Marla Van Derwalker

Marla began volunteering with the Space Foundation in 2007, lending her expertise to many different projects. Marla has assisted in many capacities from Space Symposium projects to office and mission-essential projects that have helped us grow to where we are today. Marla has volunteered with many team members over the years, mainly with our Office Manager, and she now is volunteering the majority of her time with our Accounts Payable & Payroll Manager, Dianne Norman.

When it comes to what is really important in the success of a non-profit, one question that remains at the top is — “are we reaching our mission goal?” It takes smart, hard working, like-minded people to reach such goals. To have dedicated volunteers, such as Marla, with the longevity and expertise she brings, it is all absolutely invaluable to us here at the Space Foundation.

A little bit about Marla. She was born and raised Victor, Colorado. Marla has spent the majority of her life in Colorado with a few short “stints” on both the West Coast (California) and the East Coast (Washington, D.C.). While living in the D.C. area, Marla was a clerk typist for the FBI and she then found her way to the aerospace industry supporting marketing efforts for both Douglas Aircraft (then McDonnell Douglas) and also for GE Aerospace (then Martin Marietta), as well as our corporate partner company, Lockheed Martin.

When asked why Marla enjoys volunteering with the Space Foundation and has done so all these years, she responded that there are “always interesting things to do and even more now since the opening of the Discovery Center.” Marla added that she has chosen to volunteer with the Space Foundation all these years due to the “great bunch of people” that are a part of the Space Foundation team. We feel the same way about you Marla! Thank you for your volunteer service. We appreciate you and enjoy having you as part of our team.