Planet Promotes New Chief Product Officer and Chief Space Officer to Accelerate Product and Space Systems Innovation

Our leadership team at Planet continues to grow! I am thrilled to announce Troy Toman has been promoted to Chief Product Officer and James Mason has been appointed to the newly-created role of Chief Space Officer. Both roles are instrumental in continuing Planet’s growth as a platform company and leading innovator in today’s space industry. 

Troy Toman has been a part of Planet’s story since 2014, helping to grow the company’s software engineering and product and design teams into a cohesive organization. Under Troy’s leadership, Planet’s industry-leading computing and storage infrastructure has helped underpin the company’s platform expansion and growth – supporting hundreds of satellites across a variety of constellations. In his new role, Troy will oversee the growth and strategy of the company’s robust product offerings, including Planet’s flagship monitoring, tasking, analytics, and Planetary Variables product suite, as well as its recently-launched Planet Insights Platform. 

“I’ve been fortunate to be a part of many amazing initiatives in my career at Planet, but the most rewarding aspect of my role is working with the most talented, passionate and caring folks in the industry,” said Troy Toman. “As CPO, I have the privilege and responsibility of empowering our engineering, product and design teams to continue developing and maintaining our incredible array of products that allow our customers to easily unlock the value of EO data everyday. It’s an honor to step into this new position, and I look forward to continuing to make magic together.”

Troy has spent more than 30 years in the technology industry as a developer, architect and software leader, and previously led Planet’s global software engineering team. Prior to Planet, he has held roles at Rackspace, Veritas, Inktomi and Sun Microsystems. Troy earned his degree in Computer Science from Texas A&M University.

James Mason was a Planet founding employee, and has held a number of different roles focused on developing and optimizing Planet’s space operations. James was an integral part of the team during Planet’s first successful satellite launch in 2013 – the first major milestone in our growth journey – and has played a role in all 600+ satellites Planet has launched. He leads the Space Systems team, which includes all aspects of developing, manufacturing, and operating Planet’s fleet of imaging satellites, supporting ground station networks, and mission control infrastructure.

“From building satellites in a garage with some friends all the way to the recent launch of our Tanager-1 hyperspectral satellite, I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of Planet’s pioneering agile aerospace journey and the incredible renaissance of the broader newspace industry,” said James Mason. “The mission of using space to improve life on Earth is what brought me to Planet, and it’s still what keeps me and my fellow Planeteers so passionately driven to this day. In the role of Chief Space Officer, and with our amazing team, I will continue pushing the remote sensing industry forward, most immediately by deploying our Tanager and Pelican constellations, to make global change more visible and actionable.”

Prior to Planet, James was a research scientist at NASA who worked on solving old problems in new ways, including on the PhoneSat missions, developing the LightForce debris remediation concept, and advancing novel optical communications concepts. He holds a Master of Space Studies from the International Space University, a BSc-Honours in Astrophysics from the National Astrophysics and Space Science Program, and a BSc in Physics and Applied Mathematics from the University of Cape Town.

At Planet, we have always believed in growing and shaping talent from within, and we are proud to promote these two remarkably talented individuals into well-deserved leadership positions. Both Troy and James have already proven themselves as dedicated Planeteers in their passion for our products, in solving customer problems and the growth of the industry at large. We look forward to what they will accomplish next!