Our leaders are committed to building value for our customers, our employees, and humanity on Earth and beyond. Blending experience from the frontlines of innovation, the team is bound by a shared vision to take the next leap.
Eric Schmidt
Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Eric Schmidt, KBE, Executive Chairman and CEO of Relativity Space, is best known for his pivotal role in the growth of Google and is now among the most prominent voices on technology, AI, business, and philanthropy. As Chairman and CEO, he oversaw Google’s transformation from a small startup to one of the world’s most influential companies from 2001 to 2011. Under his leadership, alongside Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the company dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its products, while maintaining a strong culture of innovation.
Eric founded the Special Competitive Studies Project in 2021, a non-profit initiative focused on strengthening America’s long-term AI and technological competitiveness in national security, the economy, and society. Most recently in 2024, Eric and his wife Wendy co-founded Schmidt Sciences, a nonprofit organization working to advance science and technology that deepens human understanding of the natural world and develops solutions to global issues. He has written several acclaimed books, including his latest New York Times bestseller titled Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit (2024), co-written with the late Dr. Henry Kissinger and Craig Mundie.
Maria Seferian
Executive Vice Chair
Maria Seferian is the President of Hillspire, LLC, where she oversees all aspects of the family office’s operations, investments, and philanthropic initiatives. She also serves as Executive Vice Chair of Relativity Space, working closely with the CEO and management to align strategic, operational, and shareholder priorities.
Previously, Maria was a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, where she specialized in public and private mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, venture capital, and capital markets across various industries. In 2013, she served as interim director and CEO of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, leading a successful financial turnaround.
Maria is a director of IAC, Inc. (NASDAQ: IAC), Chair of the Board of Trustees of MOCA, and a founding senior advisor to a global defense technology company. She began her legal career as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Judge James L. Oakes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Maria holds a J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School, and both a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree with honors in Philosophy from the University of Illinois.
Kevin Wu
Chief Technology Officer
As Chief Technology Officer, Kevin oversees the development of Relativity’s next-generation Terran R rocket, including structures & mechanisms, propulsion, fluids, avionics, flight sciences, technology development, and program management.
He spent more than a decade at SpaceX, supporting Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Dragon 1, Dragon 2, Starship, and Starlink programs. Overseeing core flight science disciplines, Kevin worked on the maiden flight of Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and led the analysis teams through the interdisciplinary challenges needed to fly crew aboard the Dragon 2 spacecraft. As part of the vehicle engineering department, he managed the dynamic environments and loads teams which helped to push through challenging failure investigations of CRS-7 and AMOS-6, eventually upgrading Falcon 9 to be first-stage reusable and human-rated. Kevin’s earlier work as Propulsion Dynamicist comprised of solving technical problems related to combustion stability, injector design, gas generator and turbopump dynamics, and coupled fluid-structural responses such as liquid rocket pogo stability. This work helped develop the venerable Merlin-1D RP-1/LOX engine and supported the first flights of the Falcon 9 and Cargo Dragon vehicles.
Before SpaceX, Kevin began his career in the automotive industry at Garrett Turbochargers, working on variable nozzle turbomachinery. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.
Robin Petitprez
SVP of Manufacturing and Supply Chain
Robin Petitprez serves as Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Supply Chain at Relativity Space, where he leads the development and scaling of the company’s integrated factory operations and hardware production. Robin brings over a decade of hands-on experience in rapidly industrializing advanced aerospace and automotive systems at scale.
Prior to joining Relativity, Robin spent eight years at SpaceX, where he played a pivotal role in increasing Falcon vehicle production by 10x, led a world-class machining operation, and built the Raptor engine production system from the ground up. He also helped scale the Starship program in Texas from its earliest days.
Before SpaceX, Robin led the capital expenditure team at Tesla, overseeing the scaling of Drive Unit, Battery, Stamping, and Casting production systems—including all equipment and assembly lines at the Nevada Gigafactory.
Robin is known for his ability to stand up and scale complex manufacturing systems under aggressive timelines, and for a leadership style that is both hands-on and deeply team-oriented.
Umer Khan
Chief Information Officer and SVP of Software
Umer leads software engineering at Relativity Space, including rocket design, simulation, test, launch, flight, recovery, and mission control. He is also responsible for the company’s technology infrastructure, spanning enterprise applications, factory automation, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence.
Umer brings more than 25 years of experience in leading software, technology, and security teams at high-growth R&D companies. Prior to joining Relativity, he was Chief Information and Security Officer at MaxLinear, a leading semiconductor firm where he scaled engineering systems, business applications, IT infrastructure, and security. Before that, Umer was a Vice President at SpaceX, where he spent more than nine years enabling mission-critical launch, control, and recovery as well as full-scale USA-based manufacturing. Umer also held various technical leadership roles at Broadcom Corporation over 13 years.
