Jim is the founder of several entrepreneurial start-ups, including Phantom Space, Vector, StratSpace and Vintage Exotics Competition Engineering and is a Founder and Managing Partner at Wolverine Capital.  He was on the founding team of Moon Express, a private company attempting to land on the lunar surface, and on the founding team at SpaceX where he was the first VP of Business Development. Jim also served early roles with successful startups including Iceye, Skybox Imaging, York Space Systems and PlanetIQ.  StratSpace has a long history in pivotal technical, financing and M&A roles in the aerospace industry’s most influential and innovative players until it was acquired in 2020. 

Jim’s career also includes assignments at the French Space Agency CNES, the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and has resulted in experience in over 46 satellite flight missions including the Iridium Next space telephone system, the Lightsail solar sail mission and Osiris-Rex which will return asteroid samples to the Earth. Cantrell is a world recognized technical innovator and has received numerous professional awards, is the author of twenty technical papers and has pioneered the concepts of software defined satellites, micro launch vehicles and space situational awareness sensors.

A mechanical engineer by profession, Cantrell also actively participates in road racing and has participated numerous times in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, the 24 Hours of Daytona Classic, SCCA championships in GT-1 and the World Racing League endurance racing championships. In 2005, he founded Vintage Exotics Competition Engineering, which designs and restores race cars. Vintage Exotics continues to field an endurance race team and competes in amateur and professional race series.  He is also a known expert and author on the Maserati automotive marquee.

Jim speaks four languages and spent several years each working in France and in Russia on joint US/Russian defense programs.  Jim has held positions with NASA, the French Space Agency CNES, CEO of Vector Space, CEO of StratSpace, CTO at Moon Express, President of United Start Launch, President of Vintage Exotics and CEO of IDair, a bio-metrics software company.

Jim serves on corporate boards for aerospace, manufacturing companies, and the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), Infinite Composites and Iceye.  He holds board of advisor positions at The Planetary Society, ATLAS Space, Morf3D, York Space Systems and several investment funds.  He has also served on 35 major government source selection boards.    He currently resides in Tucson with his wife Angela and his many children.