"D" D'Ambrosio

As EVP, Government Solutions O3b Networks, “D” is responsible for identifying the Government satellite service’s needs & requirements and ensures that O3b services are capable meeting these needs worldwide. These customers include both military and civilian agencies. “D” has a proven understanding of government communications satellite requirements and programs stemming from his involvement with numerous government programs employing wideband and narrowband satellite services for customers in the land, maritime and aviation sectors, both fixed and mobile. “D” is a COMSAT alumnus and since departing COMSAT has worked for Stratos Global, Iridium Satellite, Loral, Inmarsat, and Boeing, expanding the government’s commercial satellite usage of the company’s satellite services by introducing new capabilities and technology to the government. “D” was in the U.S. Navy, initially on destroyers and then became a member of Special Operations. “D” served in both active and reserve branches, While in the reserves, he was activated for Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada), Operation Just Cause (Panama), and Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1st Gulf War). After the Gulf War, at the special request of the Secretary of the Navy, he served in Latin America for over two years doing counter-drug operations. He retired from the Navy in 1996. “D” holds a BS from the U.S. Naval Academy and a Masters in business and management from Webster University.

Air Commodore John Philliban

Air Commodore John Philliban was commissioned into the Engineer Branch in February 1989. As a communications-electronics (CE) officer, he has undertaken various CE tours which have included postings to the Falklands and Cyprus. On promotion to squadron leader, Air Commodore Philliban took up the appointment of Officer Commanding Communications & Electronics Squadron at the Department of Specialist Ground Training at RAF College Cranwell. Following this tour, he was posted to Tactical Communications Wing (TCW), RAF Brize Norton, where he took up the post of Officer Commanding 2 Squadron.

During his time at TCW, Air Commodore Philliban participated in various Exercises and Operations, including Exercise SAIF SAREEA, Operation VERITAS, FINGAL and TELIC. During Operation TELIC, he held the position of A6 Chief of Staff within the UK Air Component Command. Posted and promoted to wing commander in May 03, he took up his new post of SO1 J6 Policy (Combined Communications Electronics Board (CCEB)) at the Ministry of Defence. After some 18 months in post, Air Commodore Philliban was posted to the Joint Services Command and Staff College to undertake Advanced Staff Training. He graduated with a Kings College London MA in July 2005 and was posted to Headquarters Strike Command as SO1 Equipment Capability within the newly formed Joint Air Land Organisation, with specific responsibility for upgrading the Forward Air Controller equipment line of development.

In March 2007, he took up the appointment of Manning 13, where he was the Career Manager for approximately 360 wing commanders from the Engineer and Supply branches. On promotion to gp capt, he was posted to RAF Leeming in Dec 08 to take up Command of 90 Signals Unit. On completion of this tour, Air Commodore Philliban was posted to the Joint Forces Intelligence Group, initially located at MOD Feltham but, during his time, relocated to RAF Wyton, as the Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander. Following a short stint at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, Air Commodore Philliban took up his new appointment as Head of Joint User C4ISR & Cyber on 31 January 2014.
John is married to Jane, a teaching assistant, and they have two children, Joshua and Lauren, aged 16 and 14 respectively. He enjoys outdoor pursuits such as walking and skiing, as well as eating out and imbibing.

Andy Lincoln

Mr. Andy Lincoln has over 25 years’ experience in satellite and wireless communications, including 16 years at ViaSat. Andy started his career as a developer of FDMA and frequency hopping modems for the US DoD market at Linkabit in the 1980s. At ViaSat, he transitioned from development to project leadership and product line management in ViaSat’s commercial VSAT network systems group, helping to expand the use of IP bandwidth-on-demand and ViaSat’s Paired Carrier Multiple Access (PCMA) technologies to the VSAT market. For the past 10 years, Andy has focused on high performance SATCOM modems for the US DoD, NATO, and Allied markets including the MD-1366 EBEM, MD-1377 Joint IP Modem, LinkWay, ArcLight, as well as ViaSat’s PCMA hub canceller products. He is a key contributor to STANAG 4486 ed 3. (EBEM) and 4622 ed. 2 (Joint IP Modem) open standards for SATCOM modems. Andy is currently helping to define ViaSat’s next generation SATCOM waveform, modem, and terminal architectures. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and the University of California San Diego, respectively.

