Robert Lightfoot, vice president of operations at Lockheed Martin‘s (NYSE: LMT) space business area, has been promoted to lead the segment as executive vice president.
He will assume his new position on Jan. 1 and replace Rick Ambrose, who intends to retire in March after a more-than-20-year career at Lockheed and will support transition efforts in a strategic advisory role, the company said Tuesday.
Lightfoot, a 2017 Wash100 inductee, joined the defense and aerospace contractor in May 2019 as VP of strategy and business development and previously served as president of engineering services provider LSINC for one year after 29 years of service at NASA.
His tenure at the agency included various leadership roles such as director of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama and head of propulsion test at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
He was the acting NASA administrator between January 2017 and April 2018.
