Growth and operations leadership moves across the market

General Dynamics IT

Geoffrey Williams has joined the defense company’s IT services business unit as vice president of emerging technology in conjunction with a series of new investments in that leg of GDIT’s strategy.

GDIT is working to expand its network of partnerships with commercial technology companies in priority areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum, cybersecurity, edge computing and advanced wireless technologies.

In addition to Williams’ hire, GDIT also has promoted two-decade tech veteran Matthew Soltis to vice president of technology solutions and alliance partnerships. Soltis most recently led GDIT’s cloud center of excellence.

Guidehouse

The global advisory and professional services firm has added a pair of partners to its financial services practice’s leadership team, with both hires involving a significant technology component.

Sourish Chaudhri will work as a growth leader and brings three decades of capital markets and banking experience to that role. His career includes positions at LTIMindtree, Wipro Limited and Infosys.

Jon Steinert will lead artificial intelligence and data initiatives in financial services and brings two decades of experience to that position. He most recently worked as managing director for global data and AI principal architect at Accenture, where he altogether spent 15 years in two different stints.

Heven

Michael Buscher has joined the Israel-headquartered drone maker as president of its operations in the U.S., where Heven is looking to further grow its presence.

The three-decade Army Reserve veteran will lead Heven’s push to further expand the availability of its hydrogen-powered vehicles for U.S. government agencies.

His post-military career in industry includes roles at Consilium Data Services, BigBear.ai, Edge Autonomy and Fortem Technologies.

Pluribus Digital

Jon Carr has joined the provider of software for citizen services as chief growth officer and will lead its push to expand design, development and delivery offerings.

The 18-year veteran most recently worked as senior vice president of strategic growth at Bixal. His career prior to that includes roles at Ad Hoc, CGI Federal, The Ambit Group, E3 Federal Solutions and Grant Thornton.

Pluribus’ target markets across federal include health and benefits, homeland security and financial agencies.

Special Aerospace Services

Devin Sappington has joined the Godspeed Capital-owned space and missile defense engineering company as a vice president of business development.

The 35-year defense market veteran will help lead SAS’ functions in capture lifecycle management and proposal creation.

Also a former Air Force officer, Sappington most recently worked at V2X as a senior director for capture and BD. Sappington is the newest BD VP hire at SAS following its appointment of a trio to that part of its leadership team earlier in June.

SES

Elisabeth “Lisa” Pataki joined the global satellite network operator as chief financial officer on Monday as it awaits regulatory approval for the planned acquisition of Intelsat.

Pataki most recently worked as a group CFO at Aerojet Rocketdyne before its $4.7 billion sale to L3Harris Technologies in 2023. She succeeds Sandeep Jalan, who was SES’ finance chief for five years.

Pataki’s finance career prior to Aerojet includes senior roles at Comet Group, EF Education First and Raytheon.

TekStripes

Rajesh Velusamy has joined the cloud computing and application development services provider as chief operating officer to help lead the push to scale out its delivery posture.

TekStripes cited the two-decade market veteran’s background as including areas such as artificial intelligence, data and cloud solutions.

Velusamy most recently worked as a general manager at Softrams. His career also includes roles at Cognizant, Infosys and Northrop Grumman.

Teracore

Adam Sheffield has moved up to chief administrative officer at this provider of management and enterprise IT consulting services.

Sheffield also helps oversee functions in talent acquisition, employee relations, performance management, compliance, benefit administration, IT, payroll and accounting.

He has been with the company for 12 years and most recently worked as vice president of corporate operations.

Turion Space

Rich Minford has moved up to chief operating officer approximately 15 months after he joined the space situational awareness startup.

Prior to Turion, Minford worked at Palantir for a decade as a business development leader. He started out at Turion as head of forward deployed operations and strategy.

Washington Harbour Partners entered its investment in Turion back in the spring.

Iridium

Monique Shivanandan, group chief data and analytics officer at HSBC, has joined the board of directors at the provider of global satellite communications.

She has been designated an independent director and will also be a part of the panel’s compensation committee. Her career also includes C-level technology leadership roles at companies such as Chubb, Aviva and Capital One.

Approximately 27% of Iridium’s $830.7 million in revenue for 2024 came from U.S. government services, according to the company’s annual report.

SixGen

Scott Howell, a former commander of Joint Special Operations Command, has joined the board of directors for this cybersecurity company owned by Washington Harbour Partners.

The retired Air Force lieutenant general’s 34-year service career also includes assignments such as vice commander of Special Operations Command, as well as commanding general for NATO Special Operations Component Command – Afghanistan.

Washington Harbour acquired SixGen in the fall of 2023. SixGen is led by its chief executive Jack Wilmer, a former Defense Department chief information security officer.