Andy Start

Andy is responsible for the delivery of Inmarsat services to the military, emergency services,
security service, border agencies, coastguard, and all other non-US government customers
across the world. A member of Inmarsat’s Executive Committee, he runs a global team with
hubs in Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands, South Africa, the UK, UAE, Canada,
Washington and Miami.

Andy has an extensive experience of leading large defence businesses on an international
basis. Prior to joining Inmarsat he was President of Harris Corporation’s international
tactical radio business, Managing Director of BAE Systems Platform Solutions Business, and
Director of EADS Astrium’s Military Space Business.

During his time at EADS Astrium he responsible for the Skynet 4 program and was
instrumental is the creation of the Skynet 5 service provision that enables UK MOD to
exploit military and commercial satellite communications across the complete array of
military tasks and operations.

Andy has completed two Government secondments: one into the UK MOD, the other into
the Department of Trade and Industry where he was responsible to the Secretary of State
for leading the development of the UK’s National Aerospace Strategy.
Outside of his business responsibilities Andy sits on the board of governors at Mid Kent
College and is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a chartered member of the
Institution of Engineering and Technology. Andy lives in Kent with wife Alison, and has
three grown up children.
 

Brian M Rodriguez

Brigadier General Jozef Nasiadka

Catherine Dargeou

Catherine Dargeou, Business Development, Commercial & Military Markets, Thales Alenia Space

Catherine Dargeou has been involved with Thales Alenia Space for 14 years and had to deal with various facets of the satellite telecommunication
domain ranging from hardware design to payload and system design, and business development.

Her main achievements include hardware development of a spread spectrum TT&C receiver, Eutelsat W7 payload design, O3b system design and business development.

Although most of her past activities were part of the commercial domain, she recently jumped into the Defense domain.

In her current position, Catherine leads business activities related to the renewal of milsatcom capacities in Europe in particular for France, UK, Italy and NATO.

Catherine has graduated from ENAC, the French National School of Civil Aviation
 

Christopher Baugh

As the founder and research director for NSR since 2000, Mr. Baugh leads all NSR multi-client research and single-client projects related to the satellite, wireless and media industries. He has participated in a number of individual client studies around the world, performing research and market analysis on strategic and technical topics for clients in the telecommunications industry.

Before founding NSR, Mr. Baugh served as Senior Analyst for Pioneer Consulting. Prior to Pioneer, Mr. Baugh was an International Trade Specialist and Economist for the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC. While at the Department of Commerce, Mr. Baugh was a recipient of the Charles F. Meissner Memorial Award for his work on trade negotiations in the International Trade Administration.

Mr. Baugh also has extensive legislative and analytical experience from his work for the Committee on International Relations and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, both in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mr. Baugh holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Westminster College and a Master’s Degree in International Relations/Economics from The George Washington University.
 

Claude Rousseau

Colonel Christophe Debaert

Col Arm Christophe Debaert, Head of Syracuse III program and MILSATCOM, Direction Générale de l’Armement, Ministry of Defence, France
Christophe Debaert works for the French Ministry of Defence, at DGA (Directorate for acquisition). He is currently Head of Syracuse III Programs and MILSATCOM operations, which includes acquisition and maintenance for Syracuse space and ground segments, and development of the satellite Sicral 2, in cooperation with Italy. At the same time, he is head of ATHENA/COMCEPT operations which includes the KA satellite, also in cooperation with Italy, and its ground segment. Prior to that, he was successively Chief of governmental product and system security evaluation and expertise division and in charge for ministry of defense of Pleiades observation satellite system at DGA, deputy director for expertise center in the middle-east and Chief of global civilian security division at DGA. He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in 1997 and Ecole National des Techniques avancées in 1999, in addition with a master in cryptography.
 

Colonel Dr Abas Kattala

Colonel Kennedy Ogbole

Dan Hart

Daniel Losada

Dan Losada has more than 17 years of experience with every facet of satellite communication technology, from developing hardware to designing and implementing strategic satellite applications and systems.

