Mark Esper joins Tysons venture capital firm

Mark Esper, who led the Pentagon from 2019 to 2020, has joined Tysons-based incubation and venture capital firm Red Cell Partners LLC as a partner and chair of its national security practice, according to a news release.

Esper will lead Red Cell’s investment activities in cyber, defense, security, international affairs, space and aerospace and seek to establish more efficient ways to spark engagement between nontraditional innovators and the Defense Department.

“Dr. Esper is an accomplished and visionary leader whose appointment comes at a pivotal point in Red Cell’s evolution,” said Red Cell Founding Partner, Chairman and CEO Grant Verstandig in a statement. “His expertise across the spectrum of disruptive technologies is unparalleled and will be key to Red Cell’s ongoing ability to identify, create and scale innovative and sustainable businesses in both the public and private sectors.”

Esper was named the first John S. McCain Distinguished Fellow at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University in 2021 and serves on the board of directors at the Atlantic Council. Prior to his tenure leading the Pentagon, Esper served as Army secretary from 2017 to 2019, and worked as a senior corporate executive at Raytheon Co. from 2010 to 2017. He also served as a deputy assistant secretary of defense from 2002-04.

“I am excited by the opportunity to join Red Cell’s exceptional team and to build new businesses capable of bringing revolutionary advancements to market in the nation’s most vital sectors,” Esper said. “I believe the key to accelerating and expanding the U.S. military’s overmatch in the years ahead is through the rapid, sustained and aggressive modernization of the joint force. Grant and the team at Red Cell are applying the mission-focused vision and energy that is needed to bring new innovations and cutting-edge technologies to the national security sector in record time.”

Esper graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1986 and served 10 years on active duty and 11 years in the National Guard and Army Reserve. He serves on the board of directors of Epirus Inc., an artificial intelligence-enabled power management company focused on directed energy defense applications. Epirus was cofounded by Verstandig and is a part of the Red Cell portfolio of companies.