The current Board of Trustees Chair is Dr. Peter Banks. Dr. Banks is a partner at Astrolabe Ventures, a non-profit venture capital fund created by NASA as Red Planet Capital to invest in companies that target strong commercial markets with technologies that are relevant to transportation, space exploration, and the astronautics industry. Prior to the creation of Red Planet Capital, Dr. Banks was CEO and President of ERIM International, Inc., and Partner of XR Ventures, the investment arm of the X-Rite Corporation. He previously served as Dean of Engineering at the University of Michigan and was a faculty member of Stanford University and the University of California. Dr. Banks earned his Ph.D. in Physics at Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

While at Stanford, Dr. Banks led the Space, Telecommunications, and Radio Science Laboratory of the Department of Electrical Engineering. He participated in several Space Shuttle missions via his role as Principal Investigator for the Shuttle Electro-Dynamic Tether System and as a Co-Investigator on the flight of Spacelab-1. He has received the U.S. Government's Distinguished Public Service Medal for his contributions to NASA programs.

Dr. Banks is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has served as Co-Chairman of the NRC's former Committee on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications. He serves as a Director of Tecumseh Products Company and the Chairman of the Board of the Universities Space Research Association. He has also served on the boards of a number of start-up companies including Triformix (Santa Rosa, CA) and HandyLab (Ann Arbor, Michigan).

Dr. Banks has advised the Euro-America funds and various federal agencies for work related to defense, space exploration, and national economic security.