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Ibadan, 3 February 2023. – Spaceflight Inc. has announced that industry veteran and global business leader Tiphaine Louradour has joined the company as chief executive officer (CEO). She succeeds Curt Blake, a founding executive in the rideshare business who has served as Spaceflight CEO and president since 2013, navigating the development of a global portfolio of launch vehicles and services, including its ground-breaking Sherpa orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) program.
With 25 years as a global business leader, Louradour brings a wealth of strategic leadership, sales, and operational experience. Her past positions include president at International Launch Services, Inc. (ILS) and as ULA’s president. In addition, she has held senior leadership roles for multinational consulting firms, national firms, and start-up companies in several industries with geographically diverse environments.
“I could not be more excited to accept the position as CEO of this well-established company with its impressively talented team and long history of solving customers’ challenges in getting to and around space,” said Louradour. “My goal in leading this organization is to build on its ground-breaking achievements and expand the launch and on-orbit service offerings beyond LEO. I’m very much looking forward to working with the team and its customers and partners to continue to evolve Spaceflight and especially its Sherpa OTV program into its next phase of growth.”
Likewise, Kensuke Kubota, Mitsui general manager and chairman of the Spaceflight board of directors, added, “we are glad to introduce a leader of Tiphaine’s caliber into Spaceflight’s next growth phase. She possesses the passion, industry expertise, strategic leadership skills, and collaborative relationship-building prowess to create an even greater, more successful, Spaceflight organization going forward.” Kubota also expressed appreciation towards Blake’s “contributions over the past 12 years are immeasurable.”
