Honoree: Muhammad Shahzad

Chief Financial Officer
Relativity Space

As chief financial officer and president of Relativity Space, Muhammad “Mo” Shahzad is responsible for corporate strategy and growth, leading all commercial, financial, people, and legal and risk efforts at the company. His responsibilities include but are not limited to sales and business development, brand and communications, financial planning and strategy, fundraising, capital allocation, accounting, treasury and tax, human resources, talent acquisition, legal, government affairs, safety and security. Under Shahzad’s leadership, Relativity Space has raised over $1.3 billion and grown more than 10 times in headcount. He has over 20 years of finance and capital markets experience with an extensive background in financial planning, operations, management and strategy as well as deep technical knowledge.

Before joining Relativity, Shahzad served as CFO of The Honest Company, where he led several financing rounds and scaled the business profitably. Previously, he was VP in technology, media & telecom investment banking at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he advised on over $30 billion in financing and merger and acquisition transactions and served as West Coast business unit manager for the investment banking division. Shahzad and his team have implemented innovative cash flow management strategies that balance scope, schedule and risk to drive Relativity Space’s Terran R program, which is a multi-billion-dollar, multi-year program. He has also implemented a capital allocation program that allowed Relativity to hit technical milestones on time and on target while spending smartly.

Under Shahzad’s stewardship, Relativity Space introduced financial modeling improvements that enhanced forecasting accuracy, leading to more effective budget allocation and reduced overall risk. He and his team also increased the company’s contract value backlog to $1.8 billion while enhancing the company’s enterprise risk management framework, safeguarding its people and physical assets, including a total overhaul of its insurance philosophy, approach and partnerships. Other accomplishments include establishing a culture empowering informed decisions aligned with the company’s risk appetite; streamlining financial processes through the adoption of intelligence and forecasting tools; dramatically improving efficiency and transparency in financial reporting; and instituting rigorous internal controls that ensure regulatory compliance and best practices that significantly reduced audit times and compliance costs.