In his current role as Sr. Director of Defense Systems, Defense and Intelligence Systems Division (DISD) at Hughes, he manages Defense programs for Hughes. Mr. Losada is a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering – both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has published in the field of Communication Systems and design of Frequency Hopping Patterns for Spread Spectrum Communications.
 

Davide Di Domizio

Davide DI DOMIZIO is a Lieutenant Colonel of the Italian Air Force now in service in EDA as Project Officer for Space Programmes. He is in charge of the Agency activities in space based Earth Observation, Space Situational Awareness and GNSS. He has a long experience in Computer Systems Management and in Space Programmes. Before joining EDA, he has been employed in the Space Office of the Italian MoD National Armaments Directorate where he was the Defence technical responsible for COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation programme and the Italian representative to the MUSIS international programme.

Dean Olson

Deanna Ryals

Ms. Deanna L. Ryals is the Chief of the International Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) Division within the MILSATCOM Systems Directorate (MC), Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), Air Force Space Command (AFSPC), Los Angeles, AFB, CA. The division is responsible for providing an enterprise-wide approach to jointly acquiring MILSATCOM systems with key international partners and allies and identifiying future opportunities for joint development of capabilities, architectures, policies, and technologies. SMC/MC is currently partnering with seven allies across the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) and Advanced Extermely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite programs and is executing eight Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) totaling $1.7B in international partner contributions.

Etienne Boucharlat

Gerard Donelan

Gerard brings more than 30 years’ experience in satellite and governmental communications. With SES ASTRA since 2003, his expertise covers commercial broadcast and communications services as well as public sector projects and government services. Gerard spent 14 years in the British military and 11 years in various satellite positions for NATO whilst based in Norfolk, Virginia on the international staff of the Supreme Allied Commander. His responsibilities encompassed NATO SatCom, crypto, land and maritime communications. He received several commendations from NATO for the work he undertook during this time. As an engaged industry representative he is an appreciated speaker at conferences, National Defence Universities and a contributor in NATO working groups.

Harold Haney

Mr. Harold (H2) Haney is Chief, Satellite Communications & Spectrum Management Division, Command, Control, Communications and Computers (C4) Division, Command and Control (C2), and Communications Directorate (J6), United States Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. He leads the collective efforts of a multi-disciplined staff of military (four military services represented), civilian, and contractor personnel providing centralized management, planning, and synchronization, of Department of Defense global military & commercial satellite communication (MILSATCOM/COMSATCOM) resources, Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum, Missile Defense Systems, SATCOM architecture development and terrestrial gateways. He is equally accountable for partnering with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Air Force to develop international agreements for the mutual exchange of satellite communications. Exploratory discussions and memorandum of agreement negotiations include recurring senior level interactions with the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, and Canada. He is also US advisor to the NATO SATCOM Working Group, working interoperability, operating standards and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Iraq operations support with the 27 nation members. Mr Haney’s diverse responsibilities also comprise special user DIV/VIP world-wide communications services, operational sponsorship for the Global Electromagnetic Spectrum Information System (GEMSIS) program and combatant command leader & advocate for SATCOM standardized tactical entry points (anchor stations), and Global Broadcast Services (GBS) theater information management. Mr. Haney has been serving USSTRATCOM for over 26 years and the Department of Defense for more than 47 years. He assumed his current position on 1 June 2010.

James Hinds

John Yates

John Yates has 28 years of experience in the commercial space sector. After having held key satellite project management positions at SES-Astra and Inmarsat he now works as a freelance consultant providing expert advice and interim management for companies, organisations and governments world-wide in the commercial satellite telecommunications sector.

Justin Keller

Koen Willems

Koen Willems (@WillemsKoen) currently holds the position of Market Director for Government and Defense at Newtec, a market leader in satellite communication technologies. As well as developing the Government & Defense market and assisting to large projects, he shares his expertise in ISR, Airborne, MWR, SIGINT/COMINT, border security, humanitarian and (civil) government satellite networks with Newtec engineering teams in order to develop application-fit technology.

