Redwire

Redwire was not founded by a single entrepreneur but was formed in June 2020 by private-equity firm AE Industrial Partners as a roll-up of established space-component businesses; Peter Cannito has served as its founding chairman and CEO since inception. Cannito holds a finance degree from the University of Delaware and an MBA from the University of Maryland, and served as an officer in the US Marine Corps. He brings more than 25 years in defense, technology, and government services, including running software and systems engineering teams at Booz Allen Hamilton and serving as CEO of EOIR Technologies and of Polaris Alpha — a DoD and intelligence-community solutions provider whose revenue tripled under his leadership before its acquisition. As an AE Industrial operating partner he led the consolidation that created Redwire, taking it public on the NYSE via a 2021 SPAC merger and steering its 2025 acquisition of defense-drone maker Edge Autonomy.