Conversations with Mark Bitterman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Bitterman.

Hi Mark, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s I became fascinated by the US space program, its launch vehicles, its astronauts, and its missions. I watched Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon on a grainy black white TV and then cheered watching Space Shuttle launches. Interest in space turned me into a current news junkie in my teens and a strong desire to someday become part of all the excitement. I went on to study political science as an undergraduate at Rutgers University and International Security Policy as a graduate student at Columbia University. I spent some time on Wall Street but my dream was to get to Washington DC and work on Capitol Hill. It all came true with an opportunity to serve as a military legislative assistant to a US Congressman from Staten Island, NY. Duty called again when I received my commission in the US Navy Reserve and served 9 years as an intelligence officer. Those were the weekends. My full-time job in the late 80’s and 90’s was as a presidential appointee in the Pentagon representing Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney on Capitol Hill. The skills I developed in the government legislative world turned out to be very valuable to the corporate world as well. And to cap it off, my first opportunity in corporate life was building and running a government relations operation for a cutting edge space company, Orbital Sciences! Success over the course of 19 years yielded opportunities to build new capabilities for 4 more companies — SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Stratolaunch and Portal Space Systems, where I now serve as Vice President of Government Affairs. Although the foregoing all looks totally logical and perfectly planned, a healthy dose of good luck and timing played a major role in how I got where I am today!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There were a few hiccups along the way — some personal, some professional. While working in defense industry after Capitol Hill, my wife and I lost our first child, Scott, one day after his birth due to genetic anomalies. The tragedy definitely gave us pause and a fresh way to think about life. I had the best job ever working at the Pentagon during the Bush Administration but lost my job when George HW Bush lost the reelect to Bill Clinton. Professionally, after being recruited by SpaceX away from the company I had called home for 19 years — Orbital Sciences — I quickly realized the career error and left SpaceX after 7 weeks. I found a great new home at United Launch Alliance of Centennial, CO but was part of a complete management overhaul after 4 years. After being recruited to join Stratolaunch (under Paul Allen’s ownership), I was excited about the company’s future in space flight only to be let go with the entire team after Paul’s sudden death.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Portal Space Systems is a 4-year-old new-start focused on revolutionizing the way humankind operates in space. I was hired in 2024 as the 5th full-time employee. The company is now up to 35 full-time employees plus a number of contractors and part-time folks. In a nutshell, Portal is developing technology to enable spacecraft to maneuver not only in a particular orbit but between orbits and do so faster than has even been accomplished by any nation. True, we’ve been delivering satellites to orbit for decades but those spacecraft are primarily stuck in the orbits they’re designed to reach. Peer competitors of the United States have make great strides in space over the past several decades and, suffice it say, we are playing catch-up. We will fly some of our technology in February of 2026 on a Falcon-9 flight out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. I serve as the company’s Vice President of Government Affairs. In essence, yes, I lobby but I am more of a strategist on how to work with federal, state and local governments. Rather than focusing on sales or business development, I develop the unique relationships that can ultimately deliver “champions” for our technology and our growth. The role requires deep understanding of the operations of our government at all levels but also the international and commercial drivers for why we do what we do. I am known as a consummate communicator and someone of unparalleled integrity in an environment, i.e., politics, that is often denigrated as nothing more than a “den of thieves.” What sets me apart is that I love our country because of its core principles of equality, adherence to the rule of law, and the way we reward taking risk by encouraging innovation and rewarding that innovation when it results in support for our common goals.

How do you think about luck?
By far, the best luck I’ve had in my life was during my senior year of high school and being seated next to the girl who would become my partner in life. Frankly, I never would have met Carla but for that random seat assignment in history class. As mentioned before, the bad luck our son had by. not developing kidneys in the womb, was very impactful to my life. That said, we subsequently had two beautiful, wonderful daughters who have given us 3 precious grandchildren. Luck has touched me in my career in wondrous ways. While working on Wall Street in the early 80’s, I decided to visit the Dean of Columbia’s School of International Affairs, where I had obtained by Master of International Affairs degree. While I regaled the dean with my stories of woe about being a bored banker on Wall Street, the dean received a phone call from an alum on Capitol Hill. That alum desperately needed a Legislative Assistant to handle national security and other issues. The dean offered me up to the alum, I drove down to DC the next day to interview and was hired two days later. The next stroke of luck related to my volunteer work on the Bush ’41 election campaign. My candidate (George H.W. Bush) won and I found myself invited to join the Bush Administration as a senior legislative specialist in the Pentagon. Going back to bad luck — my boss, President Bush, lost the reelection to Bill Clinton. Mark is out of a job, right? Nope! We had just sold our home and moved to a new neighborhood. My new neighbor, editor of a major aerospace magazine, has just received an inquiry from a CEO friend that this CEO was hiring a VP of Government Relations at his space company. My new friend and neighbor did a quick intro, I interviewed and was hired a few weeks later. Back to bad luck — I went to run Government Relations for a an exciting new space launch company, Stratolaunch. Owned at that time by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Stratolaunch was going to revolutionize space flight, Alas, Paul Allen passed away suddenly, the staff was laid off and the company was sold. Enter good luck – the previous leader of Stratolaunch traveled with the sale to the new owner and immediately called me back in to run Government Relations and Business Development for the new enterprise. I left Stratolaunch at the very same time one of my former colleagues was starting a new space company. That great timing enabled me to accept his invitation to join the new enterprise as Portal’s first VP of Government Affairs.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.portalsystems.space
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/portal-space-systems