Scout Names Philip Hover-Smoot as CEO

Scout CEO Philip Hover-Smoot. Photo: Scout

Scout Space has named Philip Hover-Smoot as the company’s CEO, succeeding co-founder and CEO Eric Ingram. The appointment was effective Jan. 12. Scout is a space domain awareness (SDA) company, and raised a seed funding round in June 2023. 

Hover-Smoot previously served as general counsel at rideshare and orbital transfer provider Spaceflight Inc. He has also worked for Momentus and Raytheon Technologies. He is tasked with collaboration between government and commercial customers and expediting technical progress and technical hiring in the near-term.

Hover-Smoot said Scout is entering an accelerated growth period and the company plans to “refocus on developing the business and refining our execution plans.” 

Ingram, who co-founded the company in 2019, will be taking on the roles of chairman of the board and chief strategy officer. 

“We’ve experienced unprecedented growth over the last year, assembled an incredible team, and demonstrated our ability to capture meaningful business within our core national security customer base,” Ingram said. “We’re now well-positioned with Philip’s leadership to accelerate growth and transition Scout from an R&D business into a business with real deliverables for both government and commercial customers.”