Board Of Directors
Adam Trumpour
founder and president
Adam is a rocket and gas turbine propulsion professional with broad involvement in the industry. He is a turbomachinery designer and systems integrator at Pratt & Whitney Canada with 14 years of experience, and a founding partner of Continuum Aerospace, in which capacity he participated in a CSA and DND funded microsatellite launch vehicle study in 2008. He is a recognized expert in liquid-propellant rocket propulsion, and in addition to founding Launch Canada, he has served as liquid rocket lead for the world’s largest rocket competition, the Spaceport America Cup, and was technical designer for the Base 11 Space Challenge. He has consulted for Transport Canada as a subject matter expert on space launch safety and regulations, and for Nova Scotia Environment as an expert on propellant hazards for the proposed Canso spaceport.
John Burgener
board member
John is an internationally experienced business executive and entrepreneur with diverse experience in management, marketing, sciences, R&D. He is currently President of: Rocketplane Global Inc., Telegistics Inc. and Burgener Research Inc. Past affiliations include: Rotary Rocket Inc., XCOR Aerospace Inc., Pioneer Rocketplane, Rocketplane Limited, Rocketplane Kistler Inc. John was one of the three original investors who provided the funding to start Rotary Rocket, with Walt Anderson and Tom Clancey. Rocketplane Kistler won a $500 million COTS contract from NASA. John holds 7 patents, including the recent US Patent # 10,384,797: “In Flight Transfer of Reactant from a Towing or Carrying Airplane to an Attached Rocket or Rocketplane”.
Randall Lilko
board member
Randall has 40 years of experience in tactical rocket and missile engineering, working in propulsion, flight control, simulation, systems design and analysis. He has been employed by Bristol Aerospace Ltd., Litton Systems Ltd., Allied-Signal Aerospace Inc. and the Honeywell Corp. in capacities including design, development, manufacturing, test, analysis, project management, new business development and R&D. He has participated in several multinational missile development programs in support of both national and NATO programs representing Canadian contribution to those projects. He has also assisted Defence Research & Development Canada on a number of research programs since 1983. Currently, he is the Chief Technical Officer of Randing Research Corp., specializing in missile systems technical analysis and system evaluation for the Canadian Government and NATO.
Dan Steinhaur
board member
Dan is the president of Stein Industries and Stein Astronautics, with a long history in the electrical and electronic manufacturing industry. Through Stein Astronautics, he has led work on satellite launch vehicles and liquid rocket propulsion.
Rahul Goel
board member
Rahul is an experienced tech entrepreneur and angel investor. He was the founder and CEO of online conference platform Pheedloop, and is the founder and CEO of NordSpace, a Canadian startup developing orbital-class launch vehicles, spacecraft, and advanced robotics.