Major General Stephen T. “Steve” Sargeant, USAF (Ret.) brings EERO more than four decades of leadership spanning military and commercial aerospace, aviation operations, operational test and evaluation, technology development, infrastructure modernization, national security, and executive leadership. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Marvin Test Solutions and Vice President of Strategic Development for The Marvin Group, where he has helped expand the company’s position globally in advanced aerospace and defense test solutions, armament test, airborne electronics, and mission-critical systems supporting U.S. and allied warfighters.

During nearly 34 years of Active Duty Air Force service, Sargeant progressed from operational fighter pilot to senior command and national-security leadership. A command pilot with more than 3,100 flying hours, principally in the A-10 and F-16, he commanded the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, and the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona; served as Commandant of the U.S. Air Force Weapons School; held senior assignments in the Pentagon and on the National Security Council staff at the White House; served in three senior strategy and policy positions in Iraq; and later served as Deputy Chief of Staff for United Nations Command and U.S. Forces Korea.

A recurring theme throughout Sargeant’s career has been anticipating future aviation requirements and translating them into enduring operational, organizational, and infrastructure change. As Commandant of the U.S. Air Force Weapons School beginning in 1996, he led the largest renovation and expansion of Weapons School facilities since 1983, establishing a campus foundation upon which subsequent Commandants continued to build. Simultaneously, he led the establishment of Core Academics, bringing students from different weapons systems and operational disciplines together around a common body of advanced warfighting knowledge. The initiative helped transform the Weapons School from a collection of individual weapons-system specialties toward an increasingly integrated approach to advanced warfighting—better preparing its graduates to integrate capabilities across the force and contribute at the highest levels of operational command.

As Commander of the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan, he led development of a 15-year installation master plan that ultimately secured approximately $240 million in Air Force investment and positioned Kunsan to earn the 2000 Commander-in-Chief’s Annual Award for Installation Excellence as the U.S. Air Force’s top installation. At Luke Air Force Base, as Commander of the 56th Fighter Wing, he applied the same future-focused approach, leading development of a long-range master plan that ultimately secured more than $150 million for modernization. That effort included visionary flightline protection shelters conceived to support F-16 operations while anticipating future F-35 requirements and, importantly, to protect both the aircraft and the Airmen who maintained them.

Sargeant culminated his Air Force career as Commander of the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center (AFOTEC), reporting directly to the Air Force Chief of Staff on the operational effectiveness and suitability of major Air Force systems. He directed independent operational testing of more than 76 major acquisition programs valued at more than $650 billion, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In that role, he was responsible for answering one of the most consequential questions facing any emerging aerospace technology: does it work reliably in the hands of its intended users, under realistic operating conditions, and can it be effectively sustained and employed at scale?

His experience therefore spans an unusually broad arc of aerospace innovation and transformation: operator, commander, infrastructure planner, national-security strategist, technology evaluator, and commercial aerospace executive. Since joining Marvin Test Solutions in 2012, Sargeant has brought that perspective to the private sector, leading the growth of a vertically integrated aerospace test and measurement company whose technologies support mission-critical aircraft, weapons, and electronic systems in the United States and internationally.

Beyond his executive leadership, Sargeant serves as a board member, strategic advisor, and investor across a diverse portfolio of emerging aerospace, defense, autonomy, AI, advanced-materials, and other dual-use technology companies. These roles give him continuing exposure to disruptive technologies at different stages of maturity and to the challenges of evaluating, funding, commercializing, and scaling innovations for both national-security and commercial markets.

Sargeant received the 2009 General Thomas D. White U.S. Air Force Space Trophy for outstanding contribution to aerospace. His military decorations include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters, and Bronze Star Medal. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science in National Security and holds a Master of Science in Aeronautical Science and an MBA in Aviation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. His advanced education also includes a National Defense Fellowship at the Brookings Institution and executive programs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

At EERO, Sargeant advises the leadership team on aviation operations, infrastructure modernization, system validation and operational readiness, government and industry engagement, strategic partnerships, and commercialization. His career-long experience anticipating future aviation requirements—and converting ambitious concepts into funded, tested, operational, and enduring capabilities—provides EERO with a distinctive perspective as NEXUS progresses from engineering and certification through airport deployment and global scale.