image: Dr. Christina Richey
Credit: SETI Institute
November 13, 2025, Mountain View, CA -- The SETI Institute announced the appointment of Dr. Christina (Chrissy) Richey as Director of Partnerships and Business Development, effective October 16, 2025. Richey joins the SETI Institute from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), holding the position of Program Manager for Research and Technology Development in the Office of R&D. With extensive experience in research management, strategic collaboration, and science leadership, Richey brings a deep understanding of how to advance scientific innovation through cross-sector partnerships.
"My career has always been focused on being a resource and leader for our fantastic research community, and I could think of no better place to do just that than the SETI Institute,” said Richey. “I look forward every day to helping us ask the biggest question of ‘Are we alone?’ with some of the best teams and best minds in the world.”
In this new role, Richey will focus on partnerships and large-scale funding initiatives by cultivating relationships with government agencies, private industry, and private foundations to diversify and grow institutional revenue streams. Richey’s work will focus on creating sustainable, large-scale partnerships and funding opportunities that support the SETI Institute’s long-term growth and mission.
In addition to partnership development, Richey serves as the strategic lead for the SETI Institute’s applied AI initiative, SSAIL (Space Science AI Lab), which will be publicly announced in the coming weeks. Working with Dr. Jeffrey Smith, Chair of Data Science at the SETI Institute, their efforts will help expand SSAIL’s reach, visibility, and long-term sustainability. In addition, as PI of a NASA SMD award, Richey provides guidance on the proposal process, runs proposal-writing workshops, and trains researchers within the community on best practices for proposal submission and review.
Richey recently relocated from Southern California to the SETI Institute's Mountain View headquarters, and now works closely with teams across science, education, and technology to drive new collaborations and innovation.
"The most impactful work we do in research and education at the SETI Institute is invariably built based on partnerships and collaborations," said Bill Diamond, SETI Institute CEO. "We are delighted to have Dr. Richey driving new partnerships and new business models as we navigate the increasingly turbulent waters of funding for basic research and STEM Education. Chrissy brings significant experience and a successful track record to bear on addressing both the challenges and opportunities of the current research landscape.”
About the SETI Institute
Founded in 1984, the SETI Institute is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary research and education organization whose mission is to lead humanity's quest to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the universe and to share that knowledge with the world. Our research encompasses the physical and biological sciences and leverages expertise in data analytics, machine learning and advanced signal detection technologies. The SETI Institute is a distinguished research partner for industry, academia and government agencies, including NASA and NSF.
Contact information
Rebecca McDonald
Director of Communications
SETI Institute
rmcdonald@seti.org