San Diego County, California, United States, January 2026 — Attalon, Inc. has announced the appointment of Melissa Hurm as its new Chief People Officer. In this role, Melissa will lead Attalon’s people strategy and talent agenda as the organization advances its transformation into an agile, purpose-built defense platform focused on speed, precision, and accelerated growth across critical defense technology domains.
Melissa brings a strong track record of building high-performing workforces and leading people transformation in complex industrial and defense environments—making her appointment a strategically significant leadership move as Attalon invests in next-generation capabilities and scaling operations.
Before joining Attalon, Melissa Hurm most recently served as Vice President, Human Resources at Honeywell, where she contributed to the organization’s HR leadership during a key strategic period, including the transition following Advent International’s sale of CAES to Honeywell Aerospace Technologies (August 2024).
Prior to Honeywell, Melissa spent nearly six years at CAES, where she held multiple leadership roles including Vice President, Human Resources, Senior Director, Human Resources, and Human Resources Director. At CAES, she served as the HR leader for the Integrated Defense Systems division, supporting business leadership under private equity ownership and enabling workforce strategy across a high-impact defense portfolio.
Earlier in her career, Melissa worked with BAE Systems as Human Resources Manager II, where she supported large-scale operations as HR leader for the Integrated Solutions Division spanning 58 locations and supporting 1,400 employees across domestic and international environments—deepening her expertise in multi-location HR leadership, operational execution, and defense workforce alignment.
Melissa also spent several years with Reyes Beverage Group as Human Capital Manager, building foundational experience in workforce operations and HR delivery at scale. She began her HR leadership journey at Boeing as a Human Resources Manager, where she supported the greenfield start-up of Global Aeronautica, LLC, a joint venture aligned to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner program—exposure that shaped her early strength in startup execution within highly regulated, high-performance industrial settings.
About Attalon, Inc.
Attalon, Inc. represents a new era of defense innovation and execution. Formerly a subsidiary business unit within a larger commercially focused organization, the rebrand to “Attalon” reflects the company’s shift toward becoming an agile and purpose-built defense platform.
The name reflects both authority and precision—pairing “Atta” (authority/leadership) with “Talon” (precision/strike capability).
Attalon’s strategic focus centers on Speed, Power and Precision, with accelerated investment across three major growth areas:
- Precision Optics enabling ISR&T (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance & Targeting) across air, space, and ground domains
- Directed Energy & Advanced Lasers, including beam-combined lasers, pulsed lasers, and precision gimbals for defense applications
- Precision Coatings, including high-temperature specialty coatings capable of withstanding Mach speeds and extreme temperatures up to 1,000°C
With Melissa’s appointment, Attalon strengthens its leadership capability to attract, develop, and retain world-class talent aligned to mission-critical defense engineering and innovation.
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