In his previous role as Product Marketing Director at Newtec he was responsible for the launches of many of Newtec’s newest products and technologies including professional IP modems, the all new MDM6000 modem series, FlexACM®, Cross-Layer-Optimization, Bandwidth Cancellation and S2 Extension technologies.

Willems has more than 15 years’ experience working in the technology industry. His career began in 1998 at speech technology company Lernout & Hauspie, where he held a project management position. Following this he moved to electronics giant Toshiba where he was Product Marketing Manager for the Benelux and later the European market. Koen has a Master's degree in English & Scandinavian Languages (University Ghent, Belgium, 1997) and a Master's degree in Marketing Management (Vlekho Business School in Brussels, 1998). He holds a Six Sigma Black Belt for product development and process improvement.

You may know Koen as a Newtec technology evangelist through his regular appearance in editorials in satellite focused publications, white papers and speaking slots at conferences around the world.

Lieutenant Colonel Abde Bellahnid

Abde Bellahnid is a professional engineer. In 2008 he was posted to the Director of Space Development under the Chief of Force Development (CFD), national defence headquarters Ottawa. CFD is responsible for all force development aspects of the Canadian military space programme, focusing from conception of capabilities to their acquisition and deployment. LCol Bellahnid holds the position of Director of Space

Requirements/SATCOM & SAR Requirements. SATCOM is a major component of the Space Support to CF’s line of Operations. The objective of the SATCOM section is to ensure DND has guaranteed access to space lines of communication with global reach that are robust ad survivable. LCol Bellahnid presently coordinates a number of ongoing programs including the Protected Military SATCOM, the Mercury Global, the Medium Earth Orbit Search And Rescue (MEOSAR) and the Tactical Narrowband SATCOM project.
 

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Eddy

Lieutenant Colonel Eddy was commissioned into the United States Air Force in 1997 through the ROTC program at The Citadel. Following graduation, he served in a variety of operational assignments including Missile Operations, Instructor duty, and Space Operations. Prior to duty at European Command Headquarters, Lt Col Eddy was the Director of Operations at the 2nd Space Warning Squadron where he was directly responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) that provides immediate global and theater missile warning for defense of the United States, overseas combatant commands, and Allies.

In his current position, Lt Col Eddy plans and advocates for the critical space based capabilities that support and enable EUCOM operations. His focus includes capabilities from SATCOM, PNT, ISR, and Missile Warning. Lt Col Eddy is also in charge of European Command’s space engagement and works closely with US Strategic Command to build relationships with allies and partners.
 

Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Nahlen

Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Saiboo

Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Saiboo (1961) joined the Netherlands Army in 1985. After graduating from the Royal Dutch Military Academy in 1990 LtCol Saiboo was appointed with the Royal Signal Corps in the rank of second lieutenant.

Since 2007, LtCol Saiboo has held the position of Chief of the Army Command and Control Support Centre of Expertise at the Army Doctrine Command. He served as Chief G6 at the Royal Netherlands Army Staff in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Currently he holds the position of Head J6 (CIS Operations) of the MoD Directorate Operations in the Hague, the Netherlands.

LtCol Saiboo subsequently developed international operational experience serving with the United Nations in the former Republic of Yugoslavia (1995, Plans Officer Staff UNPROFOR), with NATO lead SFOR mission in Bosnia (2001, Officer in Charge of the Multinational Division Signal Support Company) and with NATO lead ISAF mission in Afghanistan (2006/2007, J6 of the (NLD/AUS) Task Force Uruzgan). LtCol Saiboo served Military Attaché and Advisor to the USA State Department at the Office of the United States Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem (2011).
 

Lieutenant Colonel TJ Macintosh

Commodore Christian Anuge is an alumni of the Nigerian Naval College Port Harcourt from where he joined the Nigerian Navy in June 1984. He has served on board several Nigerian Navy ships, notably as part of Naval Task Force, ECOWAS Monitoring Group, Liberia in 1991. He completed a Bachelors degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife in 1999. He proceeded to obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Satellite Communication from the African Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology, Nigeria in 2005. He was trained as a Certified Satellite Orbit Engineer at the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunication Technology, China in 2007. In addition, he is an alumni of the International Space University Strasbourg from where he obtained an Msc in Space Management in 2010. Furthermore, he holds a Masters in Strategic Studies from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Commodore Anuge is a corporate member of the Space Engineering Division, Nigeria Society of Engineers. He is a fellow of the National Defence Collge, Nigeria . Commodore Christian Anuge is currently the Director of Information and Communication Technology at the Nigerian Navy Headquarters Abuja. He does gardening and plays Lawn tennis at his leisure.
 

