Maxar Space Systems Leadership Team

Chris Johnson, Chief Executive Officer

Chris Johnson,
Chief Executive Officer

Maxar Space Systems

Chris leads Maxar Space Systems, which provides advanced satellites and spacecraft systems for customers in the U.S. government, civil and commercial sectors.

Corey Leal, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Corey Leal

Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Corey serves as Chief Financial Officer for Maxar Space Systems. He has a depth of experience in Aerospace & Defense, serving as a strategic finance leader and business partner. Corey began his career with Lockheed Martin and has served in numerous finance roles, supporting both government and commercial contracting. 

Corey has a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from San Jose State University. 

Anand Mahendra, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development

Anand Mahendra

Vice President, Strategy and Business Development

Anand serves as the Vice President of Strategy, Business Development for Maxar Space Systems, focusing on business development execution and the Space strategy. Anand has a depth of experience developing and implementing new strategies to help businesses grow and diversify their product portfolios. Before joining Maxar, Anand spent 13 years at Boeing, most recently as Chief Financial Officer for Boeing Satellite Systems International, where he led a business transformation that improved profitability, refined the product strategy and modernized production.

He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management and an MBA in business taxation and accounting both from the University of Southern California.  

Quincy Stott, General Counsel

Quincy Stott

General Counsel

As General Counsel for Maxar Space Systems, Quincy oversees all legal and compliance matters for the company. His work includes serving as the business’s strategic legal adviser, supporting the capture and execution of the company’s commercial and government programs, managing the company’s governance and compliance programs, and advising leadership on new and existing legal and regulatory issues.

Before joining Maxar, Quincy worked as an Assistant General Counsel at Lockheed Martin Corporation, supporting its Commercial Civil Space line of business. He also previously worked at BAE Systems, Inc. and in private practice as a government contracts practitioner.  

Quincy graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law with a juris doctor degree and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Brigham Young University – Idaho.

Chris Coker, Vice President, Civil Programs

Chris Coker

Vice President, Civil Programs & Robotics

Chris leads the Power & Propulsion Element Program at Maxar Space Systems. In this role, he drives all phases of this program, which is one of the major components of NASA’s Gateway Program, which will humanity’s first space station in lunar orbit. Chris has spent most of his career in aerospace, including leading teams focused on new business development, solar array and deployable mechanism engineering, and spacecraft thermal vacuum test operations.  

Chris holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Technological University, a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, and a graduate certification in Space Systems Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology.  He is also the interface from Maxar Space System leadership to the Robotics organization headquartered in Pasadena, California. 

Joe Foust, Vice President, Commercial and National Security Programs

Joe Foust

Vice President, Commercial and National Security Programs

Joe serves as Vice President for the proliferated low-Earth orbit, or pLEO, line of business at Maxar Space Systems. In this role, Joe is responsible for all aspects of this product line, from proposal activities in expanding and diversifying the Maxar Space Systems customer base to program execution and delivery in meeting our commitments to our customers. Joe has also worked all aspects of aerospace programs, both on the technical side as a technical director and a payload manager, on the programmatic side from initial proposal activities all the way through satellite delivery on orbit, and with both commercial and government customers.  

Joe previously worked with Hughes Aircraft Company and NASA in technical roles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, and a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California.  

Frank Pelkofer, Vice President AI&T and Logistics / Facilities

Frank Pelkofer

Vice President AI&T and Logistics / Facilities

Frank serves as the lead of the Spacecraft Assembly, Integration and Test team, leading multiple teams responsible for building, testing and delivering Maxar Space Systems’ final products to its customers. Frank has more than three decades of aerospace experience, including serving as a strategic leader charged with architecting and implementing the transformation of the Maxar Space Systems business to support a diversified portfolio of products. Frank also oversees all Maxar Space Systems Facilities, EHS and Security.

Frank served with the U.S. Naval Forces for more than five years. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Steven Perez, Senior Director, Worldview Legion

Steven Perez

Senior Director, Worldview Legion

Steve Perez is the Senior Director of the Maxar Space Systems 500 line of business. In this role, Steve leverages his more than 35 years of aerospace engineering experience, including work as the program manager on satellites that advanced the state of the art when they were launched.  

In his current role, he oversees all aspects of the company’s WorldView Legion satellite program, including cost, schedule and engineering teams. In addition to WorldView Legion, Steve has also worked on JUPITER 2 and NBN Co Program Management, and numerous 1300 satellites.  

Steve holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Old Dominion University and a certificate in satellite design from Stanford University.  

Rob Lyon, Vice President Engineering, Product & Mission Assurance

Rob Lyon

Vice President Engineering, Product & Mission Assurance

Rob leads various organizations within Maxar Space Systems and is accountable for spacecraft mission operations, on-orbit support, spacecraft safety, Space Environments, and various product assurance organizations to include Reliability, Quality engineering, Parts Materials and Processes, and the Reliability Physics lab. Rob also leads the Flight Assurance team where he is the technical authority for the flight readiness of all Maxar-built spacecraft and spacecraft components.

Rob has a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, a Master of Science in applied physics, and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School as well as a Master of Business Administration from Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business.  He also holds a graduate certificate in RF engineering from UC San Diego and is a qualified Six Sigma blackbelt. 

Mark Mosqueda, Vice President, Subsystems

Mark Mosqueda

Vice President, Subsystems

Mark serves as the Vice President of Subsystems for Maxar Space Systems. In this role, Mark is responsible for multiple engineering and manufacturing subsystem teams that design and manufacture critical components and assemblies integral to Maxar’s satellite product lines. He brings more than three decades of aerospace engineering experience to bear in managing and integrating this engineering and assembly teams.   

Mark has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an MBA from University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.  

Jessica Beahn, Vice President, Chief Engineer

Jessica Beahn

Vice President, Chief Engineer

Jessica is a Vice President and Chief Engineer of Maxar Space Systems, driving a world-class engineering function to support a diverse portfolio of spacecraft and robotic programs. She specifically focuses on leading the systems engineering, software engineering, attitude control systems, cybersecurity and R&D teams. Before joining Maxar in January 2022, Jessica spent more than 15 years at L3Harris, most recently serving as the Director of Engineering and Chief Engineer for the Space Superiority and Geospatial Integrated Solutions Sector where she was responsible for overall engineering execution, R&D and technology strategy.  

Jessica holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and a Master of Science in systems engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology.  

Jennifer Santoro, Senior Director, Supply Chain

Jennifer Santoro

Senior Director, Supply Chain

Jennifer serves as the Senior Director of Supply Chain for Maxar Space Systems. As the head of the company’s supply chain operations, Jennifer manages a team that oversees the full spectrum of supply chain operations, including vendor and contract management. Before taking on her current role, Jennifer worked for more than two decades as the director of subcontracts for Maxar and previously Space Systems/Loral. 

Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in supply chain management from Michigan State University.   

Eric Glass, Chief of Staff/Chief Marketing Officer

Eric Glass

Chief of Staff/Chief Marketing Officer

In his role as Chief of Staff and Director of Marketing & Communications, Eric oversees strategic business initiatives, assists the CEO and communicates with other executives in decision-making, program management, and initiative implementation, oversees daily operations in collaboration with the CEO, and drives cross-team collaboration. In his role as Director of Marketing and Communications, he leads all internal and external marketing programs, including design and implementation of new marketing collateral, management of customer engagement efforts, and oversight of internal communications.