Q&A with Holly Coates, Corporate Counsel

Meet Holly Coates, Corporate Counsel!

Holly brings over a decade of legal experience working as both external and in-house counsel, including at LISI Group and, most recently, Axonics, Inc. She holds a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Western State University College of Law and heads Apex’s growing legal department.

As Apex’s Corporate Counsel, Holly oversees the many legal, regulatory, and compliance-related challenges that arise when doing business in a rapidly evolving industry. Holly’s experience makes her an ideal partner when providing Apex and its executives with legal counsel on a wide variety of areas such as contracts, M&A, employment law, wage and hour compliance, export compliance, and litigation. Her broad-based experience allows her to be a risk mitigator, trusted business advisor, and strategic partner at Apex.

Learn more about Holly below:

Q: What excites you the most about working at a company like Apex?

What excites me most about working at Apex is the opportunity to be a true business partner from day one. At Apex, Legal isn’t a back-office function. My team is deeply embedded in strategy, product development, and growth decisions. Additionally, the pace, ownership of function, and our culture of curiosity are super exciting!

Q: Why are you excited about space?

The space sector is especially exciting to me because the law is still being written in real time. Issues surrounding launch, national security, and export controls (as examples) require not only legal expertise but also strategic judgment and creativity. The opportunity to help Apex navigate this complexity, while enabling innovation rather than constraining it, is incredibly motivating.

Q: What’s something you learned in your most recent role that you’re bringing to Apex?

My prior role was as an in-house counsel at a medical device start-up. There, I learned to quickly make sound decisions, prioritize what matters most, and accept calculated risk without over-lawyering. Start-ups value pace, and I am glad I had that experience as it has served me well here at Apex.

Q: How do you see the role of Corporate Counsel at Apex, and how is it supporting the mass-manufacturing of Apex’s satellite platforms?

I see the role of Corporate Counsel as an enabler of scale. My team and I help the company move quickly while putting the right legal and operational foundations in place to support mass manufacturing. I don’t only focus on risk avoidance. I (and my team) partner closely with engineering, supply chain, operations, and leadership to anticipate issues and solve them in a way that keeps production moving.  

Q: What has surprised or impressed you the most so far during your time at Apex?

What has impressed me most is the quality of the people. The team combines deep technical expertise with a strong sense of ownership and collaboration. The employees here at Apex are not only highly skilled in their respective fields, but they’re also thoughtful, pragmatic, and mission-driven, which is rare at this scale.

Q: Tell us a bit about what you do in your free time.

In my free time, I am often at the soccer field cheering on my daughter and her team. When I am not there, I enjoy spending time with family and our dogs, trying out new restaurants, and traveling whenever I can.