Eight New Faces at SATELLITE 2022

The satellite industry is rapidly changing as it integrates more with the global telecoms ecosystem, and this year’s SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition reflects that change. While the satellite industry has many long-tenured leaders, this conference also highlights fresh voices whether they be new executives, end users, or Startup Space judges.

Here, meet eight people who will be speaking on panels and stages at SATELLITE 2022 for the first time, and read how you can hear their insight at the show.

Eva Berneke, Eutelsat CEO

Eva Berneke was an exciting choice for Eutelsat’s new CEO to succeed Rodolphe Belmer, because she comes from outside the industry, and she is the company’s first female CEO. Berneke is also the only female CEO to lead a major satellite operator. She joins the industry from KMD, an IT and software company in Denmark, part of the NEC Group. While at KMD, Berneke oversaw the transformation of KMD from a mainly government service provider to a digital company competing in both the public and private sectors.

Eutelsat said it chose her to lead the company’s transition toward the connectivity business because of her experience of both the telecoms and technology sectors. It will be interesting to watch Berneke’s progress over the next year and how she continues Eutelsat’s transformation as the company expands beyond its traditional broadcasting business and invests in broadband operations. Berneke will be making her space conference debut at SATELLITE on a Euroconsult panel alongside fellow operator executives from SES, Viasat, and SpaceX. Satellite Operators: Building Connectivity Services Imperium, Tuesday at 3 p.m., Room 146 A/B

Bulent Altan, CEO of Mynaric

Space lasers are widely seen as one of the technologies in development that will disrupt data communication in space, and Mynaric is at the center of this development. Led by SpaceX veteran Bulent Altan, the German company offers laser communication terminals for inter-satellite links, and space-to-ground communications. Over the past year, Mynaric brought on a number of customers, including SpaceLink, Cloud Constellation, Capella Space, Northrop Grumman, and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on as customers, proving this technology can be commercialized.

Altan was one of SpaceX’s first employees and served as a vice president, responsible for the avionics and control of the Falcon rockets and Dragon capsules. Altan was also vice president of satellite mission assurance for Starlink. With Mynaric, he now leads a company with great potential to disrupt the space industry like SpaceX did. The laser panel will be an anticipated tech panel at the show, as executives from QSTC, BridgeComm, and Warpspace share the stage with Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear, representing a key government customer for optical communications. Laser, RF and the Future of Inter-Satellite Links, Monday at 3:15 p.m., Room 146 C

Sarah Schellpfeffer, vice president and CTO of Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector

As chief technology officer of Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector, Sarah Schellpfeffer interfaces with Northrop's customers to understand how their mission needs drive technology development. Schellpfeffer has a wide range of experience, working at all levels of integration and phases of a program life cycle including system, payload, unit, and ground architecture. She has also held roles in system engineering leadership for autonomous airborne subsystems, large system verification, and government user interface definition.

Northrop Grumman supports the U.S. government in critical missions in many ways, for both the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA. Schellpfeffer will bring her technological perspective from an aerospace prime to Tuesday’s opening general session “A Defining Era for the Satellite Industry,” a diverse panel bringing together executives from Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations, user terminals, and laser communications, which looks to the future of the industry. Opening General Session: A Defining Era for the Satellite Industry, Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., Ballroom A/B

Neil McRae, chief architect of BT Group

Neil McRae of BT Group (British Telecom) brings the perspective of one of the United Kingdom’s biggest telecommunications and network providers to the SATELLITE show. BT Group placed a vote of confidence in OneWeb last year when the company joined OneWeb’s distribution partner program to provide LEO satellite communication services. BT is testing how LEO satellite technology integrates with its existing terrestrial capability, and this could yield more collaboration between satellite and telco moving forward.

McRae has been with BT Group since 2011 and as chief architect, he leads architecture and technology direction, including strategy on BT's 5G program. He was also instrumental in driving mobile and wireless as a critical capability which led to BT acquiring 4G spectrum and building a 4G network. He will appear alongside mobile satellite connectivity execs from Thuraya, Globalstar, and Swarm Technologies for a conversation about how satellite can connect land mobile vehicles in future IoT and 5G networks. Mobile Connectivity Services on Land: Transportation, 5G/IOT, and More, Tuesday at 11 a.m., Room 147

Negar Feher, vice president of Business Development for Momentus

Negar Feher, vice president of Business Development for Momentus, will appear at SATELLITE for the first time as part of the Inclusive Innovation program, a new diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program produced in partnership with Space Frontier Foundation (SFF). Feher has a long career in the satellite industry and worked for 18 years as an aerospace engineer, in a variety of roles from engineering, R&D, product and program management at Lockheed Martin and Maxar Technologies before joining space infrastructure startup Momentus. She tells Via Satellite she found her true calling on the business side, intrigued by product strategy, corporate strategy, and business development.

