Leadership

Joan Amble has had a storied career in finance, most recently serving as Executive Vice President, Finance, and Comptroller for American Express. Prior to holding senior leadership positions at American Express, Ms. Amble spent more than a decade at General Electric, most recently serving as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for GE Capital Markets, overseeing securitizations, debt placement, and syndication, as well as structured equity transactions. She has extensive experience in corporate governance, having served on the Board of Directors of Broadcomm Corp, Brown-Forman, Sirius XM Holdings Inc., and as an independent advisor to the Executive Committee of the U.S. affiliate of Société Générale S.A. Ms. Amble currently serves on the Board of Directors of Zurich Insurance Group AG, BuzzFeed and Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. She is currently the president of JCA Consulting, LLC. Throughout her career, Amble has been a tremendous advocate for the professional development of women in business. She is the co-founder of W.O.M.E.N. in America, a leadership program launched in the fall of 2009.

Theresa Condor is Chief Executive Officer at Spire and has served in a variety of roles since February 2013, most recently as our Chief Operating Officer. She has also served as one of our directors since November 2015. From August 2008 to February 2012, Ms. Condor was with Citi Group Inc., where she served most recently as Vice President of Trade Risk Distribution at the Latin America Desk and previously as a Rotating Management Associate. Ms. Condor holds a B.A. in Government from Cornell University and an M.I.A. in International Finance and Policy from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Mr. Hoke’s career spans 25 years and five continents in various industries, often focusing on digitalization. He was most recently Chief Executive Officer of the Airbus Defence and Space division of Airbus SE and served as a member of the Airbus Executive Committee. Before joining Airbus, he worked at Siemens AG, where he held various executive-level positions including General Manager for the Transrapid Propulsion and Power Supply Subdivision, President of Siemens Transportation Systems China, the first Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Africa and the Division Chief Executive Officer of Industrial Solutions in Germany. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Brunswick, Germany and is an Alumni of the Young Global Leader Program of the World Economic Forum.

Stephen Messer has served as one of our directors since May 2014. Mr. Messer has served as Member at Zephir Worldwide LLC, a venture capital firm, since 2012. Mr. Messer has served as Vice Chairman and Co-Founder at Collective[i], a predictive analytics company, since January 2008 and as President and Co-Founder of World Evolved Services, LLC, a venture capital firm, since January 2006. Prior to this, Mr. Messer served as Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at LinkShare Corporation, an affiliate marketing service company acquired by Rakuten, Inc., from 1996 to 2005. Mr. Messer currently serves on the board of directors of several private companies and on the advisory boards for multiple venture capital firms. Mr. Messer holds a B.A. in Government and Law, History from Lafayette College and a J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University.

Peter Platzer is our Executive Chairman and one of our co-founders. He previously served as our President, Chief Executive Officer, and as one of our directors since September 2012. Prior to this, Mr. Platzer served as Senior Portfolio Manager at Vegasoul Capital, LLC, an asset management firm, from September 2010 to September 2011, and as Director, Proprietary Trader at Deutsche Bank AG, from July 2007 to December 2010. Mr. Platzer also served as Head of Quantitative Research at TRG Management LP, also known as The Rohatyn Group, from May 2003 to July 2007. Mr. Platzer holds a Dipl. Ing (equivalent to B.S., M.S., and PhD qualification exam) in Physics from the Technical University of Vienna, an M.Sc. cum laude in Space Science and Management from the International Space University, and an M.B.A. summa cum laude from Harvard Business School.

William D. Porteous has served as one of our directors since May 2014. Since August 2000, Mr. Porteous has been with RRE Ventures, LLC, a venture capital firm, where he currently serves as a General Partner and the firm’s Chief Operating Officer, having previously served as a Principal and an Associate. Since 2004, Mr. Porteous has also served as Co-Chairman and Founder at the Dockery Farms Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to preserving the historic property and heritage of Dockery Farms. Mr. Porteous served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University from January 2003 to May 2018. He has served on the board of directors of several private companies. Mr. Porteous holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University, an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, and an M.Sc. in Economics and Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Theresa Condor is Chief Executive Officer at Spire and has served in a variety of roles since February 2013, most recently as our Chief Operating Officer. She has also served as one of our directors since November 2015. From August 2008 to February 2012, Ms. Condor was with Citi Group Inc., where she served most recently as Vice President of Trade Risk Distribution at the Latin America Desk and previously as a Rotating Management Associate. Ms. Condor holds a B.A. in Government from Cornell University and an M.I.A. in International Finance and Policy from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Celia Pelaz has served as Spire’s Chief Operating Officer since January 2025. With over 20 years of experience in the defense and security industry, Ms. Pelaz has built her career on developing and implementing strategies that drive growth, technological innovation and operational excellence. She joined Spire from HENSOLDT AG, where she served as Chief Operating Officer from April to August 2024, Chief Strategy Officer from July 2021 to March 2024 and Head of Spectrum Dominance & Airborne Solutions Division from April 2018 to August 2022. She was also a member of the Management Board from July 2021 to August 2024. HENSOLDT AG was carved out of Airbus Group in 2017 and focuses on sensor technologies for defense and security missions. During her time at HENSOLDT AG, Ms. Pelaz led transformative initiatives, including major acquisitions, global market expansion, and the development of key defense technologies. She holds a degree in Industrial Technical Engineering from Cámarabilbao University Business School.

Gabriel Oehme has served as Spire’s Chief Transformation Officer since January 2025. He brings over two decades of experience from Airbus, where he held leadership roles in operations, business development, procurement, and sales from April 1999 to February 2021. Prior to joining Spire, Mr. Oehme was Managing Director and Chief Commercial Officer at Aerotech Peissenberg, an aerospace manufacturing company specializing in precision machining at scale, from March 2021 to December 2024. There, he drove growth in civil and military aerospace markets while improving profitability and operational efficiency. Mr. Oehme holds a master’s degree in economics from RWTH Aachen University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg.

Boyd Johnson is our Chief Legal Officer. Before joining Spire, Mr. Johnson helped lead two successful public offerings and ten acquisitions as General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer at SPS Commerce. Prior to that, Mr. Johnson served as Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Merrill Corporation, where he created and ran its SaaS Contract Management Business Unit. He also served as General Counsel at MTS Systems Corporation, successfully completing many strategic acquisitions and divestitures, including domestic and international operations. Mr. Johnson received his Juris Doctor degree from University of North Dakota School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in aviation from University of North Dakota.

Ms. Engel, most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer of LeaseAccelerator, Inc., a software-as-a-service company, from January 2023 to August 2024. She also was the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Gannet Co., Inc., a diversified media company, from January 2015 to April 2020, and of DallasNews Corporation (formerly A.H. Belo Corporation), a media holding company, from February 2008 to December 2014. Ms. Engel holds an M.P.A. and B.B.A. in accounting and business from the University of Texas at Austin.

Peter Platzer is our Executive Chairman and one of our co-founders. He previously served as our President, Chief Executive Officer, and as one of our directors since September 2012. Prior to this, Mr. Platzer served as Senior Portfolio Manager at Vegasoul Capital, LLC, an asset management firm, from September 2010 to September 2011, and as Director, Proprietary Trader at Deutsche Bank AG, from July 2007 to December 2010. Mr. Platzer also served as Head of Quantitative Research at TRG Management LP, also known as The Rohatyn Group, from May 2003 to July 2007. Mr. Platzer holds a Dipl. Ing (equivalent to B.S., M.S., and PhD qualification exam) in Physics from the Technical University of Vienna, an M.Sc. cum laude in Space Science and Management from the International Space University, and an M.B.A. summa cum laude from Harvard Business School.