The team building humanity's space habitats

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Shaping the future of life in space requires a dynamic group of passionate humans here on Earth. Vast’s versatile and ambitious team includes experts in a variety of disciplines to make this future happen.

Team experience at a glance

The Vast team

Jed McCaleb
Founder, Board Chair & Tech Fellow

Jed is a software engineer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is renowned for founding Vast, Stellar, the Astera Institute, Ripple, and the eDonkey Network.

Max Haot
Chief Executive Officer

Max is an aerospace, consumer electronics, and internet entrepreneur. Founded, scaled, and successfully sold four companies including Launcher (acquired by Vast), Mevo (acquired by Logitech), and Livestream (acquired by IAC/Vimeo).

Krystle Caponio
Chief Legal Officer

Nearly 20 years in the legal and technology sectors, notably being SpaceX's first legal counsel based on-site at its California headquarters. Formerly General Counsel and early team member at other successful space companies.

Alex Hudson
Chief Technology Officer

Proven track record of building and leading transformative R&D and Engineering teams across various tech fields, including space vehicles, quantum computing, imaging systems, and scientific instruments. Most recently the Vice President of Avionics at SpaceX.

Sid Hariharan
Chief Financial Officer

Over 20 years of investment banking experience advising high-growth companies in the technology, consumer, and industrial sectors. Proven expertise in public and private M&A, IPOs, and capital raises at Rothschild & Co. and previously at J.P. Morgan.

Hillary Coe
Chief Design and Marketing Officer

An Emmy-winning designer and storyteller who led product innovation at Google, Apple, and Starlink. A commercial pilot best known for her role as SpaceX’s first Director of Design, leading the visual strategy and narrative development for a transformative new era of human spaceflight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Daniel DeMattia
Chief Information Officer

Over 20 years of experience designing, building, and operating critical infrastructure and systems for aerospace and other industries. He has been a security, infrastructure, and systems leader at SpaceX, Virgin Orbit, Reliable Robotics, and others.

Lucie Ravelojaona
Chief of Staff

An engineer with a decade of experience in the aviation industry, she has held significant roles at industry leaders like Airbus. Proficient in driving strategic initiatives, she leverages her multicultural background and leadership skills to contribute to organizational success.

Karin Kuo
Senior Vice President, People

Over 15 years of experience leading People & Talent teams in high-growth aerospace and tech startups including Relativity Space, Onica, and a popular dating app. Strategy and management consulting experience with Deloitte, Samsung, and Luminary Labs.

David Caponio
Senior Vice President, Product & Business Development

Over two decades of spaceflight experience in sales, design, production, launch, and operations at startups, primes, and U.S. Government positions spanning the entire space architecture, including national security programs, lunar missions, and commercial space stations.

Jim Martz
Senior Vice President, Engineering

Accomplished engineering leader with over 15 years of experience at SpaceX, NASA JPL, Muon Space, and Zipline. Part of the initial SpaceX Starshield team, and supported Falcon 9, Crew Dragon, and Cargo Dragon across various functions including flight power systems, mission operations, and avionics.

Andrea Laskowski
Senior Vice President, Supply Chain & Quality

Over 20 years of experience transforming and leading Supply Chain Operations teams within aerospace. Scaled operations teams for Blue Origin, Sierra Space, and Orbital ATK.

Daniel Buchmueller
Senior Vice President, Engineering Projects

Over 20 years of experience building cutting edge technology and high performing teams at the intersection of hardware and software in safety-critical environments, including co-founding Amazon Prime Air.

Colin Smith
Vice President, Haven Program

Led the SpaceX Dragon propulsion components team from concept to first human flights. Developed propulsion components for Falcon 9 that have flown on over 260 missions as of November 2023 and helped develop the initial power and actuator architecture for Starship.

Kyle Dedmon
Vice President, Operations

Led the development of world class factories and office spaces including the first high volume production lines at SpaceX supporting the Starlink program, and facilities used by SpaceX's Dragon, Falcon 9, and Starship assembly and test teams.

