WASHINGTON — Maxar announced Oct. 30 that Dan Smoot was selected as the new CEO of its satellite imagery business known as Maxar Intelligence.
Smoot, a veteran technology industry executive, will take over as CEO Nov. 6. He replaces Daniel Jablonsky, former CEO of Maxar Technologies.
Maxar Technologies, a company based in Westminster, Colorado, operates imaging satellites and manufactures spacecraft. Last month it was split into two separately managed businesses, Maxar Intelligence and Maxar Space Systems. The restructuring took place just months after the previously publicly traded company was acquired by the private equity firm Advent International.
Jablonsky over the past several weeks served as interim CEO of Maxar Intelligence and will stay with the company as a member of its Board of Directors.
Smoot previously worked at Salesforce, Cisco and VMWare. Most recently, he served as CEO of Riverbed Technology, an IT services provider that was also acquired by a private equity firm.
“Dan Smoot is a proven leader who brings a commercial approach to delivering innovative technology solutions for national security and other government missions,” Bob Hitt, chair of Maxar Intelligence Board of Directors, said in a statement.
“It’s a privilege to serve as CEO of Maxar Intelligence, and I’m looking forward to joining the company at this critical stage of its growth,” said Smoot.
Maxar Intelligence also announced new additions to its management team:
- Mike Mohn, chief financial officer, is a former Cisco and Raytheon executive.
- Susanne Hake, general manager for U.S. government, joined Maxar after a decade at Palantir Technologies.
- Anders Linder, general manager of international government, was previously at Beyond Gravity and Saab.
- Scott Herman, chief product officer, was formerly at Cognitive Space, Blacksky and DigitalGlobe.
- Anat Gan Eden, chief human resources officer, was at Verra Mobility, Toms Shoes and DIRECTV.
- Will Cocos, chief transformation officer, served at Comar and the Boston Consulting Group.
Longtime Maxar executive Jeff Robertson is now chief operations officer; Randy Rehovich, general manager of U.S. government services; Paul Granito, general manager for enterprise; Todd Ham, interim chief technology officer and Laurie Korneffel is general counsel.
“We look forward to the next chapter of Maxar’s growth story,” said Shonnel Malani, managing partner and global head of Advent International’s aerospace and defense team.
Maxar Space Systems, which builds satellites in Palo Alto, California, is led by Chris Johnson. “We have made no changes to the Space Systems business structure,” a company spokesman said.
