Dylan Taylor (born October 23, 1970) is an American

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

commercial astronaut A commercial astronaut is a person who has commanded, piloted, or served as an active crew member of a privately-funded spacecraft. This is distinct from an otherwise non-government astronaut, for example Charlie Walker, who flies while represe ...

, and super angel investor in the

NewSpace Private spaceflight is any spaceflight development that is not conducted by a government agency, such as NASA or ESA. During the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pione ...

industry. He is the chairman and CEO of Voyager Space Holdings and former global president of

Colliers International Colliers International Group Inc. is a Canada-based diversified professional services and investment management company with approximately 18,000 employees in more than 400 offices in 65 countries. The firm provides services to commercial real ...

Early life and education

Dylan E. Taylor was born on October 23, 1970, in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. He grew up in Idaho where his father was a professor of metallurgical engineering at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

. Taylor attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1993. He later earned an MBA from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Career

Taylor began his career in Chicago working for the Swiss electronics company Saia-Burgess. At the time, he was only one of the few employees of the company working in North America. By around 2000, Taylor was a general manager at the company overseeing a few thousand U.S. employees. In the early 2000s, Taylor left Saia-Burgess to move back to Chicago where he joined LaSalle Partners, an investment banking and real estate services firm. He was promoted several times at LaSalle before he left in 2009 to join

, a real estate services firm based Toronto. While Taylor was at Colliers, the company grew from an annual revenue of $400 million to about $3 billion. In 2011 and 2012, Taylor was CEO of Colliers International's operations in the US, and was based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. He later became CEO of the company's operations in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. By the time the company went public in 2015, Taylor owned a significant share of Collier. From June 2015 to June 2019, Taylor served as Global President of Colliers International, before he was initially fired for misconduct relating to improper trading. According to ''

Ars Technica ''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...

'', a "subsequent investigation, however, found there had been no improper dealings", and "Taylor and Colliers issued a joint statement, amicably settling the matter."

Space investment and flight

Taylor became interested in the space industry in 2007 when he met Eric Anderson, co-founder of

Space Adventures Space Adventures, Inc. is an American space tourism company founded in 1998 by Eric C. Anderson. Its offerings include zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital spaceflights (with the option to participate in a spacewalk), and other spacefl ...

and became an investor in Anderson's ventures. He was initially an

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible de ...

and focused on the space industry. His investments included in World View Enterprises in Arizona which is developing

high-altitude balloon High-altitude balloons or stratostats are usually uncrewed balloons typically filled with helium or hydrogen and released into the stratosphere, generally attaining between above sea level. In 2013, a balloon named BS 13-08 reached a record alti ...

s and Golden Spike Company in Colorado which planned to offer private commercial space transportation to the Moon. Taylor, along with

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American businessman and television personality. He is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and co-owner of 2929 Entertain ...

, was an early investor in

Relativity Space Relativity Space Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer, aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Long Beach, California. Relativity Space is new product development, developing manufacturing technologies, launch vehicles, and rock ...

. In 2017, Taylor founded Space For Humanity, a nonprofit that plans to purchase seats on commercial spaceflight for people who typically would not have access. In February 2017, Taylor became the first private citizen to manufacture an item in space when a gravity meter he commissioned and co-designed was printed on the International Space Station. The item was subsequently donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. In October 2019, Taylor founded Voyager Space Holdings, a holding company focused exclusively on the space industry. The firm has acquired several companies, including Altius Space Machines, X.O. Markets (parent company of

Nanoracks Nanoracks LLC is an American private in-space services company which builds space hardware and in-space repurposing tools. The company also facilitates experiments and launches of CubeSats to Low Earth Orbit. Nanoracks's main office is in H ...

), and The Launch Company. Taylor serves as the chairman and CEO of Voyager Space Holdings. He was named by ''PitchBook'' as one of Top 10 VC investors in the space tech industry in 2019. In 2020, he received the Commercial Space Business & Finance Award from the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. He has been interviewed and quoted about the future of the Space-related economy and space investing. He has written articles for ''SpaceNews'' and other industry publications. Taylor is also co-founding patron of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. In June 2020, Xplore announced that Taylor, on behalf of Space For Humanity, had reserved payload space on its first mission beyond Earth orbit.

Blue Origin space flight

Taylor was among the

tourists Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

that flew into space on December 11, 2021, with

Michael Strahan Michael Anthony Strahan ( ; born November 21, 1971) is an American television host, journalist, and former professional American football, football player. He played his entire 15-year professional career as a defensive end for the New York Gian ...

Blue Origin NS-19 Blue Origin NS-19 was a New Shepard sub-orbital spaceflight mission operated by Blue Origin that launched on 11 December 2021. The flight was scheduled to launch on 9 December 2021, later delayed to 11 December 2021. The mission patch of the f ...

. Taylor was one of four paying passengers on the six-person crew that took a 10-minute flight. The

New Shepard New Shepard is a Reusable launch vehicle, fully reusable Sub-orbital spaceflight, sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, who became the List of space travelers by nationali ...

rocket launched the crew to an altitude of and returned to back to Earth. Taylor, along with the other members of Blue Origins NS-19, were the final recipients of the FAA Commercial Space Astronaut Wings, an aviator wings-like badge created by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

to encourage and draw attention to commercial space flight.

Personal life

Taylor is married to Gabrielle V. Taylor. They have two daughters and live in Colorado.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Dylan Living people 1970 births University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni American corporate directors Place of birth missing (living people) American venture capitalists Angel investors Henry Crown Fellows Space tourists New Shepard passengers People who have flown in suborbital spaceflight