Derek Hassmann
Vice President, Mission Operations

Over 30 years of experience in the field of human spaceflight mission operations with leadership positions at NASA, Axiom Space, Collins Aerospace, and Bigelow Aerospace. Led operations personnel in the successful execution of International Space Station (ISS) assembly activities and the first three Private Astronaut Missions to the ISS.

Eva Behrend
Vice President, Communications

Over 20 years of experience in communications and public affairs across government, corporate, and hyper-growth startups, including Uber, SpaceX, and Chime. Expertise in corporate, policy, and strategic communications, focusing on scaling teams and driving impactful narratives.

Richard Leshner
Vice President, Government Affairs

Over 20 years experience in the space sector, including time in government (NASA), the non-profit sector, at aerospace start-ups, and as a consultant. Previously worked at the White House, leading the development of National Space Policy, and was the first Washington, DC hire at Planet Labs.

Tom Shelley
Vice President, Private Crew Recruitment

Nearly 20 years marketing, selling, and delivering private astronaut flights to the International Space Station, including the flights of Richard Garriott, Charles Simonyi, Guy Laliberte, Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) and Yozo Hirano. Previously was President at Space Adventures.

Dennis Stone
Vice President, Business Development

Over 40 years of experience in space commercialization, international relations, program and business management, investment, and systems engineering. Led business plan evaluations at NASA, investing $1.6 billion in commercial space enterprises including CLD and COTS.

Ally Maly
Senior Director, Manufacturing

Previously the Additive Manufacturing Manager at Launcher. Managed one of SpaceX's Raptor Program's Additive Manufacturing Labs, where she designed, developed, and manufactured Raptor engine components for Starship SN1-15.

Kelly Halfin
Director, FP&A and Business Intelligence

15 years of experience in business intelligence and marketing. Previously Head of FP&A and Business Intelligence at Launcher, Head of Business Intelligence and Advertising at Mevo, and Head of Business Intelligence at Livestream.

Heidi Underwood
Senior Manager, Brand Design

Over a decade of experience in graphic design and art direction at leading companies including Virgin Orbit, Disney, Vans, and Funboy. Most recently the Art Director at Virgin Orbit.

Igor Nikishchenko
Chief Engineer, Propulsion

Over 30 years of experience designing and developing propulsion systems for various launch vehicles, and theoretical modeling of operating processes during rocket engine design and development.

Andre Ivankovic
Director, E-2 Engineering

Founding team member of Launcher. Developed and built E-1 thrust chamber propulsion components and test stand. Led E-2 propulsion component and engine development and testing at NASA SSC.

Hans Koenigsmann

Previous Vice President of Mission Assurance for SpaceX, contributing significantly to the company's pioneering efforts in space exploration including human spaceflight.

Caryn Schenewerk

Experienced Regulatory & Government Affairs executive with a strong background in Space Law, Policy Analysis & Advocacy, Legal Compliance, Politics, and International Relations.

Will Heltsley

Propulsion expert and was VP of Propulsion at SpaceX at the end of his 12 year tenure at the company. Direct contributions to all SpaceX boost engines including Merlin and Raptor, as well as additive manufacturing.

Peter Russell-Clarke

World-renowned industrial designer instrumental in the design of Apple’s iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches, as well as environments such as Apple’s stores and HQ, and materials and processes.

Yang Li

Previous Avionics Lead for SpaceX Dragon. Currently at Apple leading the user design and validation of the Apple Vision Pro, and previously at Waymo as the Self-Driving System Architect.

Clay Mowry

25 years of experience, including roles as Chief Revenue Officer at Voyager Space and Vice President for Global Sales at Blue Origin. Demonstrated knowledge of the Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) market, sales pioneer for the human suborbital spaceflight at Blue Origin.

Jake Burnett
Senior Test Technician

Supported the Dragon Production Testing department at SpaceX for nearly a decade as a test technician and test specialist directly supporting Demo-1 & -2, Crew-1 thru -7, Inspiration4, and Axiom-1 & -2.

