Arthur McMiler 
Aerospace and defense firm Ursa Major has named industry veterans Ron Sugar and Gilman Louie as board directors.
Dan Jablonsky, the company’s CEO and a two-time Wash100 Award winner, said Sugar and Louie will strengthen the company’s leadership and provide strategic insights that will help Ursa Major address the most pressing challenges for the United States and its allies.
“We’re excited to be working with Ron and Gilman to rapidly innovate and scale capabilities for the defense industrial base,” the Ursa Major head remarked.
Sugar’s Career Highlights
A physicist and engineer by training, Sugar brings to the company’s board his experience as Northrop Grumman chairman and CEO from 2003 to 2010. He is the current chairman of Uber and is also serving as board director at Apple. In addition, he is a director of Chevron, Amgen and Air Lease, as well as a senior adviser to the private investment firm Ares Management and Singapore’s Temasek sovereign wealth fund, according to his profile as a dean’s executive board member at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.
“Ursa Major is ushering in much-needed next-generation propulsion technology for the aerospace and defense industry,” Sugar noted. “From demonstrating liquid engines at hypersonic speeds to applying additive manufacturing in new ways for solid rocket motors, the company is just getting started, and I look forward to being part of their exciting future.”
Louie’s Track Record
His Ursa Major director co-appointee, Louie, is a seasoned technology investor and former CEO of the CIA-funded venture capital firm In-Q-Tel. He is the current CEO of America’s Frontier Fund, a pioneer nonprofit, deep-tech fund, according to his LinkedIn profile. Louie is also a co-founder and partner at Alsop Louie Partners, an early-stage venture capital technology fund, providing expertise in the start-up to scale-up process.
Commenting on his appointment, he noted the years of support that Alsop Louie has extended to Ursa Major and the firm’s rapid advance in critical propulsion and rocket technologies. “Joining the board is an opportunity to help accelerate that trajectory as Ursa Major works to deliver critical systems to the warfighter and reshapes the defense industrial base,” Louie stressed.
