• info@apogeeacquisitioncorp.com
  • +1 (202) 854-0515
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Our Team

Apogee Team

Experienced Leadership

Apogee Acquisition Corp is led by a management team with experience across capital markets, corporate finance, regulatory compliance, and transaction execution.

Our leadership has worked with public and private companies across multiple industries and has participated in transactions including initial public offerings, mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic initiatives.

The team brings a practical understanding of public company requirements, governance standards, and transaction processes.

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Meet Our Team

Experienced Management Team

JEFF SMITH

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Jeffrey Smith, J.D., LL.M.

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TOM WATSON

Chief Operating Officer

Tom Watson

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IAN RHODES

Chief Financial Officer

Ian Rhodes, CPA

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Independent Directors

ANNA BRUNELLE

Director

Anna Brunelle

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DAVID QUIRAM

Director

David Quiram

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SAGIV SHIV

Director

Sagiv Shiv

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CHRISTOPHER VALENTINE

Director

Christopher Valentine

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Apogee Acquisition Corp is a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a business combination with one or more businesses.

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  • 2106 House Ave Suite 375, Cheyenne, WY, 82001
  • info@apogeeacquisitioncorp.com
  • +1 (202) 854-0515
© Apogee Acquisition Corp. All rights reserved.
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Jeffrey Smith, J.D., LL.M. | Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Jeffrey Smith serves as our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, and brings more than 26 years of combined experience as a serial entrepreneur, SPAC director, executive, managing member, venture capitalist, and securities, tax, M&A, digital asset, and regulatory attorney advising growth-oriented, technology, and asset management companies and investment platforms.

Since December 2025, Mr. Smith has been the managing member of Apogee Venture Fund LLC, Apogee Strategic Ventures LLC, and Apogee Capital Partners LLC. Since November 2025, Mr. Smith has been a managing member of Vanward Global LLC.

Mr. Smith has been an independent director and the chairperson of the audit committee for GlobaTerra Acquisition Corp since July 8, 2025 and has been the audit committee chairperson and independent director of Renatus Tactical Acquisition Corp I since May 14, 2025.

Mr. Smith has been the President of Apogee Tech Ventures Inc. since April 2025.

Since February 21, 2025, Mr. Smith has served as the Managing Member of C-Visory Search Partners LLC, an executive search company focused on financial services companies.

Since December 2005, he has been the founder and Managing Attorney of a private law, consulting, and advisory firm (restructured as LawVisory PLLC in June 2023), primarily serving registered investment advisers, financial institutions, family offices, technology companies, investment funds and businesses with their outsourced chief compliance officer and general counsel services, and their securities, regulatory, compliance, corporate, tax, litigation, arbitration, contracts, digital assets, commodities, carbon market, economic development, risk management, and mergers and acquisitions legal, compliance and regulatory needs.

Since April 2023, Mr. Smith has been the Managing Member of Optimal Global Advisors LLC (dba TaxVisory), a tax advisory and consulting firm.

Since April 20, 2021, Mr. Smith has been the President and CEO of Apogee Services LLC (dba ConsultVisory), a consulting firm providing professional services in the areas of accounting, finance, technology, marketing, and management.

Since February 12, 2026, Mr. Smith has served as a director of Cuatro Capital Securities LLC, a FINRA-registered broker dealer.

Mr. Smith also served as an independent director, chair of the audit committee, and a member of the compensation committee for Digital World Acquisition Corp from April 2023 to March 2024, during which time he was instrumental in directing the successful merger of Trump Media and Technology Group with DWAC.

Since April 2022, Mr. Smith has been the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Liquid Rarity Exchange LLC, which owns patents, and is an emerging platform, for the fractionalization, initial listing, secondary trading and tokenization of most real-world assets including rarities along with the display and transacting in digital rarities in a virtual marketplace.

