Merlin Strengthens Executive Leadership as It Prepares for Public Listing
Merlin, a premier developer of assured autonomous flight technology designed for defense and national security customers, has announced a significant expansion of its executive leadership team. These strategic additions come at a pivotal moment, as the company positions itself for its planned public listing through a Business Combination with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. IV (Nasdaq: BACQ). By enhancing its leadership bench with top-tier legal, financial, people, and engineering talent, Merlin aims to ensure that it is organizationally, operationally, and technologically prepared for the demands and scrutiny associated with becoming a publicly traded company.
The company’s newest appointments include two major C-suite hires — Leslie Ravestein as Chief Legal Officer and David Lasater as Chief People Officer. These leaders join the recently announced Chief Financial Officer, Ryan Carrithers, as part of a broader effort to fortify corporate governance, scale operations, and strengthen Merlin’s competitive position in the fast-evolving aerospace autonomy sector.
Building a Legal Foundation for Public Market Demands
Leslie Ravestein, who steps into the role of Chief Legal Officer, brings over two decades of legal expertise supporting public companies across technology, autonomy, aerospace, and defense sectors. Prior to joining Merlin, she served at Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT), a multinational corporation known for its diverse portfolio of aviation, defense, industrial, and financial businesses. Her experience spans mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, risk management, corporate governance, and guiding organizations through complex public company environments.
At Merlin, Ravestein will oversee all legal, compliance, governance, and regulatory operations, ensuring that the company is fully prepared for the heightened disclosure, accountability, and compliance requirements associated with public markets. Her leadership is expected to play a crucial role as Merlin transitions from a private technology innovator to a public aerospace autonomy leader.
Ravestein expressed her enthusiasm for joining Merlin at such a transformative moment, noting that fostering transparency, integrity, and compliance will be central to the company’s journey through the public listing process and beyond.
Strengthening Talent, Culture, and Workforce Strategy
To support its rapidly scaling operations, Merlin has appointed David Lasater as Chief People Officer. Lasater is a highly experienced people and talent leader with a history of guiding workforce strategy at some of the world’s most prominent technology organizations, including Vecna Robotics, Akamai Technologies, Dell, and Microsoft. His background combines expertise in building high-performing teams, managing organizational transformation, and developing inclusive, innovation-driven workplace cultures.
At Merlin, Lasater will lead all aspects of the company’s people operations — including talent acquisition, leadership development, employee experience, organizational design, and long-term workforce planning. These responsibilities are critical as Merlin prepares for public company growth, intensifies its R&D and engineering efforts, and continues to compete for top aerospace, defense, and AI talent.
Lasater emphasized that Merlin’s mission to redefine aviation autonomy, combined with its current momentum, presents an exceptional opportunity to grow and shape a workforce capable of delivering impactful innovation. He highlighted his commitment to building a culture that empowers technical excellence while fostering collaboration and long-term organizational resilience.
Accelerating Engineering and Aviation Autonomy Development
Merlin has also bolstered its technical leadership by appointing Pablo Gonzalez as Senior Vice President of Engineering. Gonzalez joins the company with extensive experience across aerospace and defense programs. Prior to Merlin, he served as Vice President and Program Manager for Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser Cargo System — a high-profile spacecraft program supporting NASA’s missions. Before that, he spent nearly twenty years at Northrop Grumman, where he held leadership roles across major defense aviation programs, including the F/A-18, F-5, and the Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS).
At Merlin, Gonzalez will lead the engineering organization focused on accelerating the development, integration, and certification of the Merlin Pilot — the company’s flagship autonomous flight system. Currently under an active Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) program for the Cessna Grand Caravan 208B, the Merlin Pilot is designed to bring assured autonomy to both military and civil aviation platforms. Gonzalez will guide the expansion of the Merlin Pilot across a growing portfolio of aircraft, including the KC-135, C-130J, and Scaled Composites’ Model 437 Vanguard, which Merlin is developing in partnership with Northrop Grumman.
He stated that Merlin’s technology is positioned to transform aviation autonomy by enabling safer, more scalable, and more flexible flight operations across multiple categories. His immediate priorities include driving certification progress, aligning engineering execution with customer needs, and preparing for broader operational deployment.
Preparing for Public Market Scale
CEO and founder Matt George emphasized that these executive appointments represent significant steps toward preparing Merlin for its public debut. He noted that the company is entering a new phase of operational maturity and market credibility, making it essential to establish leadership with extensive experience in legal oversight, people strategy, engineering execution, and financial management.
“With our planned public listing ahead, we are deliberately strengthening our leadership team across the functions that matter most for long-term success,” George said. “Leslie, David, and Pablo each bring deep domain expertise and operational discipline, which will be vital as we scale responsibly and fulfill our mission to advance autonomy in both defense and civil aviation.”
Advancing the Future of Aviation Autonomy
Merlin has rapidly established itself as a leader in the development of assured autonomous flight systems — technology capable of performing complex aviation tasks while meeting the stringent reliability and safety standards required in defense and commercial aviation. The company’s work with the Merlin Pilot has already garnered significant interest from international defense agencies, air mobility innovators, and commercial flight operators.
The expansion of its executive team signals that Merlin is aligning its internal capabilities with the growing external demand for scalable autonomous aviation solutions. By preparing for public listing, Merlin aims to unlock new capital resources, strengthen its market position, expand the Merlin Pilot across multiple aircraft, and accelerate certification and deployment.
As the company moves into this pivotal period, its newly reinforced leadership team is expected to guide Merlin through the complex transition from a cutting-edge aerospace startup to a mature, publicly traded technology leader positioned to shape the future of global aviation.
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