Two Founders Depart XCOR, Greason Remains on Board
Jeff Greason
MOJAVE, CA, November 23 (XCOR PR) — XCOR Aerospace announced earlier today that two of its original founders, Chief Technology Officer Jeff Greason and Chief Engineer Dan DeLong, are stepping back from their current positions. With the first Lynx closer to completion, both want to turn their attention to pursue other interests. The two stood at the cradle of the Lynx reusable launch vehicle and have been working painstakingly on the revolutionary spacecraft for the last years. Greason will maintain his position on the company’s Board of Directors.
XCOR CEO Jay Gibson: ‘Both Jeff and Dan are true pioneers in our business. It’s their vision and their perseverance that helped us getting to where we stand now. We owe both men a lot of gratitude for all the time, energy and groundbreaking ideas they have been contributing to our company and the industry and of course we look forward to possibly working together in the future. Lynx is now in the good hands of XCOR’s highly capable and talented Technical, Engineering and program teams. 2016 Will be an exciting year in which we’re about to reach some truly significant milestones. Lynx will be the world’s first Instantly Reusable Launch Vehicle (I-RLV) and over 350 clients are as eager as we are to undertake the first trip into space. Next to that we will keep investing in our own facilities in both Mojave and Midland, where LYNX’s orbital successor will be one of the strategic focus points.’
Editor’s Note: A third founder, Aleta Jackson, has also left XCOR. She’s not speaking about it on the record at the moment.
15 responses to “Two Founders Depart XCOR, Greason Remains on Board”
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According to her Twitter, Aleta Jackson (also a founder) is no longer at XCOR.
You beat me to the punch by a few seconds. Yeah, it looks like 3 of 4 founders left at the same time. Kind of mind-blowing, I’ve been following them since I was 19. I still have several friends there, but it’s going to take some getting used to the idea of an XCOR sans Jeff, Dan, and Aleta.
~Jon
You deserve the credit, Jon. The only reason I know is because I follow you on Twitter. 🙂
Any word on what exactly “other pursuits” entail? This isn’t the sinking ship syndrome is it?
Yikes. This isn’t giving me a warm fuzzy feeling.
While I’m nowhere near as involved in the whole “scene” as you are, I have been following them since the Ansari X-Prize days and while I do not know Aleta Jackson and Dan DeLong, thinking about XCOR without thinking about Jeff Greason won’t be an easy adjustment…
What the heck? Has Jeff been pushed out? What is going on?
Normal evolution of a company. XCOR has taken in significant investment in several rounds, the dutch led series-B and six months ago another big chunk from China. Greason was already moved from CEO to CTO position around the same time. At the same time, milestones about revenue generating operations keep shifting to the right. The big shareholders are making these decisions now, and i doubt original founders have retained a significant slice in the company.
“At the same time, milestones about revenue generating operations keep shifting to the right”
That’s never good when you have external shareholders.
Instantly Reusable Launch Vehicles (IRLV) is a new (to me) term.
“(Re)Gas and go” Chief, e.g. SpaceShipTwo has to have the rocket motor completely replaced after each flight whilst Lynx doesn’t. Regards, Paul.
Mr. Messier, you are writing the book. What’s going on over there?
Not much I can say at this point. Jay Gibson was hired as CEO to handle the business and management aspects of the company. Greason was shifted over to CTO., How all that was working out depends upon whom one talks to.
I might be able to say more soon.
Fascinating, real progress on the vehicle, the pending move to Texas, and infusion of cash from China….. I’ll guess that somewhere in one of those subject lines lies the reason for the exit. Don’t forget these people’s history. They’ve seen a doomed enterprise evolve from birth to death before. Perhaps this time they’re not willing to ride it out to the end. They were/are an amazing team and I wish them happiness and success in the future.
“They’ve seen a doomed enterprise evolve from birth to death before.”
So, third time’s the charm?