Jacksonville, Fla. (February 25, 2021) – Redwire, a new leader and innovator in mission critical space solutions and high reliability components for the next generation space economy, announced that Suzanne Gillen and Spence Wise have joined Redwire’s strategic government relations and business development teams. Suzanne Gillen joins Redwire as Vice President of Government Relations and Business Development, effective February 8, 2021, and Spence Wise joins as Vice President of National Security Space Business Development, effective February 1, 2021. Both will report to Al Tadros, Chief Growth Officer of Redwire.
“Both Suzanne and Spence bring a wealth of experience and proven leadership that will further accelerate Redwire’s strategic growth,” said Tadros. “I am excited and look forward to them joining our growing team and building on key relationships with our stakeholders and customers.”
As Vice President of Government Relations and Business Development, Gillen will bring her vast government affairs experience working for Congress, NASA and the space industry to strengthen Redwire’s government relations and business development strategy. This includes establishing key relationships and building upon the ties that have helped Redwire grow into the innovative company it is today.
As Vice President of National Security Space Business Development, Wise will develop and execute strategy to build awareness and adoption of Redwire’s cutting edge space infrastructure solutions within the country’s national security and defense agencies.
About Suzanne Gillen
Gillen has more than 19 years of legislative, executive and government relations experience. She comes to Redwire from NASA, where she was the Associate Administrator for the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs. While at NASA, Gillen increased outreach with Congress and industry and successfully built bipartisan support for increased funding for NASA and its Artemis program. Prior to her work at NASA, Gillen served as the Senior Director of Government Relations and Public Policy at Maxar Technologies, where she represented the company with government, industry and trade associations to further business priorities including NASA and defense and intelligence programs. She spent 14 years as professional staff in the U.S. Senate, working on NASA, civil space and aviation policy for Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman John Thune. In that position, Gillen managed key national efforts such as the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 and the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017. She also served in various Congressional staff roles for several U.S. Senators and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
About Spence Wise
Wise has more than 13 years of experience growing space and defense product lines and serving the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence communities with responsive products and disruptive business models. Wise joins Redwire from L3Harris Corporation, where he was most recently the Principal Program Manager for Space. During his time at L3Harris, Wise led end-to-end opportunity creation, capture and execution for the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance business areas; managed domestic and international business development for the company’s new and emerging products; and was responsible for commercializing a portfolio of new L3Harris products. As the Deputy Director of Business Development, Wise shaped critical investments and research and development in support of key strategic pursuits, while also building extensive business development relationships with domestic and international space primes. Wise’s previously held positions at L3Harris include Business Development and New Products Manager and New Product Economist.
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About Redwire
Redwire is a new leader in mission critical space solutions and high reliability components for the next generation space economy. With decades of flight heritage combined with the agile and innovative culture of a commercial space platform, Redwire is uniquely positioned to assist its customers in solving the complex challenges of future space missions. For more information, please visit www.redwirespace.com.
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Media Contact:
Austin Jordan
Austin.jordan@redwirespace.com
321-536-8632