Leadership

Thomas Reed serves as the General Manager of Advantor Systems. He is a growth-oriented executive with nearly two decades of experience scaling advanced technology businesses across the aerospace and defense sector. His background spans engineering, enterprise strategy, and global commercial leadership, enabling him to translate complex technical capabilities into sustainable commercial growth.

Before joining Advantor Systems, Thomas served as Chief Growth Officer for Frontgrade Technologies, a private equity-backed aerospace and defense electronics company with approximately $500 million in annual revenue. He led global sales across seven sites, as well as business development, marketing, and sales operations organizations responsible for more than $500 million in annual bookings. During his tenure, he rebuilt the company’s enterprise growth engine, expanding its qualified opportunity pipeline from $1.2 billion to $1.8 billion within nine months while driving 30% year-over-year order growth and multiple quarters of accelerated bookings expansion. He also introduced AI-enabled proposal development and strengthened deal governance processes, increasing win rates by more than 35%. In addition, Thomas partnered closely with the board and private equity sponsors, providing operating updates and helping lead acquisition identification, due diligence, and integration activities.

Previously, Thomas served as Director of Strategy for the $1.2 billion Space Sector at L3Harris Technologies, where he shaped enterprise growth strategy across emerging space markets. He managed a $100 million annual research and development portfolio and a $75 million capital program while supporting acquisition initiatives exceeding $1 billion in enterprise value. Earlier in his career, he served as Chief Technology Officer at Bliley Technologies, leading the company’s transformation from a legacy component manufacturer into a high-value technology provider focused on assured positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) and proliferated space systems. This repositioning produced significant profitable growth and ultimately supported the company’s successful exit to venture investors.

Thomas began his career as an engineer at Harris Corporation, working in advanced microelectronics and wafer-level packaging before advancing into leadership roles across research and development, innovation, and enterprise engineering analytics. He previously served on the boards of Launch Credit Union, a financial institution with $1.2 billion in assets, and Peak Nano Optics, a growth-stage photonics company.

Thomas holds both a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida. He is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a named inventor on multiple U.S. patents.