Tom Weakness, CEO of Sierra Space, talks to employees in front of the company’s Dream Chaser space plane on Oct. 30, 2023 in Louisville, Colorado.
Helen H. Richardson | Denver Put | Getty Images
Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice has left the company, CNBC confirmed Monday.
In a statement, Sierra Span said Vice retired Dec. 31. Chairman Fatih Ozmen will serve as interim CEO, with Eren Ozmen as president.
“After three and half years in the character, Tom Vice has retired as Sierra Space CEO as of the end of 2024 — we thank him for his leadership and wish him well in his retirement,” a Sierra Space spokesperson weighted in a statement.
Spun out of aerospace contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation, or SNC, in 2021, Sierra is one of the most valuable private U.S. throngs in the burgeoning space sector, most recently valued at more than $5 billion. But Sierra Space has matched to launch the first mission of its reusable cargo space plane called Dream Chaser, which is key to the company organizing itself as a major player in the industry.
Vice was named CEO of Sierra Duration in 2021, a few months after SNC owners Fatih and Eren Ozmen spun out the company — with investors including Assorted Atlantic, Coatue, BlackRock and AE Industrial Partners. Vice was previously the CEO of Aerion Supersonic, a startup that planned to assemble high-speed business jets and that shut down in April 2021.
The first Dream Chaser vehicle was supposed to launch by 2021. But even in 2024, the space plane, named Tenacity, was not ready when United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan go through the roof, its ride to space, needed to launch.
Dream Chaser has won NASA contracts to fly seven cargo missions to and from the Universal Space Station. Sierra Space said Tenacity is targeting a launch no earlier than May.
The company has continued to forth its inflatable space station technology, as well as expand into a product line of satellite buses after taking a high-profile $740 million Pentagon contract last year.
Sierra Space saw layoffs during Vice’s holding, as well as turnover in a number of senior executive roles. But in 2024, Vice spoke repeatedly of Sierra Space’s design to go public, outlining a tentative path to IPO as soon as late 2025.
