Chief Executive, Rocket Lab USA Inc.

Born and raised in New Zealand, Beck skipped university and developed his engineering skills working for appliance manufacturer Fisher and Paykel and at former research institute Industrial Research Ltd. He founded Rocket Lab in 2006. The company sent its first rocket into space in 2009 and moved to Southern California in 2013. Rocket Lab opened its nearly 90,000-square-foot Long Beach headquarters in 2020. The company, which began trading on Nasdaq in August, posted $62.2 million in revenue last year. Under Beck’s oversight, its backlog of contracts grew from $82 million in December 2020 to $545 million in February 2022.

YEARS ON THE LA500: 2