Norm earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in 1990 and began his career at the Johnson Space Center as a Space Shuttle mechanical systems flight controller, working 40 missions in this capacity. He progressed through management roles with increasing responsibility, and in 2000, he was selected as a flight director and worked numerous International Space Station expeditions and Space Shuttle missions in that capacity.

In 2009, he became the Deputy Chief of the Flight Director Office and participated in a NASA Fellowship at Harvard Business School in General Management. In 2012, Norm was selected as the Chief of the Flight Director Office and then as the Deputy Director of the Flight Operations Directorate (FOD) in 2018, after serving a temporary assignment as the Assistant Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. In 2021, Norm was selected as the Director of FOD.