Proteus Space Names Maj. Gen. Kim Crider (USAF, Ret.) to Board of Directors

LOS ANGELES, August 11th, 2026. Proteus Space, an AI-native aerospace company delivering rapid, end-to-end access to space, today announced that retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Kimberly “Kim” Crider has joined its Board of Directors. Crider, the first Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of the U.S. Space Force and the first Chief Data Officer of the U.S. Air Force, has served on the Proteus advisory board since 2023. Her move to the board of directors deepens a relationship that has helped guide the company through a period of rapid growth.

Crider brings more than 35 years of experience leading multibillion-dollar space, cyber, data, and technology programs. As the Space Force’s first CTIO, she oversaw a $2.5 billion science and technology portfolio and directed a $750 million digital services and cybersecurity portfolio, and she led the effort to stand up the Space Force as “born digital.” As the Air Force’s first Chief Data Officer, a first across the Department of Defense, she built the enterprise data strategy that shaped data initiatives service wide. She is a founding partner of the space consultancy Elara Nova.

“Kim has shaped how the national security space enterprise thinks about digital transformation, and she has been with us as a trusted advisor since nearly inception,” said David Kervin, founder and CEO Proteus Space. “Bringing her onto our board of directors reflects both the caliber of her counsel and the stage our company has reached. As we scale into new customers and missions, her judgment, experience and wisdom will play a central role in how we execute.“

“When we established the Space Force, we committed to being born digital, because the mission now demands machine speed and an ability to outpace our adversaries,” said Crider. “Proteus has built a one of a kind of automated digital engineering capability the country needs to field mission optimized spacecraft at the speed of the threat. After serving for years on their advisory board, I look forward to deepening my commitment to this team and their mission by joining the board of directors.“

Crider’s appointment comes as Proteus advances its patent-pending, AI-native Proteus autonomous digital engineering platform, which designs spacecraft around the payload(s) and the specific mission rather than forcing payloads onto standard buses, compressing customization timelines from months to days. In December 2025, Proteus was named a prime awardee on the Missile Defense Agency’s Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award IDIQ, part of the broader Golden Dome missile defense initiative, as well as having serviced a variety of DoW, NASA, USSF, IC and large primes as paying customers.

About Proteus Space
Proteus Space, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based dual-use aerospace company providing rapid, one-stop access to space. Proteus designs mission-tailored spacecraft from blank sheet through PDR and CDR, performs assembly, integration, and test in its own facility in downtown Los Angeles, brokers all licensing and launch, conducts launch integration and delivers on-orbit LEOPs and Operations from its own internal mission operations centers. The company’s automated computational engineering platform, Proteus, turns payload and mission requirements into high-fidelity, manufacturing-ready spacecraft designs and digital twins in a fraction of the traditional timeline.

Media Contact
media@proteusspace.com

Reporting from SpaceNews contributed to this story.