SMX announced the appointment of Daniel “Sphinx” Dant as the vice president of strategy and business development for the space industry. In his role, Dant will leverage SMX’s depth and breadth in C5ISR, next-generation cloud, and advanced engineering and IT to offer clients solutions tailored for the commercial and national security space markets.
Dant is a retired Colonel from the United States Air Force (USAF). He served in a variety of space operations, acquisitions, command and staff assignments in his 26 years in uniform. Of note, Dant is a graduate of the USAF Weapons School, commanded the 4th Space Control Squadron and the 460th Space Wing, and helped formulate the 2010 National Space Policy and first-ever National Security Space Strategy. He was also deployed numerous times to integrate space control capabilities with forward warfighters.
“As SMX continues to invest in and develop our presence in the space industry, we looked for someone who could really help us shape the future of the industry and when we found Dan we knew he was the perfect fit for our team,” said Chief Growth Officer Laura Braksator. “His wealth of knowledge and experience coupled with our tailored solutions designed to excel in highly regulated, compliance-driven environments are the ideal combination to help accelerate our clients’ missions.”
“USAF equipped me with the knowledge, hands-on experience and intuition to help protect our nation for 26 years,” said Dant. “With this great opportunity at SMX, I’m ready to take the confidence and skills I’ve developed over that time to support and further evolve the space industry.”
Prior to joining SMX and upon retirement from the USAF, Dant served the aerospace industry in several roles. He was one of five associate chief engineers at the NRO, vice president of Lentech Inc., and senior director of corporate business development for L3Harris. Dant holds a B.A. in political science from East Carolina University, M.A. in human resources management and services from Webster University, M.A. in organizational leadership from George Washington University, M.A. in national security studies from National Defense University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in air and space power from USAF Weapons School. Dant is a founding member and executive director of the U.S. Space Force Association, a member of WashingtonExec, and on the executive committee of the Space Enterprise Council.