“The space marketplace is quickly evolving and no single organization or company will be able to tackle all the industry's challenges on their own,” Feher says. She will be part of the conversation on how space companies can move forward on diversity, another issue that can’t be solved by any one company on its own. Feher points to the importance of mentoring, especially for professional development for women in the industry, and the need to recognize and combat unconscious biases. She says she hopes to engage with the community at SATELLITE and share lessons she has learned related to DEI. Honing Power Within Your People, Wednesday at 3 p.m., Room 147

Monica Gangwar, lead diversity and inclusion partner, Virgin Orbit

Monica Gangwar, lead Equity, Diversity and Inclusion partner at Virgin Orbit, also joins SATELLITE for the first time as part of the Inclusive Innovation program. Gangwar has worked for a variety of different types of companies and organizations including LinkedIn, the Cleveland Clinic, and the Peace Corps. She has been with Virgin Orbit for more than two years, helping a company that is looking to space have an inclusive culture here on Earth.

Gangwar’s panel, which also includes execs from Space Frontier Foundation and Space for a Better World, will discuss DEI-related work culture challenges that are specific to the commercial space industry and give attendees actionable steps on how to make their workplaces more welcoming and inclusive. Examining the Space Industry's DEI Successes and Challenges, Wednesday at 1:45 p.m., Room 147

Terence Craig, chief investment officer for The Impact Seat and advisor to Toyota Ventures

Terence Craig brings his venture capital expertise to this year’s Startup Space competition for the first time. Craig has founded multiple companies and has served as the chief technology officer at venture-backed companie, including Consensys Software and several pioneering enterprise and big data software companies. As chief investment officer for The Impact Seat, he leads investment activities for more than 60 portfolio companies and monitors LP investments in several venture funds. He is also an advisor to Toyota Ventures, Toyota’s first standalone early-stage venture capital firm, with portfolio companies including launcher in development Stoke Space Technologies and precision navigation startup Xona Space Systems.

Craig was one of the earliest Black CEOs and founders to raise venture capital, and he uses that experience and expertise to improve the startup ecosystem. His goal has been to support other “non-traditional" founders navigate the startup landscape. His efforts to increase inclusion in the startup ecosystem led him to join the executive team at Astia Angels, where he ran a pilot investment program to support women of color. Craig will judge alongside other venture capital execs from SpaceFund, Data Collective Venture Capital, and MaC Venture Capital at Startup Space, which gives entrepreneurs a chance to compete for a private audience with the industry's most active private investors. Startup Space Pitch Group 1, Tuesday at 11:00 a.m., SATELLITE Unveiled Theater

Dr. Agostinho Linhares, manager of Spectrum, Orbit and Broadcasting for Anatel

Dr. Agostinho Linhares comes to the stage at SATELLITE from Brazil. Linhares is the manager of Spectrum, Orbit and Broadcasting for Brazil’s telecommunications regulatory agency Anatel, and coordinator of the Brazilian Communication Commission for the Radiocommunication Sector (CBC-2). He is responsible for Brazil's preparation for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23), a conference held by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) every three to four years to review and revise the international treaty governing the use of the radio frequency spectrum and satellite orbits. Linhares is a spectrum expert — he was head of the Brazilian delegation in the WRC-15 and WRC-19, and vice-chair of the Radiocommunication Assembly 2019. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 scientific papers published in specialized journals, magazines, and conferences.

Linhares is a spectrum expert — he was head of the Brazilian delegation in the WRC-15 and WRC-19, and vice-chair of the Radiocommunication Assembly 2019. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 scientific papers published in specialized journals, magazines, and conferences. Linhares will be a panelist on the session, "Driving Space Innovation Through the WRC-23 Agenda," produced in partnership with the Global Satellite Operators Association (GSOA). Led by GSOA Secretary Generatl Aarti Holla-Maini, this session will dig into the WRC-23 agenda. The space industry is going through transformative times, and WRC-23 is at the center of it, with critical agenda items that are needed to enable innovations. Driving Space Innovation Through The WRC-23 Agenda, Wednesday, 10:45 a.m., Room: 146 A/B. VS