Mr. Smith previously served as the Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Legal Officer of North Rock Partners, LLC, a wealth advisory firm, from January 2021 to April 2022, and of Virtue Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm, from January 2019 to January 2021, and served as Chief Compliance Officer of Griffin Capital Company LLC, an investment and asset management company, from February 2017 to May 2018.

Prior to that, he was with Research Affiliates LLC, an investment advisory firm, where he served as Chief Compliance Officer and Assistant General Counsel from August 2013 to February 2017, Director of Compliance of Athene Asset Management LLC, an asset management firm, from July 2012 to August 2013, and Senior Counsel of Legal and Compliance at The Rock Creek Group, an investment fund manager, from July 2010 to July 2012.

Additionally, Mr. Smith served as Investigative Counsel for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission from January 2010 to July 2010 and before this worked in the Director of Enforcement’s office at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Prior to that, Mr. Smith was a tax manager for Crowe Horwath from June 2000 to November 2001 and a tax lawyer for Deloitte from July 1999 to July 2000.

Mr. Smith holds a LL.M. in Securities and Financial Regulation, with distinction, from Georgetown Law along with a Juris Doctor and B.S. in Accounting from the University of Kentucky.

Tom Watson | Chief Operating Officer

Tom Watson serves as our Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Watson has more than twenty years of experience across the energy, utilities, industrial, and advanced technology sectors.

He is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Futura Energy Group, since September 2021, a Texas-based advisory firm supporting utilities, infrastructure developers, and technology-adjacent companies with organizational, workforce strategy, and operational advisory services.

Mr. Watson has supported large-scale capital programs across power and energy infrastructure, including grid modernization and other regulated, capital-intensive environments. His experience focuses on operational execution, workforce strategy, and organizational alignment for complex infrastructure initiatives.

Prior to founding Futura Energy Group, Mr. Watson served as a Senior Manager at SThree from May 2016 to September 2021, where he worked across energy, utilities, industrial, and technology consulting engagements.

Mr. Watson holds an Associate’s degree in business studies from Worcester College of Technology.

Ian Rhodes, CPA | Chief Financial Officer

Ian Rhodes serves as our Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Rhodes has been the Chief Financial Officer of Renatus Tactical Acquisition Corp I since August 2024.

Mr. Rhodes has been the Interim Chief Financial Officer of TNF Pharmaceuticals, Inc since February 2021.

Mr. Rhodes has been a Director of Brio Financial Group since January 2021. In his role as a Director at Brio, he has provided accounting and consulting services to numerous SPACs.

From March 2020 to December 2020, Mr. Rhodes served as the Interim CFO of Roadway Moving and Storage.

From November 2018 to July 2019, he served as Interim CFO of Greyston Bakery and Foundation.

From December 2016 to September 2018, Mr. Rhodes served as President, CEO and Director of GlyEco, Inc., and served as CFO of GlyEco, Inc. from February 2016 to December 2016.

From May 2014 to January 2016, he served as CFO of Calmare Therapeutics.

Mr. Rhodes began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he worked for 15 years.

Mr. Rhodes received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Seton Hall University and is a licensed CPA in New York.

Anna Brunelle | Director

Ms. Brunelle served as Chief Financial Officer of May Mobility, an autonomous driving company, from October 2023 to March 2025.

Previously, Ms. Brunelle served as Chief Financial Officer of Ouster Inc. from August 2020 to May 2023, which completed a business combination with Colonnade Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, in March 2021, and subsequently merged with Velodyne Lidar, Inc. in February 2023.

She has previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Kinestral Technologies from April 2018 to May 2020.

She also served as Chief Financial Officer and Interim Chief Operating Officer of Soylent from March 2016 to October 2017.

Ms. Brunelle has also served as Chief Financial Officer of GlobalLogic, Chief Financial Officer of TiVo, Inc., and as a Senior Consultant for Deloitte & Touche, LLP.

Ms. Brunelle has over 20 years of experience in finance, accounting, investor relations, corporate and business development, as well as business operations and analytics.

Ms. Brunelle currently serves as a director of Compass Digital Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: CDAQ) and Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. VII (Nasdaq: HVIIU).

