Management
Mustafa Veziroglu (Chief Executive Officer, CEO)
Mustafa joined Mynaric in August 2022 as President and was until January 2023 responsible for development, qualification and serial production of the company’s laser communications products. Since February 2023 he jointly led the company with Bulent Altan as Co-CEO. In August 2023, he was appointed CEO of Mynaric and leads all operations as well as the long-term strategic direction of Mynaric.
Prior to joining Mynaric, Mustafa served as the Chief Operating Officer of SA Photonics, LLC (a CACI company). Under his leadership at SA Photonics, the company successfully demonstrated space-to-space optical communications links in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Space Development Agency (SDA) as part of the Mandrake II program. Prior to SA Photonics, Mustafa spent more than 10 years in leadership roles in the semiconductor industry at companies including Lattice Semiconductor and Xilinx.
Mustafa earned his Electrical Engineering degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and MBA degree from Santa Clara University.
Joachim Horwath (Founder & Chief Technology Officer, CTO)
Being the co-founder of Mynaric and holding the CTO position since 2009, Joachim Horwath combines more than 20 years of experience in laser communications and has led the company’s technical direction since its inception.
In addition to necessary technical control, Joachim and his team perform important pioneering work on future technologies to ensure Mynaric’s leadership in industrializing laser communications in the years to come.
Stefan Berndt-von Bülow (Chief Financial Officer, CFO)
Appointed as CFO in September 2020, Stefan is responsible for Mynaric's capital structure, financial reporting obligations, and oversight of how and where Mynaric invests its funds.
Boasting a 20-year background in auditing, tax consultancy, finance and accounting, as well as investor relations, Stefan accrued his experience at high profile German companies operating in the areas of currency technology and digital compliance and risk management.
Supervisory Board
Bulent Altan
Bulent Altan has been a member of our supervisory board since August 2023. For more than 20 years, Bulent has been a driving force of the new space economy through leadership positions and investments in start-ups shaping the industry. Bulent joined Mynaric in March 2019 as CEO and until January 2023 was responsible for driving the company towards its ultimate aim of establishing itself as the market-leading global provider of industrialized laser communication products. Since February 2023 he jointly led the company with Mustafa Veziroglu as Co-CEO. Previously, Bulent was a senior executive at SpaceX during the firm’s early years after having been hired as one of the firms first engineers in 2004. He was essential in growing the company’s avionics department from seven people to over 200 and was, as Vice President, responsible for the avionics and control of the Falcon rockets and Dragon capsules. After his initial 10 years with SpaceX, Bulent was also Vice President of satellite mission assurance for the Starlink mega-constellation during 2016 and 2017. Bulent graduated from Stanford University and the Technical University of Munich. Between 2014 to 2016 Bulent was a partner and mentor at the Munich area industrial start-up accelerator TechFounders and served as Head of Digital Transformation and Innovation at Airbus Defence and Space. He is also Founder & Managing Partner of Alpine Space Ventures – a venture capital firm focusing on the space industry.
Margaret Abernathy
Margaret Abernathy is an experienced high-tech executive leader, General Counsel and Head of Business Operations focused on high growth technology companies. With a background as a practicing aerospace & mechanical engineer and more than 20 years in the high-tech industry she has a unique understanding of technology company challenges and risks. Margaret Abernathy has a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and a Juris Doctor from University of Southern California.
Dr Manfred Krischke
Dr Manfred Krischke has been a member of our supervisory board since May 2017. He gained his doctorate in aerospace engineering from the Technical University of Munich. He is the co-founder and CEO of CloudEO and was the founder and CEO of RapidEye before its acquisition by Planet in 2015. In addition, Dr Krischke has worked in several technology companies in top positions during his professional career.
Peter Müller-Brühl
Peter Müller-Brühl has been a member of our supervisory board since July 2018. He is the COO and member of the executive board of GreenCom Networks AG. He has 10 years’ experience as a serial entrepreneur in various technology start-ups as co-founder, angel investor and member of executive management teams. Before his entrepreneurial career Peter held executive management positions in the publishing automotive industry, in his last corporate role acting as CIO/CTO Germany for DaimlerChrysler AG. He holds business degrees from Middlesex University in London and the European School of Business (ESB) in Reutlingen, as well as an MBA from Ottawa University.