Chris Moran, executive director and general manager at Lockheed Martin Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
Chris Moran has been executive director and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures, the investment arm of the US aerospace and defence company, since 2016.
Lockheed Martin Ventures is an evergreen fund. Since it was founded in 2007, it has invested in more than 93 companies. The team of 11 investors is split between Silicon Valley and Washington DC.
As a strategic investor, the team is structured according to a responsibility matrix. Lockheed’s four main business units – aeronautics, missiles and fire control, rotary and mission system, and space – each has an investment manager. Those investment managers are also matrixed against technology domains.
New deals are analysed to determine which business area they are most aligned with and that investment manager or tech domain leader will take the lead on running the deal to a conclusion. The goal is to “develop both a certain level of intimacy with the key tech business in the business groups, but also a high familiarity with the technology domains they work on,” says Moran.
Moran works to ensure team members can focus on sourcing, screening and closing deals, while he is available to break down any barriers between business units or corporate functions.
In terms of managing the team, Moran offers a lot of autonomy. He works to ensure team members can focus on sourcing, screening and closing deals, while he is available to break down any barriers between business units or corporate functions.
A recent success for Moran was Lockheed’s 2024 acquisition of Terran Orbital, a satellite-based solutions company. LM Ventures made an initial investment into Terran Orbital in 2017, not long after Moran joined the organisation, with additional investments in 2020 and 2022. It is the first portfolio company that Lockheed Martin has acquired since the founding of the fund.
In the year ahead, LM Ventures is looking to invest in areas including autonomy, AI and machine learning, defence tech, manufacturing in space and quantum technologies, including post-quantum encryption.
Before joining Lockheed Martin, Moran had a career of more than 32 years at Applied Materials, the US-based advanced materials company, including 10 years at the company’s Applied Ventures investment arm, where he was the founding general manager of that fund.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
