Executive Officers

Lonnie Johnson, 71
Chief Executive Officer and Director

Dr. Johnson is an inventor, aerospace engineer, and entrepreneur with over 40 years of engineering and technology expertise. Dr. Johnson is currently the president and founder of Johnson Research and Development Co., Inc., a technology-development company, and CEO of Johnson Battery Technologies, Inc. In 1989, Dr. Johnson formed his own engineering firm and licensed his most famous invention, the Super Soaker^® water gun, to Larami Corporation, which became one of the top selling toys in America with sales totaling nearly $1 billion. Dr. Johnson previously served as a senior systems engineer at the NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he worked on the Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Mars Observer project, and the early stages of the Cassini (Saturn) project. Dr. Johnson is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force where he served in senior engineering positions and was awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal on two different occasions. Dr. Johnson holds many patents and is the author of several publications on spacecraft power systems. Dr. Johnson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering, a Master of Science degree in nuclear engineering, and an honorary Doctorate in Philosophy from Tuskegee university. He serves on the board for FIRST, the Chasing the Dream Foundation, and is a trustee to the Boys & Girls Club of America.

Matthew Phelan, 29
Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Phelan will facilitate our target sourcing, target evaluation and transaction execution in this process. Since August 2020, Mr. Phelan has been serving as a Vice President at Navigation Capital, SPAC Operations Group, and has led multiple SPAC deals across the Navigation portfolio, including Navigation’s investment in Shelter Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq: SHQA), CEA Space Partners I Corp. (NYSE: CEAS), and Tristar Acquisition I Corp. (NYSE: TRIS), as well as PIPE investments in Holicity, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOL), which announced a merger with Astra Space, Inc. and Genesis Park Acquisition Corp., which announced a merger with Redwire Space. Previously, from December 2018 to July 2020, Mr. Phelan served as an Associate at Antares Capital in their Leveraged Finance Group, where he led numerous financings in conjunction with leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, and add-on acquisitions. Prior to that, from October 2017 to December 2018, Mr. Phelan was an analyst at Houlihan Lokey (NYSE: HL), completing dozens of private equity / hedge fund portfolio company valuations on a quarterly basis. Mr. Phelan began his career as a Senior Associate at Grant Thornton in July 2016 working in their Financial Due Diligence group until October 2017. Mr. Phelan currently serves as a board observer for American Virtual Cloud Technologies (NYSE: AVCT) and serves as a board member and founder to the Noonday Foundation. Mr. Phelan is a Certified Public Accountant. He received his Master of Science in Accountancy from Wake Forest University and a B.S. in Finance from the College of Charleston.

Board of Directors

Robert Willis, 52
Chairman of the Board

Mr. Willis brings years of leadership and entrepreneurial experience and has sourced and led control transactions in various industries including online gaming, computer software, and natural resources, among others. Mr. Willis is qualified to serve as our Director because of his operational experience, his capital market expertise, and his investment experience in identifying, evaluating, and structuring acquisition opportunities. Mr. Willis is a co-founder of Navigation Capital Partners L.P. In addition to his role at Navigation Capital, Mr. Willis served as President of Pensare Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ: WRLS), which completed an acquisition in April 2020 and was renamed to American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. (AVC Technologies), where Mr. Willis is still an advisor. He was a key financial architect of Pensare’s successful acquisition of Computex Technology Solutions and AVC Technologies’ contract with AT&T. Prior to co-founding Navigation Capital, Mr. Willis served as the President of Nsoro, LLC in 2007. In such capacity, he negotiated the acquisition of the business by MasTec (NYSE: MTZ) and following its acquisition, served in an advisory role from 2010 through July 2016. From December 2013 until December 2015, Mr. Willis served as the chairman of U.S. Shale Solutions, Inc., a shale services company which he founded in 2013. In 2004, Mr. Willis founded Gaming VC Holdings, now named Entain plc (LSE: ENT) which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Mr. Willis served as the financial director of Entain until 2006. Mr. Willis holds an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Newbury College.

John Brewer, 59
Director Nominee

Mr. Brewer brings years of financial and investment experience to the Board. Since 1998, Mr. Brewer has been serving as the Chairman and CEO of Vantage Private Capital, a private equity fund focusing on investments throughout Australia and New Zealand. Previously, from 1990 to 1993, Mr. Brewer worked with SunTrust Banks as a Fixed-Income securities analyst of Treasury, Mortgage-Backed, Municipal and Asset-backed securities in addition to experience in Equity Capital Markets with Bank of America (NCNB). Mr. Brewer is a graduate of the 2013 class of Leadership Atlanta and now serves on the organization’s Board of Directors. Mr. Brewer is a graduate of Morehouse College and holds an M.B.A. with a concentration in finance from Atlanta University.

Graham McGonigal, 63
Director Nominee

Mr. McGonigal is an operational executive with leadership executive experience in the wireless and telecom industry. Since April 2020, Mr. McGonigal has been serving as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. In addition, since March 2018, he has been an independent technology consultant to companies in the technology industry. Previously, from February 2012 to February 2018, Mr. McGonigal was the Chief Network Officer and Senior Vice President of Network operations for Vonage (NYSE: VG). Additionally, from September 2007 to February 2012, Mr. McGonigal served as the Chief Operations Officer at Nsoro, LLC, which was acquired by MasTec, and from 1982 to August 2007, he was Vice President of Networks at AT&T (NYSE: T). Mr. McGonigal is a graduate of from Mercer University holding a B.S. in Chemistry.

Dr. William Torres, 74
Director Nominee

Since 2017, Dr. Torres has been serving as the Associate Director of Clinical Affairs of Emory Healthcare. From 2003 to 2017, he was Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs and Assoc. Chief of Radiology at Emory. In 2003, Dr. Torres participated in the examination of several mummies obtained by the Carlos Museum of Emory University, where one of the mummies was discovered to be that of Rameses the First. Dr. Torres is a member of the Radiological Society of North America and the recipient of Radiology Editor’s Recognition Award with Distinction from 2004 to 2013 and the RadioGraphics Editor’s Certificate of Recognition for outstanding service from 1995 to 2003. Dr. Torres earned his Medical Degree from the Emory University School of Medicine and completed his Residency at the Emory University Affiliated Hospitals.