of Formulation and the Innovation Foundry with a focus on storytelling and strategy.
Paul also co-led the development and delivery of the 2018 JPL Strategic Implementation Plan, re-establishing the Lab’s strategic plan for the first time in 15 years. In January 2019, Paul founded StoryLab, NASA/JPL’s first “story accelerator,” to provide story strategy to JPL teams so that how they communicate helps them more fully contribute to the laboratory’s future.
StoryLab leverages the power of storytelling and narrative thinking to amplify JPL’s impact on humanity. Paul spearheaded the development and establishment of a storytelling culture, methods, and tools through strategic partnerships with Disney, Pixar, The Groundlings, Netflix, Marvel, and others. He successfully executed large-scale ecosystem campaigns ranging from billion-dollar science missions like Mars Sample Return to unveiling the habitability of Venus to finding the biosignatures of life on other worlds.
From March 2021 to January 2025, Paul served as Sr Strategist in the Office of Strategy and Formulation, where he influenced and shaped JPL’s formulation strategy. He was the lead writer and story architect for JPL’s 2021 Annual Report and 2022 Annual Report. Paul co-led a $1.5M task award from NASA Headquarters to teach diverse communities about proposal writing through the PI Launchpad workshops. He also co-created a “Credible Messenger” workshop for subject-matter experts to activate mission-critical messaging for JPL’s portfolio of missions.
Read The PI Launchpad: Expanding the Base of Potential Principal Investigators across Space Sciences and Developing Compelling and Science-focused Mission Concepts for NASA Competed Mission Proposals.
Prior to JPL, between November 2009 and June 2014, Paul was Lead of Strategy and Capture at Exelis (now part of Harris Corporation) in Van Nuys, California, where he was recruited to capture new business opportunities for this $250M business area. He led strategic planning and forecasting, market research, competitive intelligence, and position-to-win activities.
Between June 2007 and November 2009, he was Sr. Capture Manager at L-3 Communications in the Space and Navigation Division’s Business Development team, where he captured a $75M US Army precision artillery contract. From March 2002 to June 2007, Paul was a Strategy and Business Development Consultant in the Greater NYC Metro Area, guiding financial, pharmaceutical, and faith-based clients.
Between 2000 and 2002, he was a Business Development Specialist at Halliburton, where he worked directly with the VP of Strategy and Marketing and led strategic positioning and marketing communications in support of Homeland Security after 9/11. Paul started his career at Raytheon (formerly Hughes Aircraft) in El Segundo, California, where he held various roles as Sr. Strategic Capture and Communications Manager from February 1982 to June 1997, gaining over 15 years of experience in proposal development, marketing, strategic communications, and team leadership.
Paul earned his Bachelor of Arts in Communications from California State University, Fullerton. He also holds a Certification in Cinematography and Film/Video Production from UCLA Film School. Paul has consulted or spoken on capture strategy and the power of storytelling with NASA Headquarters and other NASA centers, the UNDP, Boston Consulting Group, Google X Moonshot Factory, Caltech, Pepperdine, CSUN, ASU, CalArts, Art Center, SXSW, C2 Montreal, California Science Center, the Exploratorium, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Conference.
Paul lives in Southern California with his wife, Laurie, and his three sons. He is an avid surfer, cyclist, musician, and movie lover.
Listen to The Story of a Story Architect with Paul Propster and Story Planning Like The Martians Do!. Listen to the Grace in Space Podcast with Paul Propster.
Visit his LinkedIn profile and his BigSpeak speaker page. Follow him on Facebook.