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Meet Our Team

Founder & President

Chris Oravetz

Chris launched Verge Defense in July 2024 after 8 years of technical leadership in DoD Space and Air Force programs that include GPS satellite design, Command & Control (C2) software systems, and air-based mobile command centers. As an expert in Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), he saw first-hand how MBSE became a siloed or niche method locked up in exquisite tool ecosystems. He set out to break barriers on integrating MBSE with other disciplines, including software, AI, cyber , and data science. Chris’s goal is to bring MBSE models to the verge (i.e., edge) of DoD decision-making.

Chris was previously a Director of MBSE Services for Air & Space Programs at Strategic Technology Consulting (STC), an MBSE leader across the DoD. He served as the founder and Chief Engineer of a Digital Engineering product line at Infinity Systems Engineering, capturing 3x SBIR Phase II contract wins in less than 2 years. Chris spent over 6 years supporting the Lockheed Martin GPS III & IIIF programs as a system architect. His has prior military experience with the Air Force Research Laboratory , the 19th Space Operations Squadron as a GPS Operator , & the 42nd Combat Training Squadron as a Space Electronic Warfare instructor .

Systems Engineer & Solution Architect

Matthew Wells

Matthew Wells is a Lead Systems Engineer and Solution Architect with experience spanning satellite systems architecture, mission engineering, and defense program execution across national security space missions. His efforts at Verge Defense support EO/IR satellite ground segments and the development of a digital twin mission simulation framework. His work includes building system architectures, defining requirements and interface control documents, and guiding projects through major design reviews using MBSE and SysML methodologies. Matthew has a strong background in translating mission objectives and scenarios into executable system designs, supported by rigorous requirements, modeling, and performance analysis.

Previously, Matthew held multiple systems engineering roles at Lockheed Martin Space, where he contributed to business development, program design, and proposal efforts for DoD and international customers. His experience spans mission analysis, link budget and SWaP performance assessments, operational concept development, and systems architecture modeling using tools such as Cameo and STK. Matthew began his career as an electro-mechanical design engineer, gaining hands-on experience across the full product lifecycle. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of Tulsa and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Engineering and Technology Management at the Colorado School of Mines.

Associate of Business Operations

Summer Urban

Summer joined Verge Defense in December of 2025 as a college intern, working on several special projects concerning the business operations. After the internship, she came on full time as the Associate of Business Operations. In this position, Summer heads the HR effort, accounting department, event coordination, facilities management, and the continued implementation of the Traction system. It has always been her dream and passion to work with young mission-driven entrepreneurs to help them grow their business and individual goals. Entrepreneurship has been a big part of Summer’s life (including owning her own business throughout high school), so serving at the grassroots level of Verge is a great opportunity.

Through her internship, Summer gained experience in a variety of areas – researching the BD pipeline, implementing the Traction system, guiding a number of vision/goal conversations, developing the employee handbook, restructuring the website, and networking with like-minded CEOs. Previous to Verge, Summer attended Benedictine College, including a semester abroad in Florence, Italy. While at BC, Summer was a Gregorian Leadership Fellow, a Presidential Scholarship awardee, a Student International Business Council member (participated in a Dublin company consulting project), a President’s Office Student Worker, and a passionate intramural sports player. Summer currently lives with her parents and 7 younger siblings in the Littleton area, before she gets married to her fiance in July of 2026.

Systems Engineer & Mission Architect

Thomas Bernhardt

Thomas joined Verge Defense in January 2026 after 7 years of experience as a United States Space Force civilian at the National Space Intelligence Center. He is excited to support a broad set of programs with work including mission architecture design, digital tool integration, mission analyses, and test and verification support. He is passionate about ensuring that system design meets operational needs for critical customers.

At NSIC, Thomas led teams analyzing threats to US Space Superiority from adversaries around the globe. With multiple years spent analyzing both counterspace weapons and communications satellites, he brings a broad knowledge set into the role of systems engineer as well as mission architect. Thomas credits much of his leadership skills to time spent as a campus missionary with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students.

Lead Software Engineer & Full-Stack Architect

Simon Turner

Simon joins Verge as a Lead Software Development Engineer and Full-Stack Architect with strong experience in high quality and high throughput software engineering. At Verge, he is currently focused on ground segment software and creating a robust, secure software factory. Simon has extensive experience in building performant distributed systems with focus on data correctness and user experience.
Previously, Simon was a Staff Engineer at Encamp, a start up which is reshaping the environmental compliance space. While there, Simon designed high-throughput systems and made large government datasets available in real time to domain experts. He excels in fast paced environments and is comfortable as an individual contributor, team leader, project manager; he is wherever the team needs it. Lately, his focus includes the evaluation and incorporation of generative AI tools to the software development life cycle. Simon holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University.

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