Agile Space Industries, the aerospace propulsion company enlisted by NASA, the Department of Defense, and defense contractors for more than a decade, appointed aerospace industry veteran Chris Pearson as Chief Executive Officer. During Pearson’s 25 years in the industry, he has built and led high-growth space organizations with experience at the subsystem, satellite, and mission level.
“Chris taking the helm at Agile is a game-changing boost for our team and our customers supporting the rapidly expanding space industry. The entire Agile team is excited for Chris to join us, and we are confident that under his leadership, we can scale Agile to be the leading provider of aerospace propulsion systems,” said Daudi Barnes, Agile Founder, President, and CTO. “At Agile, we are literally propelling humanity to a multi-planetary future by transforming new space missions with accessible propulsion solutions.”
Pearson previously served as Executive Vice President of Critical Components for Redwire, provider in space infrastructure for the next generation space economy, where he had full responsibility for activities in the Luxembourg and Marlborough (Massachusetts) sites. Prior to Redwire, Pearson served as CEO of Roccor, a disruptive deployable systems supplier acquired by Redwire in 2020, leading the company through rapid growth and increasing its employee total from 12 to 100.
Prior to Roccor, Pearson held senior roles at Airbus and Moog and gained startup experience as founding US employee of UK space battery supplier ABSL Space Products (ABSL). Pearson grew ABSL from a basement sales office to a full Colorado manufacturing facility with more than 40 employees through an acquisition by Enersys.
“I’m honored to join Agile at such an exciting inflection point as the company builds on world-class propulsion test facilities and cutting-edge additive manufacturing technology to deliver a new generation of spacecraft chemical propulsion products,” Pearson said. “The Agile team is absolutely outstanding, working on some amazing projects for blue chip and new entrant aerospace companies and government agencies. Together, we’re going to do incredible things.”
Pearson succeeds Andrew Thompson, who served as acting CEO since March 2022 and will remain at Agile as Chief Operating Officer. During Thompson’s tenure, Agile raised a $9M seed round, led by Caruso Ventures, and secured several transformative customer contracts with major aerospace companies.
“The board thanks Andrew for his leadership during this transition and is excited for him to team with Chris for this next stage of Agile’s journey,” said Dan Caruso, Managing Partner, Caruso Ventures.