Mr. Sirangelo's most recent position has been as the chief executive officer of the QuanStar Group, LLC, an active strategic and business advisory company which has extensive experience as one of the foremost developers of early-stage companies.

Mr. Sirangelo actively participated as an advisor, principal or executive for a number of companies in aerospace, technical, scientific and other related industries. In this capacity, Mr. Sirangelo has, for the past year, been working closely with SpaceDev's board and management regarding the Company's strategy development and business planning. He has also, in his career, been a key figure in helping to pioneer efficient and productive methods of advanced technology commercialization transfer from university and government laboratories.

Previously, Mr. Sirangelo served as a senior officer of Natexis Bleichroeder, Inc., an international investment banking firm, focusing on the technology, security and defense sectors. Among his earlier work experiences, he was the principal founder, Chairman and CEO of Production Group International, Inc., an advanced communications company.

"Mark has been an invaluable guide to us during this past year, and I have enjoyed working with him. With our pending acquisition of Starsys and exciting new business development opportunities, SpaceDev is in the process of aggressively moving up a level in size and capabilities.

"We now need to elevate the capabilities of our top management team, and I believe Mark is the right person to help us take SpaceDev to that new level of capability. Now that Mark has agreed to join us as our CEO, we expect his understanding of rapid business development to greatly enhance the speed at which we can fulfill the needs of the growing markets for our products," said Jim Benson, SpaceDev's Founder and former CEO.

"As the founder of this company it is extremely rewarding to see SpaceDev attain this level of success. I remain rock-solid in my belief that profitable commercial space businesses require only vision, commitment and hard work to realize.

My family and I who initially invested in SpaceDev enthusiastically retain our stock positions and we remain in a position to ensure that the strategic development of the company continues our revolutionary "skunk works" type of corporate culture. It is critical that we protect and expand this culture which is at the root of an unbroken string of SpaceDev technical and financial successes.

"As CTO I am looking forward to spending more time in top level new business development, evangelizing the role and great potential of SpaceDev, and directing our new internal R&D program that is designed to anticipate space technology developments.

In commenting on his new role, Sirangelo said, "SpaceDev is a unique company on the forefront of making commercial access to space a reality in our lifetime. It has been an invigorating experience to work with Jim and Richard, as well as the rest of the talented team at SpaceDev as a consultant, and I now look forward to taking a more active role as we pursue our growth plan, which includes the announced merger with Starsys."

Related Links
SpaceDev
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express

Add to Delicious