Astra star Benjamin Lyon resigns, management team restructured • businessroundups.org

The management team of aerospace company Astra is undergoing another shake-up. The company said Friday that chief engineer Benjamin Lyon has resigned after nearly two years in the position. Rather than seek a replacement for that position, Astra promoted four key employees to management positions that now report directly to CEO Chris Kemp and other C-Suite employees.

Astra hired Lyon in February 2021 after a career spanning more than two decades at Apple. The move from consumer electronics to rockets may have been unconventional, but at the time CEO Chris Kemp was adamant that the company was looking for someone outside the aerospace industry.

In an interview with businessroundups.org on today’s news, Kemp said it was a “very well-coordinated and collaborative transition.”

“[Lyon] hired a bunch of star players,” he said. “One thing that became pretty clear to all of us was the caliber of his team and the ability to include them in our management team would really streamline things.”

Kemp added that Lyon had the opportunity to join a Fortune 500 company in a C-level position, and that at least two of the promotions – Giovanni Greco, who now leads delivery of the launch system, and Jonathan Donaldson, who will lead the Astra Spacecraft Engine delivery — got the green light about a month ago. The other promotions include Doug Kunzman to lead launch and test operations and Bryson Gentile to lead production.

These are far from the only recent changes to Astra’s workforce. In September, the company announced it was hiring a new CFO, Axel Martinez, as the company aims to grow its aerospace business and accelerate development of its launcher and Rocket 4.0. Two months later, the company saw the departure of VP communications Kati Dahm.

Amid these personnel changes, Astra also laid off 16% of its workforce. In a fourth-quarter earnings call with investors, executives said they expect payroll savings to be realized in the first quarter of next year as a result of the layoffs.