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Ozmen’s Selection For Space Council Advisory Group Signals Sierra Nevada’s Arrival As Major Player

Ozmen’s Selection For Space Council Advisory Group Signals Sierra Nevada’s Arrival As Major Player (From Forbes)

Loren B. Thompson

February 22, 2018

The National Space Council disclosed on Tuesday of this week that Sierra Nevada Corporation CEO Fatih Ozmen has been selected as a candidate to join the council’s user advisory group.  This is a clear signal that privately-held SNC has ascended to the first tier of players in the domestic space sector.  Sierra Nevada is jointly owned by CEO Ozmen and his wife Eren, who serves as President of the company.  In the years since the two of them did a management buyout of the struggling firm, Sierra Nevada has become a major federal contractor with over 3500 employees.  It has extensive interests in space, defense and commercial technology markets.  That is a remarkable achievement for two Turkish students who came to America with little more than their backpacks, and then went on to build one of the most innovative firms in the A&D space.

I have written a commentary for Forbes here.

 

Loren B. Thompson is Senior Adviser of GPI , Chief Operating Officer of the non-profit Lexington Institute and Chief Executive Officer of Source Associates, a for-profit consultancy. Prior to holding his present positions, he was Deputy Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and taught graduate-level courses in strategy, technology and media affairs at Georgetown. He has also taught at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Mr. Thompson holds doctoral and masters degrees in government from Georgetown University and a bachelor of science degree in political science from Northeastern University.

The views and opinions expressed in this issue brief are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy of GPI.