Satellite ground equipment is often been considered the less interesting to the satellites placed into orbit. Launches and the orbiting of spacecraft are where all the attention is focused but the ground components do not have the same visual impact no matter that the capital investments are comparable.
The digital era of launching of new satellites into multiple various orbits is opening the door to more real-time connectivity, but all the new connectivity possibilities – from higher frequencies, lower latency, higher throughput, and gain – will only be fully leveraged from automation of networks on the ground and new antennas that can receive and transmit satellite signals efficiently across different satellites and constellations.
Chris Quilty
Chris is the president of Quilty Analytics, an independent research and consulting firm that provides strategy, competitive benchmarking, financial analysis, and investment diligence on all aspects of the Satellite & Space industry.
Prior to establishing Quilty Analytics in 2016, Chris served as a sell-side research analyst with Raymond James for 20 years, publishing hundreds of company-specific, macro, sector, and thematic research reports on the industrial, defense, space, wireless, and communications industries. Chris is widely-acknowledged as the leading Wall Street analyst on the Satellite & Space sector and has participated in 30 capital markets transactions over the past five years valued at over $2.5 billion
Chris received a BS degree in Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1989 and an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1994.
Daniel Gizinski
Daniel Gizinski was named President of Comtech Satellite Networks Technologies, Inc. (a U.S. Corporation) on January 3, 2022. Previously he held various senior management positions at Comtech, including Vice President of Product and Strategy for Comtech Systems Inc. Prior to joining Comtech in 2019, Daniel held program management and leadership roles at General Electric, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and L3Harris Technologies. Daniel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia and a Master’s degree from Duke University.
Bill Milroy
Prior to co-founding ThinKom (www.thinkom.com), William (Bill) Milroy held the position of Senior Engineering Fellow within Raytheon’s Electronic Systems (ES) Segment. During his tenure, he managed and lead the RF antenna design, development, and production of a wide range of Phased-Array/ESA implementations for both radar and communication applications. He co-founded ThinKom Solutions in 2000, where he currently holds the titles of Chairman and CTO. Located in Hawthorne, California, ThinKom Solutions is focused on the design and development of innovative antenna access solutions and products for the Broadband Wireless Communication market.
Mr. Milroy is a graduate of UCLA, earning BSEE, MSEE, and Engineer (Ph.D. course, field, and examination requirements) degrees and is the inventor or co-inventor of 40+ awarded and pending US patents in the fields of Scattering, Materials, Microwave Devices, and Antennas. Mr. Milroy is a past Chairman of the Los Angeles Chapter of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (APS.)
Steve Newell
Stephen (Steve) Newell is Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for NXT Communications Corporation (NXTCOMM), a Georgia-based provider of breakthrough broadband connectivity. In this role, he leads sales, business development and product marketing efforts for the company’s next-generation connectivity products.
He was VP of Business Development for FLYHT Aerospace Solutions, Ltd., an Iridium provider of real-time insights into aircraft performance to improve aviation safety and efficiency. At FLYHT, he secured a major contract to provide satellite communications equipment for production line fit at Bombardier.
As Chief Commercial Officer at TrueNorth Avionics (now owned by Satcom Direct), a cabin telephony supplier to business aviation, Steve oversaw business development, sales, marketing and product management. In this role, he helped TrueNorth capture a dominant OEM position for cabin networking equipment with leading manufacturers, including Honeywell, Collins Aerospace and Bendix-King.
Steve also was CEO of Mission Mobility, LLC., a leading provider of rugged network solutions, serving the needs of warfighters for mission-critical communications. Pivotal management experience at EMS Technologies (now part of Honeywell) included serving as General Manager of LXE and as VP of Satcom Sales for the firm’s SATCOM Division in Ottawa.
Prior to working in technology, Steve was a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy, serving on the USS Bremerton (SSN-698) and in Sardinia as the Submarine Squadron 22 Weapons Officer.
Rolf Skatteboe
Rolf Skatteboe is president and CEO of Kongsberg Satellite Services AS (KSAT).
Rolf was one of the founders of KSAT and has been CEO since the start 2002. He worked with at the Norwegian Space Agency for 10 years. He was responsible for the development of the Svalbard ground station
Rolf is MSc, Medical Physics and Biomedical engineering, Norwegian Institute of Technology, 1984 and MSc, GeoPhysics, University of Saskatchewan, Canada, 1994. He has management courses at Norwegian University of Business and Economics. He holds various board positions.
KSAT is a commercial Norwegian company, providing ground station and earth observation services primarily from polar orbiting satellites. KSAT is located with its headquarters in Tromsø, Norway. The company owns and operates ground stations located at 15 different locations world wide. KSAT is operating more than 200 antenna installations at 24 locations and is supporting approximately 150 different satellite systems more than 50 000 times pr month.
Dan White
Dan White is the Executive Vice President at SSC, (Swedish Space Corporation) responsible for Strategy and Innovation in the Satellite Management Services Division (SAMS). In this role, he is responsible for strategic planning of the Division ensuring all Business Areas are integrated into the Corporate strategy.
Prior to joining SSC, he was the President of ComDev USA where he was responsible for the US government business manufacturing microwave space equipment. Prior to that Dan held several technical and management roles at Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Dan began his career as an Antenna designer at Hughes Space and Communications
Dan has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Electrical engineering that provide a solid technical background for his experience in the Space industry.