Michelle Carlomusto
Senior Mechanical Engineer

Supported requirements development and design of a crewed transportation system at Virgin Hyperloop. Designed and managed the build of tooling to support all Launcher One production activity at Virgin Orbit.

Leslie Cottingham
Senior Manager, Thermal

Responsible engineer for SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon thermal control system, supporting 8 different missions including Demo-2, Crew-1 & -2, Inspiration4, CRS-12, and CRS-21 thru -23.

David Ferguson
Staff Engineer

Over a decade of experience at SpaceX as lead engineer on the Falcon 9, Cargo Dragon, Crew Dragon, and Starshield Flight Computers.

Jeremy Hollander
Principal Engineer, ECLSS

Over 15 years of experience at SpaceX leading Dragon ECLSS and TCS teams for Dragon 1 and 2, designing Merlin and Raptor engines, designing Draco thrusters, designing Dragon 1 TCS and propulsion systems, and serving as mission operator for various Dragon missions.

Eric Hultgren
Principal GNC Engineer

Over 15 years of experience at SpaceX designing critical GNC hardware and software for Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Cargo Dragon, and Crew Dragon.

Andrew Irby
Principal Life Support Systems Engineer

Supported the development of SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon, and Paragon's Gateway HALO Module Environmental Control and Life Support System.

ADRIaNNE JACKSON
Senior Director, Power Systems & Systems Engineering

Power systems technical expert with 15 years of experience, including megawatt utility scale power generation, autonomous drones, launch vehicles, cargo and human-rated capsules, and deep space missions at both SpaceX and JPL. Systems engineering leader in power, avionics systems, GNC, flight performance, and integrated system modeling.

Brian Landis
Principal Engineer, Structures & Mechanisms

A decade of experience designing mechanisms for a variety of aerospace systems including human rated space vehicles at Blue Origin, space robotics systems at Maxar, and major portions of the Boeing 777 cargo systems.

Dana Levin
Flight Surgeon

Dana is board certified in Emergency Medicine and Aerospace Medicine with more than a decade of experience caring for humans on all 7 continents, beneath the sea, and in space. He holds faculty appointments with Baylor College of Medicine and the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Molly McCormick
Principal Engineer

15 years of experience in human and robotic spaceflight, including NASA’s certification of Crew Dragon, mission operations for multiple Cargo Dragon missions to the ISS, and Program Management for two lunar mission payloads at Honeybee Robotics.

Kevin Perez Castillo
Welding Specialist I

Responsible for welding and fabrication on SpaceX's Demo-1 & -2, Crew-1 thru -7, Inspiration4, and Axiom-1 & -2.

Christina Rader
Staff Mechanical Engineer

Supported the design, development, test, verification, and manufacturing production support of high performance avionics hardware for Virgin Orbit's Launcher One.

Sandy Simmons
Avionics Program Director

Led SpaceX’s Falcon software team for all crewed flights -- Demo-1, Crew-1 thru -7, Inspiration4, Axiom-1 & Axiom-2. Implemented software for all Falcon missions from 2012 thru September 2023 including Starlink, Dragon, and commercial spaceflight missions.

Sergei Tanygin
Senior Director, Flight Dynamics & GNC

25 years of experience developing astrodynamics software and GNC systems, including core algorithms for STK, mission design, operations, and GNC algorithms for SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Starshield spacecraft.

Sam Throne
Senior Manager, Structures Design & Fabrication (Aluminum)

Responsible for SpaceX's Falcon 9 second stage primary structure for the NASA Crew upgrades, Falcon Heavy thrust structure, Starship Super Heavy booster aft dome re-design, and various structural redesigns to comply with NASA standards.

Tyler Slone
Staff RF Engineer
Previous Employer(s): SpaceX 2012-2022

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Bejay Magnusen
Manager, Haven Welding
Previous Employer(s): SpaceX 2012-2022

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Richard Petras
Director, Avionics Software
Previous Employer(s): SpaceX 2012-2022

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