LOS ANGELES, April 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Hermeus, a venture-backed defense aviation company, today announced the appointment of Kim Nakamaru as General Counsel and a member of the Executive Leadership Team.
Nakamaru brings over 15 years of experience advising public and private companies, with a decade spent in aerospace, aviation, and advanced manufacturing.
She joins Hermeus from Relativity Space, an American reusable rocket company, where she served as General Counsel and a member of the executive team. In that role, she led the legal, regulatory, risk, employee relations, environmental health and safety, and physical security functions. Her leadership was instrumental in building the infrastructure needed to scale complex aerospace operations across manufacturing, test, and launch environments.
Before Relativity, Nakamaru held senior leadership roles at EagleView, a geospatial technology company, and Global Eagle Entertainment (now Anuvu), a provider of connectivity for mobility and government applications.
"Kim has navigated the most complex legal and regulatory environments in aerospace," said AJ Piplica, CEO and Founder of Hermeus. "As we push toward our next milestones, that experience is critical to moving fast while maintaining the rigor our mission demands. Her leadership is a significant addition to the team at a pivotal time for the company."
"I've spent my career helping companies solve hard problems in complex, high-stakes environments and am drawn to undertakings that seem impossible. Hermeus is tackling a challenge that doesn't have a playbook and pushing the boundaries of possibility in aviation. I'm excited to help build the systems and strategies that enable the team to move quickly from breakthrough engineering to real-world capability," said Nakamaru.
Nakamaru began her career clerking in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and practicing at an Am Law 100 firm. She holds a J.D. from Loyola Law School and a B.A. from Princeton University. She currently serves on the board of the California Women's Law Center.
About Hermeus
Hermeus is a venture-backed defense aviation company reclaiming the lost art of rapid iterative prototyping to build the fastest aircraft in the world today. By prioritizing relentless hardware iteration, we deliver high-speed systems at the pace of the modern battlefield. We work with the Department of War to provide the high-speed capabilities our nation and its allies need to maintain a durable, asymmetric advantage.
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