Astrion Taps Industry Titans for Aggressive Defense & Space Expansion

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – April 02, 2026 – Astrion, the billion-dollar government services contractor, has announced a significant leadership overhaul, appointing former Sierra Space and Northrop Grumman executive Tom Vice as its new Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer. The move, effective immediately, is part of a broader strategic realignment that also includes the appointments of Eric Brown as President of Space Operations and Allied Missions and Conn Doherty as Chief Growth Officer.

The appointments signal a clear intention by Astrion to accelerate its growth and deepen its impact across the defense, space, and national security sectors. Vice takes the helm from Dave Zolet, the company’s founding CEO who successfully guided Astrion from its 2023 launch to its current status as a major industry player.

“Mission demands are increasing in speed, complexity, and consequence,” Vice stated in the official announcement. “Astrion’s strength starts with its people — a talented team with deep mission understanding, strong customer relationships, and a proven record of execution. We are building on that foundation with focus, urgency, and resolve.”

A New 'A-Team' for National Security

The recruitment of Vice, Brown, and Doherty represents a major coup for Astrion, assembling a leadership team with a formidable track record of scaling advanced technology businesses within the industry’s most dominant companies. This strategic influx of top-tier talent is a clear signal that Astrion is positioning itself for a new phase of aggressive competition and market disruption.

Tom Vice brings a distinguished career defined by transformative leadership. Most recently as CEO of Sierra Space, he was instrumental in building the company into a $5.4 billion enterprise, leading massive Series A and B capital raises totaling $1.7 billion, and securing major national security programs. Before that, he served as Chairman and CEO of Aerion Corporation. However, the bulk of his career was spent over three decades at Northrop Grumman, where he began as an engineer on the B-2 Stealth Bomber program in 1986. He rose through the ranks to become President of the company’s $11 billion Aerospace Systems sector and, prior to that, President of its Technical Services sector, a global leader in logistics and government services with over 19,500 employees.

Joining Vice is Eric Brown, who will lead the newly formed Space Operations and Allied Missions division. Brown comes directly from Lockheed Martin Space, where he served as Vice President of Mission Strategy & Advanced Capabilities. In that role, he was responsible for shaping strategy for critical military space missions, including missile defense, satellite communications, and space domain awareness, while also architecting solutions for Joint All-Domain Operations (JADO). His resume also includes key government services roles at Booz Allen Hamilton and URS Corporation.

Rounding out the new executive suite is Conn Doherty as Chief Growth Officer, a role that underscores the company’s focus on expansion. Doherty most recently held the same title at CHAOS Industries and spent nearly two decades in leadership at Raytheon, RTX, and Collins Aerospace, where he managed portfolios focused on battle management, command and control, and autonomy platforms.

From Rapid Launch to Strategic Escalation

This leadership transition marks a pivotal moment in Astrion’s rapid evolution. The company was launched in 2023 by private equity firm Brightstar Capital Partners, which merged two of its portfolio companies, Oasis Systems and Engineering, Research and Consulting (ERC), to create a new entity focused on national security missions. The strategy was to combine Oasis’s expertise in program management and technology services with ERC’s deep roots in engineering and testing for aviation and missile programs.

Under the leadership of outgoing CEO Dave Zolet, the company quickly established its footing. In 2024, Astrion acquired Axient, a move that expanded its capabilities in multi-domain test and analysis and mission engineering, and grew the company’s headcount to over 6,000 employees. Zolet successfully integrated these disparate businesses into a cohesive, billion-dollar enterprise, a feat he noted with pride.

“Building Astrion from three separate businesses into a $1B+ company is something I will always be proud of,” Zolet said. “More than the numbers, I am proud of the team we built and the mission they show up for every day.”

Zolet’s foundational work has created a powerful platform from which the new leadership team is expected to launch a more aggressive growth strategy. His previously stated goal of doubling Astrion’s annual revenue to $1.5 billion within three years now falls to Vice and his team to execute and potentially exceed.

Targeting High-Stakes Contracts and Market Share

Astrion has already demonstrated its ability to win significant, large-scale government contracts, positioning itself as a formidable mid-tier prime contractor. This market segment is often seen as providing the federal government with a crucial blend of agility and scale—nimble enough to innovate quickly but large enough to execute complex, enterprise-level programs.

In the past two years, the company has secured a string of high-value awards that underscore its capabilities. These include:

• A coveted spot on the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) 10-year, $151 billion Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense contract vehicle.
• A 12-year, $3.7 billion Test Operations and Sustainment II (TOS II) contract with the U.S. Air Force, awarded to a joint venture between Astrion and Fluor.
• A five-year, $910 million Redstone Test and Engineering Services (RTES) contract from the U.S. Army.
• A position on the General Services Administration's (GSA) Alliant 3 GWAC, a key vehicle for federal technology services.
• A $237 million U.S. Space Force contract for the Space Test Experiments (STEP) 2.0 program, awarded to its legacy Axient business.

These wins span Astrion’s core competencies in systems engineering, test and evaluation, space technologies, and mission support. The appointment of Eric Brown to specifically lead space operations suggests an even greater focus on this critical and rapidly growing domain. By poaching top executives from industry giants, Astrion is not just adding talent; it is making a clear statement about its ambitions. The company is signaling to the market and its competitors—from established primes like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to other mid-tier players—that it is ready to compete for the most complex and critical national security missions. With a new leadership team built for transformation and a portfolio of high-stakes contracts, Astrion is now positioned not just to participate in the market, but to actively reshape the competitive landscape.