Lockheed hires former NRO no. 2 Denker

Lockheed Martin hires former NRO Deputy Director Stephen Denker to the company's space business leadership team.

Lockheed Martin has hired former National Reconnaissance Office Deputy Director and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Stephen Denker to the leadership team in the company’s space business.

Denker’s appointment takes effect April 1, where he will oversee intelligence and analytics development programs that support space ground systems, Lockheed said Thursday.

Those programs for intelligence agencies cover areas such as cloud-based satellite mission management solutions, command-and-control, data processing and analysis.

Lockheed advanced its cloud strategy late last year through the announcement of a partnership with Amazon Web Services to create a joint offering for users to download data from multiple satellites at once.

“The intelligence community, much like the broader tech industry, is undergoing a tremendous transformation,” Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed’s space business,” said in a release. “Steve will lead digital innovation efforts we’re applying across our space-ground programs.

A 33-year Air Force veteran, Denker was NRO’s deputy director for three years prior to his retirement and that role also placed him as the agency’s senior military adviser.