Ms. Brunelle received her B.S. in Business Administration from California Polytechnic State University.

David Quiram | Director

Dr. Quiram has over 20 years of leadership experience in technology, strategy and finance organizations with a deep understanding of the chemicals, emerging technology, bioscience and energy sectors.

Since January 2023, he has served as Chief Financial Officer at CONTI Capital, a privately-held, real estate investment company.

Previously, Dr. Quiram served as the interim Chief Financial Officer at Swiss Vault from February 2022 until January 2023.

He also served as Chief Financial Officer at Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: SOAC) from December 2019 until December 2021.

Previously, Dr. Quiram served as Head of Financial Planning and Analysis and Tax at GenOn Energy from 2017 until 2019.

Prior to that, Dr. Quiram served as Head of Investments for Enterprise Services of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) from 2014 until 2017.

From 2010 to 2014, Dr. Quiram was with Accenture (NYSE: ACN) as a Senior Manager in their Strategy practice.

From 2006 to 2009, Dr. Quiram worked at multiple roles at TXU Energy.

Dr. Quiram began his career at McKinsey & Co where he worked as an Engagement Manager from 2001 until 2005, and as a Research Scientist at DuPont (NYSE: DD) from 1998 to 2001.

Dr. Quiram earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sagiv Shiv | Director

Mr. Shiv serves as a Managing Director and the Head of M&A and Advisory Services at ACP Capital Markets, LLC, an investment bank, specialized in private debt, private equity, advisory, M&A and litigation finance, since January 2023.

Prior to his role at ACP Capital Markets, Mr. Shiv was the Senior Managing Director and the head of the Advisory Services Practice at National Securities Corporation from January 2016 to October 2022.

Mr. Shiv’s other prior roles include leading the global M&A and Advisory Practice at StoneX Inc. and at several other investment banks.

He has advised governments, agencies, private and public companies, and financial institutions.

Prior to entering investment banking, Mr. Shiv served as Chief Financial Officer of three multi-national diversified holding companies.

Mr. Shiv served as CFO of The Plastiflex Group, an international manufacturing company, where he led the acquisition, integration, and divestiture of several businesses.

Mr. Shiv has also served on the boards of several publicly-traded companies.

He has served as the Chair of the Audit Committee for the Board of Directors for Marpai, Inc. (OTCQX: MRAI) since January 2023.

Mr. Shiv holds a B.Sc. degree in Finance and Ph.D. in International Finance from the Pacific Western University.

Christopher Valentine | Director

Mr. Valentine has been the Co-founder and Senior Managing Partner of Celeres Capital, an SEC-registered investment adviser with over $600 million in assets under management, since March 2019.

Celeres Capital focuses on private credit, structured credit, and asset-based finance strategies serving institutional investors.

Prior to founding Celeres Capital, Mr. Valentine founded and served as Principal of TSU Capital from July 2014 to December 2022, where he led capital markets and M&A assignments across emerging managers, specialty finance platforms, and distressed credit opportunities.

He was previously Head of Investment Banking & Whole Loan Advisory at Bonwick Capital from 2011 to 2014.

From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Valentine also served as Founder and Managing Director of Valentine & Company in Dubai, UAE, providing strategic advisory services to governments, family offices, and corporate clients across the Middle East and Africa.

Earlier in his career, he was Director of Private Equity and Real Estate at Istithmar World, a sovereign investment fund in Dubai, from 2008 to 2010.

Mr. Valentine began his career in investment banking and principal investing at Goldman Sachs from 2002 to 2005, and at JPMorgan from 2001 to 2002, advising on over $25 billion in M&A, leveraged buyouts, structured credit, and principal investments.

He later joined Equifin Capital, a $500 million private equity platform, backed by Och-Ziff, focused on specialty finance and structured asset platforms, where he was an Associate from 2005 to 2008.

Mr. Valentine holds a B.B.A. in Finance from the Howard University School of Business.