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 dire ...

space tourist Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight s ...

, and

super angel Super angel (or "super-angel") was a term used in the early 2010s to describe venture capital investors who had once been angel investors and subsequently raised small venture capital funds. Super angels share some characteristics of both angel inv ...

investor in the

NewSpace Private spaceflight is spaceflight or the development of spaceflight technology that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Unio ...

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

Colliers International Colliers is a Canada-based diversified professional services and investment management company with approximately 18,000 employees in more than 400 offices in 63 countries. The firm provides services to commercial real estate users, owners, inv ...

Early life and education

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

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. 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. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

. Taylor attended the

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

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, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

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 Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) is a global commercial real estate services company, founded in the United Kingdom with offices in 80 countries. The company also provides investment management services worldwide, including services to insti ...

, 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 a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

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

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. 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 for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owners ...

and focused on the space industry. His investments included in

World View Enterprises World View Enterprises, Inc., doing business as World View, is a private American near space exploration and technology company headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, founded with the goal of increasing access to and the utilization of the stratosphere ...

in Arizona which is developing

high-altitude balloon High-altitude balloons are crewed or uncrewed balloons, usually filled with helium or hydrogen, that are released into the stratosphere, generally attaining between above sea level. In 2002, a balloon named BU60-1 reached a record altitude of . ...

s and

Golden Spike Company The Golden Spike Company was an American space transport startup active from 2010 to 2013. The company was chartered for business in Colorado with the objective to offer private commercial space transportation services to the surface of the Moon ...

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 billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.8 billion, according to ''Forbes'', and ranked No. 177 on the 2020 ''Forbes'' 400 list ...

, was an early investor in

Relativity Space Relativity Space is an American aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone. Relativity Space is developing manufacturing technologies, launch vehicles and ...

. In 2017, Taylor founded

Space For Humanity Space For Humanity, also known as S4H, is a non-profit organization with headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2017 by Dylan Taylor, Space for Humanity is organizing a sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program, where leaders can apply for an oppo ...

, 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 Altius Space Machines is a subsidiary company of Voyager Space Holdings (Jan 2020), based in Broomfield, CO dedicated to engineering the future in Aerospace. Core Capabilities Ideation, Conceptual Design, and Research and Development, Flight ...

, X.O. Markets (parent company of

Nanoracks Nanoracks LLC is a private in-space services companywhich 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 Houston, Tex ...

), 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 The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is a private spaceflight industry group, incorporated as an industry association for the purposes of establishing ever higher levels of safety for the commercial human spaceflight industry, sharing best pract ...

. 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 that flew into space on December 11, 2021, with

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

Blue Origin NS-19 Blue Origin NS-19 was a crewed 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 o ...

. 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 fully reusable suborbital launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin for space tourism. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut in space. The vehicle is capable of vertical takeoff and vertical land ...

rocket launched the crew to an altitude of 351,225 feet (107,053 meters) and returned to back to Earth.

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) Private equity and venture capital investors American venture capitalists Angel investors Henry Crown Fellows Space tourists New Shepard passengers People who have flown in suborbital spaceflight