Umer has a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a concentration in software from Illinois Tech, an MS in Information Security Engineering from SANS Technology Institute, and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Josh Brost
Chief Revenue Officer
Josh is the Chief Revenue Officer, having previously served as Senior Vice President of Revenue Operations. In his role, he leads strategy for Relativity’s business development, government affairs, and customer program management.
An experienced aerospace business leader, Josh has a proven track record of shaping long-term strategies that deliver revenue growth while also shaping how customers purchase existing services and novel capabilities. Under Josh's leadership, Relativity has secured launch service agreements totaling $1.8 billion from commercial and government entities. Prior to joining Relativity, Josh spent nine years at SpaceX, where he was the Senior Director of Government Business Development. He successfully secured more than $3 billion in contracts – including SpaceX’s first U.S. Air Force EELV launch services contract, an Other Transaction Authority agreement to develop a new boost stage engine, and the first operational Falcon Heavy mission. Josh previously worked as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group and as an aerospace engineer at Boeing.
He holds a BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering from Arizona State University and the University of Washington, respectively, in addition to an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Sarah Banco
Executive Counsel & Head of Strategic Affairs
Sarah Banco is a Senior Legal Director at Hillspire, LLC. She also serves as Executive Counsel and Head of Strategic Affairs of Relativity Space. At Relativity, Sarah oversees several corporate functions, helping them develop and action strategy to drive corporate and operational priorities, both internally and externally.
Previously, Sarah was at SpaceX for 10 years, serving most recently as Senior Director of Legal. Her work included negotiating billions of dollars in novel contracts for Starlink, human spaceflight, and launch services, pioneering international launch and landing of rockets and space medicine, building multiple regulatory programs, and working government affairs matters. Before SpaceX, Sarah was an Associate at Akin Gump, where she was in the international trade group, focusing on export controls, sanctions, anti-corruption, and foreign investment.
Sarah holds a Juris Doctor (JD) and a Master of Social Work (MSW) from the University of Michigan, as well as a Bachelor of Arts.
Clay Walker
VP of Test and Launch
Clay is the Vice President of Test & Launch Operations at Relativity Space, where he oversees test operations and ensures the successful launch of missions. With a strong background in test operations and management, he was the Launch Director for Relativity’s maiden launch of Terran 1 in March 2023 from Launch Complex 16 at US Space Force Base in Cape Canaveral.
He joined Relativity from SpaceX – most recently as a Senior Manager of Stage Test Operations – where he oversaw critical development and acceptance testing for Falcon stage 1 and stage 2 ensuring the reliability of the stage systems. Earlier in his career, Clay worked as a Flight Test Engineer at QinetiQ North America working on aircraft survivability.
Clay holds a BS and an MS in Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Engineering from Auburn University.
Zach Dunn
Distinguished Engineer
Zach is a Distinguished Engineer at Relativity Space, having previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Engineering and Manufacturing. With decades of experience in large-scale manufacturing and launch vehicle development and operations, Zach oversees the complete evolution of the company’s rockets across engineering, manufacturing, additive, supply chain, vehicle test, launch, recovery & refurbishment, software, and information technology.
Before joining Relativity, Zach was Senior Vice President of Production and Launch at SpaceX, where he led teams of over 3,000 people developing the Merlin and Raptor rocket engines and the launch and recovery of the Falcon 9 and Dragon vehicles. Zach was also instrumental in developing SpaceX’s west coast launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Throughout his 13-year career at SpaceX, Zach climbed the ranks from intern to Senior Vice President – the only such career ascension at the company.
Zach holds a BSE in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and an MSE in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. He has authored five American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) papers advancing state-of-the-art hybrid rocket propulsion technology.
Brian Sweeney
Chief People Officer
Brian is a global HR leader with 35 years' experience across hardware, software, and science industries. He has led organizational growth and transformation initiatives in high-growth companies, spanning organic growth, M&A and joint ventures and international expansions. Brian's journey to HR began with sales, marketing, and finance, where he led compensation planning, talent management and ED&I initiatives to help unify business initiatives with cultural strength.
Previously, Brian was the Executive Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer of OpenText Corporation (NASDAQ/TSX: OTEX), a global $5B enterprise software company. Prior to OpenText, Brian was Vice President of HR at Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) and before that, he was Director of HR, Compensation and Benefits at DELL. Brian earned a BS from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and an MBA from The University of Michigan.
Quan Lac
President, Horizon Manufacturing Technologies
Quan serves as President of Horizon Manufacturing Technologies, a stand-alone business unit established to accelerate innovation and push the boundaries of advanced manufacturing for aerospace and beyond — transforming a bold technical foundation into a platform for reshaping industries.
Quan joined Relativity Space after 28 years of experience across various advanced manufacturing leadership roles in Rolls-Royce, Siemens and Siemens Energy. Prior to joining Relativity, he served as Vice President of Additive Manufacturing at Siemens Energy, where he led and scaled a global business from R&D to sustainable serial production for both internal product lines and external customers.
Quan holds an MSc in Global Supply Chain Management from the University of Southampton and a BEng (Hons) in Materials Science and Technology from the University of Birmingham.