FRONTGRADE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Contracts
Allegra Gray serves as Vice President of Contracts at Frontgrade, leading the Contracts, Trade Compliance, U.S. Government Compliance, and Ethics functions for the company. Prior to joining Frontgrade, Allegra was the Director of Contracts Compliance at defense contractor Vectrus, now known as V2X, Inc. She previously served as a civil service contracting officer for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
Allegra is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and holds a Master of Arts in English from Virginia Tech University.
As Chief Operating Officer at Frontgrade, Allen Couture leads the company's Operations, Quality, and Supply Chain functions. He has more than 25 years of experience in operations, engineering and program management in the automotive, aerospace, and defense industries.
Prior to Frontgrade, Allen served as Executive Vice President of Execution Excellence at Mercury Systems after 10 years with Raytheon, where he served as Vice President of Operations and Security for Raytheon Missiles & Defense. Beginning his career as an assembler on a high-speed manufacturing line, Allen then has held positions of increasing responsibility with Ford Motor Company, Bombardier Aerospace, and Hawker Beechcraft before moving to Raytheon.
Allen earned his Master's Certificate in Operations Management from York University and holds his BA in Economics from McMaster University, both in Ontario. He also served for 15 years in the Canadian Armed Forces Infantry Reserves and is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Human Resources
Casey Mertens serves as Senior Director, Human Resources. In this role, Casey leads the develop and execution of HR strategy in support of the overall business plan, specifically in areas of Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Performance Management, and Total Rewards. Prior to Frontgrade, Casey held a variety of HR positions at CoBank and DaVita, both Denver based companies.
She holds a Master of Science in Management from University of Colorado, Denver and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Business Management from University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
- President and Chief Executive Officer of Frontgrade Technologies
Dr. J. Mitch Stevison serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Frontgrade Technologies. In this role, Mitch leads the company with the assistance of the senior leadership team.
Prior to joining Frontgrade, Mitch was with Mercury Systems as an Executive Vice President of the company and President of its Mission Systems business. He began at Mercury as EVP and Chief Growth Officer. Mitch previously spent 10 years at Raytheon, including as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Development for Raytheon Missile and Defense, a $16 billion division of RTX. He also led multiple strategic business units while at Raytheon with profit and loss responsibilities exceeding $3 billion in annual revenue.
Job Titles:
- Chief Human Resources Officer
Frank Peloso serves as the Chief Human Resources Officer. In this role, Frank is responsible for all aspects of our human resources strategy, including talent management, leadership development, compensation and benefits. He works closely with the Executive Committee to ensure we continue to build a culture that attracts, retains and develops the best team.
Before coming to Frontgrade, Frank most recently worked for 20 years at the Sierra Nevada Corporation, finishing his time there as the Vice President of Human Resources. Prior to that, he was the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of Vectrus, Inc. where he led the creation of the HR organization, infrastructure and talent acquisition for the company during the spin off from Exelis.
Kevin Fox serves as Frontgrade's Chief Financial Officer, responsible for developing and executing the company's financial strategy as it relates to both short- and long-term growth objectives of the organization.
Kevin brings nearly 20 years of experience in a variety of finance and corporate strategy roles. Prior to joining Frontgrade, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Thermon Group Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded global industrial technology business. In that role, Kevin oversaw SEC financial reporting, performance analysis, treasury operations, corporate development, investor relations, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, internal audit, global tax, and information technology. He started his career with General Electric, with roles of increasing responsibility in finance, internal audit and corporate strategy and M&A.
With a Bachelor's degree from Boston College, Kevin earned his Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business.
Job Titles:
- Chief Legal Officer
- General Counsel
Len Anthony joins Frontgrade as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel from Ball Corporation (Ball), where he served as Asst. General Counsel and lead counsel for Ball's subsidiary, Ball Aerospace, providing legal support for its aerospace, national defense, and civil/commercial businesses. Prior to Ball, Len was a government contracts attorney with the Department of the Navy's Office of General Counsel and a government contracts associate with Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich (now DLA Piper), a global full services law firm.
Early in his career, Len honorably served in the U.S. Navy as an Operations Specialist onboard the USS Jouett (CG-29) within its Ops/Intel Division. He also served as a contracts negotiator and administrator for the Naval Supply Systems Command's Fleet and Industrial Supply Center. Len holds a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and a B.A. in English from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
Lorne Graves serves as Chief Technology Officer, leading the creation, execution, and evaluation of the company's technology roadmap, with a direct focus on driving the product vision and growth strategy.
Prior to Frontgrade, Lorne was Chief Technologist at Spectrum Control and Chief Technology Officer at Abaco Systems, both leading technology companies supporting the aerospace, defense, and commercial industries. He began his career with Mercury Systems as an Engineering Manager and ultimately advanced to become Chief Technologist.
Lorne holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alabama, Huntsville.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
Serving as Chief Information Officer, Mike Wilcox brings more than 20 years of finance and IT experience to his role. He is responsible for ensuring that Frontgrade's IT infrastructure and business applications can reliably support and readily evolve with the company.
Prior to joining Frontgrade, Mike served as CIO at Trexon, leading IT for this rapidly growing, private equity-owned company operating in the medical, aerospace, and defense industries. Over his career, Mike has led global IT at nVent and Arctic Cat and spent 13 years at Honeywell leading transformation of finance, technology and IT organization to realize business improvement.
Mike received his MBA from the University of Minnesota, focused on Management Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, and earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan, with a concentration in Finance and International Business.
Job Titles:
- Chief Transformation Officer of Frontgrade Technologies
Ricardo Gonzalez serves as Chief Transformation Officer of Frontgrade Technologies. In this role, Ricardo is leading the company's organic and inorganic transformation into the premier provider of advanced electronics for space, defense, and commercial operations in the harshest environments. He is responsible for driving Performance Excellence across the enterprise and managing cost control initiatives. He is also responsible for creating and leading the capture of strategic growth campaigns as well as managing senior customer relationships.
Ricardo was promoted to CTrO from his previous role as Frontgrade's Vice President of Microelectronics, where he led product development and production for Custom and Standard Products business areas. Prior to Frontgrade, Ricardo served as the Senior Director, Space Systems within BAE Systems' Electronic Systems sector.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from The Catholic University of America.
Tim Lynch - Chief Strategy Officer
Tim Lynch joins Frontgrade as the Chief Strategy Officer coming from L3Harris where he had begun working in 2000. Previous to Frontgrade, Tim was the Vice President of the Multi-Domain Architecture Group within the Space and Airborne Systems Segment. Prior to that, he was the Chief Mission Architect for L3Harris Space Sector and the Senior Director of Advanced Programs with the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance business unit.
Tim holds bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Florida State University. He is a graduate of the Wharton executive leadership program.