SpaceLink adds senior executives to management team

SpaceLink announced Tuesday (2 February) that it has added seven additional executives to its senior management team to implement its business strategy for a satellite relay service. SpaceLink is a subsidiary of Electro Optic Systems of Australia (EOS) and benefits from financing, support, and advanced technology from its corporate parent, including optical communications. With significant spectrum rights in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), the relay system will optimise access to imagery from Earth observation satellites and will provide continuous communications for human spaceflight. It will provide a secure connection for the defence and intelligence communities and fast data transfer for space agencies. Among the appointees are Dr Larry Alder, who joins the team as Senior Vice President of Products & Services following more than a decade at Google and more recently several years as Chief Operating Officer at OneWeb. David Nemeth, who was previously at OneWeb, was named Senior Vice President of Systems Engineering, and Craig Moll, who was the Founder and President of PATHFINDER Space Advisors, is SpaceLink’s Vice President of Commercial Business Development. Additional executives joining the team include Lenny Low, who is the Vice President of Space Segment. Tom Leisgang is the new Vice President of Ground Segment. David Pattillo is now Vice President of Spectrum Management, and Doug Kotval is the company’s Vice President of Supplier Management. “SpaceLink has attracted some of the industry’s top professionals who are inspired by our business strategy and the opportunity to contribute to this game changing data relay service,” said David Bettinger, Chief Executive Officer at SpaceLink. “We’ve put together a dream team with the perfect blend of backgrounds and experience to drive our vision forward. Demand for fast access to data in near Earth orbit will continue to grow and SpaceLink will be ready with the capacity needed to serve next-generation systems.” Larry Alder PhD, Senior Vice President of Products & Services: Dr Alder will be instrumental in developing and defining the SpaceLink service offerings. At Google he focused on global internet access, and he was a member of the board of directors of O3B Networks until it was acquired by SES in 2016. At OneWeb he managed the engineering and operations organisations, and he was co-chairman of the U.S. Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee from 2014-2018.  He has a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from UCLA. David Nemeth, Senior Vice President of Systems Engineering: David Nemeth is an expert at developing and modelling systems architectures for satellite communications. Before joining SpaceLink he was Senior Director of System Modelling at OneWeb, and he was Vice President of Ground Systems Architecture at iDirect where he played an instrumental role in re-architecting the over-the-air interface and system design to better serve customer requirements. He has a Bachelor’s degree in physics from Cornell University and a Masters degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He holds three patents related to secure communications, MEMS, and VSAT communications. Craig L. Moll, Vice President of Commercial Business Development: Craig Moll helps spacecraft operators maximise the use of their assets with the SpaceLink relay system.  Before joining SpaceLink he was Founder and President of PATHFINDER Space Advisors, LLC, which helped emerging space companies enter new markets. Previously he was Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Space Systems Loral, and he was Managing Director of PanAmSat Europe. He began his career as a telecom policy specialist handling the satellite portfolio at the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Mr. Moll holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas State University, a master’s degree from the University of Texas, Austin, and he studied French at the Université Paris – Sorbonne. Lenny Low, Vice President of Space Segment: With eight patents to his name, Lenny Low is an expert in spacecraft platform architectures. He spent 27 years at Space Systems Loral (now Maxar Technologies), where he was Vice President of Business Development, responsible for business strategy and development of LEO, MEO and GEO platform solutions. Previously he was Executive Director of the Spacecraft Platform Operations Directorate, where he managed an organization of 600 engineers and technicians. He also worked at both Lockheed and TRW. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford. Tom Leisgang, Vice President of Ground Segment: Tom Leisgang is a multi-disciplinary expert who brings unique perspectives and out-of-the-box solutions to satellite and space-related missions. Before joining SpaceLink he was Technical Director for Ground Systems Mission Engineering and Operations at Space Systems Loral (now Maxar Technologies). He was Ground Segment Program Manager for the satellite segment of Australia’s national broadband network, and established satellite control infrastructure from greenfield to operational readiness. He began his career at Lockheed Martin where he managed the Bus Functional Test Facility that supported production of 70+ LEO satellite bus units. David Pattillo, Vice President of Spectrum Management: David Pattillo oversees SpaceLink’s spectrum and regulatory management and leads the company’s efforts with the ITU, FCC, and other regulatory bodies. Before joining SpaceLink he worked with SpaceX to manage international and domestic coordination of its StarLink constellation of more than 4,000 NGSO satellites and he spent more than 20 years at DIRECTV where he was Director of the Space & Communications Group. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. Doug Kotval, Vice President of Supplier Management: Doug Kotval is Vice President of Supplier Management at SpaceLink, where he provides strategic sourcing leadership and manages supplier and partner relationships for the company. Prior to joining SpaceLink he spent 24 years at Maxar Technologies and its predecessor company, Space Systems Loral. There he was Senior Manager, Strategic Sourcing for Space Infrastructure and Lead Supply Chain Manager for major R&D projects including digital payload processor development, phased array antenna technologies, and advanced photonics. 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