Major John Genouw

John Genouw started working in 2006 as the Material Resources Manager for Satcom. For four years he was contract owner for civilian and military airtime leasing, but also for investment projects and maintenance for the own military anchor station, all military Fly Away and Naval Satcom antennas and some commercial Satcom equipment. During the next four years he was Joint Operational CIS resources manager and thus responsible for all CIS equipment in support of training activities and operations abroad. After a one year Higher Staff Course in 2014 he took over command of the “Tactical Intranet” subdepartment, with highly educated technical CIS specialists to support operations, including the team in charge of the Satcom anchor station.

Mark Lambert

Mark Lambert has been active in the military communications arena for over 25 years, working for a number of R&D companies and technology consultancies, focused on developing innovative solutions. He is currently VP of Sales & Marketing for Advantech Wireless in the EMEA region, where he is also Managing Director of their operations in the region. Advantech Wireless are known for delivering innovations to the military satellite communications market from across their product range of antenna and antenna controllers; frequency converters and amplifiers; modems and VSAT systems.

Matt Orlando

Matthew Child

Patrick Biewer

<p>Patrick Biewer was appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LuxGovSat in July 2015. Patrick has held a number of senior positions within SES since he joined in 1993, and has accumulated some impressive leadership experience during his career. More recently, from 2010 until December 2014, Patrick held the position of Managing Director with SES Broadband Services (SBBS) prior to its combination with SES Techcom in 2015. As CEO of the new joint venture, Patrick reports directly to the LuxGovSat Board of Directors. In his new role, Patrick Biewer assumes the responsibilities for all of LuxGovSat's business activities, with an initial focus on setting up the LuxGovSat team and on building customer relationships with International institutions, such as the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).<br /> &nbsp;</p>

Patrick H Rayermann

Paul Millington

Paul Millington has worked in the space industry for over 25 years and has a wealth of industry knowledge and experience which has been intrinsic to many of Airbus Defence and Space’s (formerly Astrium) most successful business ventures. Today, Paul heads up the UK Government (satellite) Communications business reflecting his years of satcom services business experience and his familiarity with the UK market. Paul is primarily responsible for ensuring continued evolution of the services business to meet growing UK Government customer demands, and for securing a lead role for the Company in the UK’s next generation Milsatcom programme.

Previously, Paul was the VP Strategy, Marketing and Next Generation Programmes for Astrium Services Government Communications and was responsible for implementing strategic initiatives as well as managing Marketing and Intelligence operations. Paul was tasked with maintaining the company’s preeminent position in military satellite communications services by securing a lead role in all of the major next generation European Milsatcom programmes.

Prior to this, Paul was Head of Business Growth for Astrium Services following his successful tenure as Business Director at Paradigm Secure Communications as the business grew over 10 fold in 6 years. Before joining Airbus (or its predecessor companies) Paul worked as a Project Engineer at Nortel.

Paul was instrumental in the creation of Paradigm, the company set up to pursue the Skynet 5 project as a PFI. In 2001, as Head of Business and Finance for Paradigm, he authored the Business, Commercial and Financial proposals for the Skynet 5 competition. After being awarded ‘Preferred Bidder’ status Paul led the negotiations for the concession agreement contract with the UK MOD. In 2004 Paul was responsible for developing and implementing Paradigm’s export business to other militaries worldwide. Under Paul’s directorate, Paradigm was awarded, as part of a tri-nation team (UK, Italy and France), the concession to supply military satellite capability to NATO for 15 years as well as additional international milsatcom contracts with 5 other nations. In 2005, he led the team that delivered an innovative and award winning offer for a 3rd Skynet satellite under the PFI, providing service enhancements and improved business revenues.

Paul has an MBA and a BSc in Engineering with Business Studies, is married with 3 girls and lives in Newport, Essex.
 

