Former Microsoft and Dell Executive and U.S. Army Veteran, Tim Solms, Joins Slingshot Aerospace as CEO
Slingshot Aerospace, Inc., a leader in satellite tracking, space traffic coordination, and space modeling and simulation, today announced it has appointed former Microsoft, Dell, VMware, and Dun & Bradstreet executive Tim Solms to the role of CEO. Solms is an 18-year United States Army veteran who also brings more than 20 years of executive leadership experience with a focus on optimizing businesses for growth and profitability. Solms has led the transformational growth of the defense and government divisions of multiple global corporations, including serving as General Manager at Microsoft overseeing the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) business, managing all DoD and NATO business for VMware Federal, and heading Dun & Bradstreet’s Public Sector business. As Slingshot’s CEO, Solms will focus on innovation, growth, and expansion within government and commercial markets, in the U.S. and internationally.
“Slingshot has the opportunity to be the global leader in providing unique and highly relevant space data and analytics to help customers maximize their missions,” said Solms. “This is an innovative and disruptive organization filled with smart and creative people who are driven to make a meaningful impact and I am honored to work with them as their CEO. Slingshot is already rapidly growing and I look forward to helping further accelerate that growth as we pursue our mission.”
Most recently Solms was at Dun & Bradstreet, the leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, where he served as Executive Vice President and General Manager overseeing all U.S. federal, state and local government, and Canadian government business. Solms has executive leadership experience in both private and public companies. In his role at Dun & Bradstreet, he helped the company go private after an acquisition of the publicly traded company in February 2019. In July 2020, Solms aided in the successful re-listing of the company on the New York Stock Exchange.
Solms is an experienced board member and will be joining the Slingshot Board of Directors. He is currently on the board of 4C Strategies, a leading global provider of solutions for exercise and military capability development, and holds the position of President of the Board of Directors for the HondaJet Owners and Pilots Association. He has also held board positions for the USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore, the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, and the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association. He serves as a volunteer pilot for the Veterans Airlift Command and Mercy Medical Angels. Solms has a reputation for driving operational excellence and optimizing businesses for growth and profitability. He has also advised private equity firms and corporations across the technology sector.
Before entering the tech industry, Solms spent nearly two decades in the United States Army as an officer and Apache attack helicopter pilot serving in command and staff positions in the United States and overseas. Solms earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Citadel.
“Tim’s business acumen and track record in scaling data, analytics, and software solutions at some of the world’s most recognizable and admired brands makes him the ideal leader to push Slingshot’s groundbreaking capabilities forward to best serve our customers,” said David Godwin, Chairman, Co-founder, and President of Slingshot Aerospace. “Slingshot selected Tim because he is a proven operational leader who is execution focused, has extensive experience in both commercial and government organizations, and shares our mission of making space safe, sustainable, and secure. Tim is well positioned to take Slingshot to the next level and steer the organization through our next chapter of growth.”
Solms will be leading a deep bench of experts from the space, defense, and technology industries. In the last year alone, the company hired industry luminaries including:
Former White House space policy official and current Vice President of Strategy and Policy, Audrey Schaffer
Former Head of Spaceport Cornwall who was responsible for bringing the first space launch to the UK, Melissa Quinn, who is the current Managing Director of Slingshot Limited (formerly Seradata)
Pieter Kreuk, Slingshot’s Chief Financial Officer, who brings deep tech experience from his role as former Vice President of Finance at AlphaSense, Inc., the world’s leading AI-based market intelligence and search platform
Leslie Hildebrand, commercial space defense expert, and former Lockheed Martin executive, as current Senior Vice President of Government Business Development & Strategy
Josh Forman, Slingshot’s Chief of Operations, who brings a wealth of experience delivering capabilities and mission impact to defense and intelligence customers
The appointment of a new CEO comes at a time of substantial growth for Slingshot. The company was recently selected by the United States Department of Commerce’s Office of Space Commerce (OSC) to provide low Earth orbit (LEO) space situational awareness (SSA) data and services for the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) Consolidated Pathfinder project. Solms will be responsible for overseeing the company’s overall growth, the continued expansion of the Slingshot Global Sensor Network, and executing the strategy that brings Slingshot’s mission-critical data and insights to space operators around the world.