Carlos Smith
Paragon Space Development Corporation has announced Carlos Smith as the new CFO. Smith will lead Paragon’s finance team and report to Paragon President and CEO Grant Anderson.
Smith has over 30 years of financial leadership experience, with significant time as a CFO at several leading aerospace and defense companies, both public and private. Smith will be responsible for a wide array of financial and accounting responsibilities in his new role including advising company leadership on key financial issues and ensuring business health through experience-based financial approaches, systems, and practices.
“Carlos is a highly accomplished finance leader with a proven track record of managing complex organizations, making tough financial decisions for the betterment of those organizations, and building financial stability to support expansive company growth,” said Anderson. “His financial acumen and hands-on operational experience will be invaluable as we move into the next phase of Paragon’s growth. On behalf of the executive team and the board of directors, I am delighted to welcome Carlos to Paragon.”
Prior to joining Paragon, Smith’s lengthy career includes serving as CFO at IAI North America Aerospace Division, senior VP/CFO/Finance at Leonardo DRS Airborne & Intelligence Systems, and most recently as CFO of Dawson Operating Companies. Smith also spent over a decade with L-3 Technologies Vertex. Smith also served in the U.S. Army Reserve as an internal auditor, holds an executive MBA from the New York Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Jackson State University.
“I am very excited to join Paragon, an organization that develops and delivers solutions and products that matter in the space and defense markets. I look forward to contributing to the success of Paragon’s strategy and to anchoring robust financials together with Grant and my Paragon colleagues,” said Smith.
“We are honored to have Carlos as part of Paragon,” Anderson added. “Nearly his entire career has been focused on ensuring that organizations remain in top financial shape, that company leadership make sound business decisions, that balance sheets are strong, and that operations are streamlined, losses are minimized, and compliance is tight. He’s also a U.S. military veteran which speaks volumes both about leadership in an organization and standing dedicated to a cause and mission. Honestly, we couldn’t find a more capable and qualified individual to join the Paragon ranks!”
Paragon has been a pioneer on the forefront of systems designed for extreme environments in sea, land, air, and space for 30 years. Paragon has a successful history of providing design, analysis and/or hardware on every human space program of record since 1999. Since then, Paragon has grown in personnel, design, analysis, manufacturing, and operational capabilities to support the most current and forward-leaning civil and commercial space programs.