Philip Dunne

Philip Dunne was appointed Minister of State for Defence Procurement at the Ministry of Defence on 11 May 2015, having previously served as Minister for Defence, Equipment, Support and Technology, since 6 September 2012.

Philip was elected Conservative MP for Ludlow, Shropshire in 2005.
 

Education

He studied politics, philosophy and economics at Keble College, Oxford University.

Political career

After the 2010 election, Philip was appointed Assistant Government Whip, a role he had carried out in Opposition. He has been a member of the work and pensions select committee, the public accounts committee and the Treasury select committee. In September 2012 he was appointed a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State as Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, with responsibility for defence procurement and defence exports.

Career outside politics

Before coming involved in politics, Philip spent over 20 years in business and investment banking, working in New York and Hong Kong. He also co-founded the Ottakar’s bookshop retail business, which he helped to run for 18 years. He has had responsibility for his family farm since 1987.

Minister of State for Defence Procurement

The minister is responsible for the procurement and support of equipment, and science and technology domains within the Ministry of Defence (MOD). He has ministerial responsibility for Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the entity within the MOD that employs over 12,000 civil servants and military personnel to deliver the entirety of defence’s equipment capabilities.

The minister oversees delivery of the Defence Equipment Plan, a £160 billion, 10 year strategic plan to deliver cutting edge equipment and services which enable the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force to operate effectively.

Responsible management of the defence budget enables the minister to oversee some £20 billion of defence expenditure per year, which currently accounts for over 40% of the government’s direct procurement with the private sector, demonstrating the contribution and significance of defence to the UK economy.

The minister’s key portfolio interests are:
•supporting the Secretary of State for Defence on SDSR
• DE&S reform
•delivery of the Defence Equipment Plan
•nuclear enterprise
•defence exports
•defence information systems and services
•defence science, technology and innovation, including the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl)
•defence relations with the Gulf and Asia
•relations with defence industry
•asset disposal

The minister is a member of the Defence Board.
 

Richard Sheehan

Rick Greenwood

CIS SATCOM Head of Engineering and Operations, Airbus Defence and Space

Rick joined EADS in 2003 and in 2005 became the Space Director overseeing the Skynet 5 spacecraft and ground systems build phase, launch and operations. In 2007 he took on wider responsibilities to include all Space and Engineering activities. In 2012 Rick was appointed the Head of Engineering and Operations in the new CIS SATCOM division. He is responsible for the future technical strategy for SATCOM, and bringing into service new space and ground assets, across the business. He remains responsible for the Skynet fleet and new spacecraft development; and as part of this has encouraged the development and processes for the UK milsatcom geostationary SSA capability with links to the UK and US SPOC and civilian organisations such as the SDA.

Rick started his career in the RAF for 6 years, with his last posting as the Skynet 4 Chief Instructor. He then held various posts with ESA as the Ulysses spacecraft operations engineer and with Eutelsat during the commissioning and operations of Eutelsat F2 satellites and new satellite control centre. Prior to joining EADS, Rick was the Technical Manager with the UK MOD, on secondment from the Defence Research Agency, with responsibility for the technical lead on the Skynet 5 phase studies and developing Skynet 5’s position in the Global Communication Network Architecture with the MOD’s Integration Authority. During his 5 years at DRA he was also involved in the launch and operations of the STRV satellites, and supporting the stage 2 Skynet 4 LEOP campaign.

He was elected Fellow to the Royal Aeronautical Society in 2011.
 

Simon Hoey

Skot Butler

Skot Butler brings two decades of satellite and telecom industry experience to his responsibility in managing an integrated sales, marketing and business development organization which serves all of Intelsat General’s customers, including the U.S. DoD, NATO, civil agencies and commercial enterprises within the U.S. and Europe.

Preceding IGC, Mr. Butler held sales, business development and strategy roles at satellite services companies DRS and Verestar. Mr. Butler earned his MBA at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. He stays active in industry groups including Society for Satellite Professionals International, the Washington Space Business Roundtable, and the Satellite Industry Association

Steve Mills

Steve is the Head of Global Satellite Services and Government Sales within the CIS group of Airbus Defence and Space. Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus Group formed by combining the business activities of Cassidian, Astrium and Airbus Military. The new division is Europe’s number one defence and space enterprise, the second largest space business worldwide and among the top ten global defence enterprises.

