Rod O’Connor Joins the X PRIZE Foundation as President

The X PRIZE Foundation, a premiere prize institute and educational foundation, announced the appointment of Rod O’Connor as its President. Mr. O’Connor will orchestrate all day-to-day operations and activities and contribute his Washington experience for the benefit of the Foundation.

“The X PRIZE will grow substantially under Rod’s leadership,” said Chairman and Founder Dr. Peter H. Diamandis. “Rod’s experience and natural abilities as a leader will be very valuable to our efforts to use prizes to enable innovation.”

O’Connor comes from the ROC Group, a grassroots, communications and event marketing consulting practice he founded, with clients in the business, non-profit, and political sectors. Previously, he served as the Chief Executive Officer for the 2004 Democratic National Convention Corporation in Boston. Prior to the convention, O’Connor was Vice President for Corporate Affairs at Citynet Telecommunications. In 2000, O’Connor was a senior aide to Vice President Al Gore and the COO for that year’s Democratic Convention. Following the convention, he managed the debate camp for the Gore/Lieberman campaign. O’Connor also served as chief of staff for the Democratic National Committee. Additionally, O’Connor spent three years as a White House and Senate aide to Vice President Gore. In the private sector, Rod O’Connor worked as an account supervisor for Edelman Public Relations Worldwide. Rod O’Connor holds a MPA from Harvard University and a BA from Hampden-Sydney College.

The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to enable radical breakthroughs in space and technology for the benefit of humanity. On October 4th, 2004, the X PRIZE Foundation captured world headlines when Mojave Aerospace Ventures, led by Burt Rutan and Paul Allen, built and flew the world’s first private spacecraft to the edge of space to win the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE. Because of the dramatic nature of the achievement, the X PRIZE Foundation is now widely recognized as the leading model for fostering innovation through the use of competitions. Based on the success of the Ansari X PRIZE, The Foundation has partnered with the state of Mew Mexico to produce the X PRIZE CUP and assist in the development of the state’s Southwestern Regional Spaceport. Full details can be found at www.xprize.org. Contact:

X PRIZE Foundation
Ian Murphy, 310-587-3355 ext 101
Mobile: 202-498-7267
press@xprize.org