Joining the Royal Navy Submarine service in 1985, Steve specialized in beyond line of sight communications, operations and information security. During his 16 year military career he held various posts including sea going operations, NATO appointments in the UK and Italy and embedded strategic and tactical support roles within UK’s central command, where he focussed on satellite and mission critical communications.

It was his ability and understanding of mission critical delivery and resilience that took Steve out of the Royal Navy in 2001 and into the commercial sector and after two years in New York working with the World’s top banking and trading organisations, Steve returned to satellite communications. Before taking up his appointment at Airbus Defence and Space in 2015, Steve spent over 4 years at Inmarsat as a Senior Director in the Global Government team.

Steve lives on the UK’s East coast, he is married with two children and enjoys squash, golf and gardening.
 

Tim Frei

Timothy J. Frei is vice president of Communication Systems for the Space Systems division of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, a premier provider of manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems and advanced technologies critical to our nation’s security.

In this role, Frei leads the Communication Systems organization that provides architectures, systems, payloads, advanced products and technologies to satisfy communication current and future needs of air, space and terrestrial users across the Department of Defense, Intelligence, NASA, civil, commercial and international communities. Communication Systems is building on a rich legacy of world class capabilities in the wideband radio frequency, optical and protected Milsatcom domains to develop next generation system solutions and products that satisfy ever-increasing user demands for affordable and assured data transport. Frei is responsible for the development, production, integration and test of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) and Enhanced Polar System payloads, and on-orbit operations of the AEHF and Milstar payloads. These systems are our nation’s global, protected Satcom capabilities for the joint forces and allies. Additionally, Frei is responsible for a diverse set of advanced communication technology products, systems and services in the Milsatcom, wideband and emerging comm business arenas.

Prior to his current assignment, Frei was the vice president of the System Enhancements and Product Applications (SEPA) organization, overseeing all aspects of Space Systems’ growth, including strategy formulation, program and product development, technology roadmapping and discretionary investment portfolio management. SEPA is responsible for the acquisition and transition of space programs for restricted national, civil and military space customers.
Previously, Frei was vice president of Advanced Systems, responsible for the formulation and execution of the sector’s strategy for the Intelligence, Surveillance and Recognizance (ISR) market area. He provided vision and leadership to the National System team engaged in ISR new business pursuits through identifying, qualifying and capturing both follow-on and new system and technology contracts.

Earlier in his career, Frei served as the director of Engineering Operations and director of System Engineering within the Northrop Grumman Space Technology sector. Additionally he held the role of SEIT lead and chief engineer on major space system development programs. His program experience spans over 20 different space programs in 11 different mission areas, covering all phases of engineering, from concept definitions, through design, production, integration, test, launch and operations.
Frei earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from UCLA. He completed the UCLA Executive Program at the Anderson School of Business. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

Timothy Deaver

Tom Plachecki

Mr Tom Plachecki is the Chief of the Network Services and IT Infrastructure Service Line for the NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency. He is responsible for the overall lifecycle responsibility to implement and sustain a coherent NATO Communications, Network and IT capability.

Tom has 27 years of Aerospace and Defence Industry experience in Business, Program and Technical Manager and Engineer. His organizational experience includes time with United Technologies, General Dynamics and Motorola.

Mr Plachecki has a BSEE and an MBA. In addition he holds numerous program management, security, and IT certifications
 

Wing Commander Rhys Taylor

WGCDR Taylor joined the RNZAF in 1986 as an Avionics Technician, serving on various military aircraft types, before commissioning in 1997 as a Communication and Information Systems Officer (CISO).

As a CISO, Rhys has performed various ground-based and Aeronautical CIS roles.

Rhys completed his MSc at the UK Royal School of Signals (Bournemouth University) in 2009, promoted to Wing Commander, and assumed the role of Director of Air Force CIS.

In 2012, Rhys deployed as the NZ Military Advisor with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. On his return, Rhys was posted to his current role of J6.