Users expect to be able to connect anytime, anywhere. How do companies serving mobile customers meet the needs of today’s traveling public? What opportunities does communications mobility create for satellite providers? Are there new technologies that are helping to drive demand for these services? How do these services provide value to airlines, shipping/cruise lines, trucks and cars?
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.
Susan Irwin
Susan Irwin is Senior Principal Advisor at Euroconsult. She has been researching and analyzing satellite industry trends for more than 35 years. Ms. Irwin began her career as a telecommunications policy analyst for NTIA, where she implemented some of the earliest satellite distance learning activities in the US and emerging markets. Since 1985, when she founded Irwin Communications, she has provided strategic consulting services to satellite service providers, manufacturers, broadcasters, government agencies, and investors worldwide. In 2010, she started the US subsidiary of Euroconsult and was President of Euroconsult USA until 2014.
Ms. Irwin serves on the Advisory Board of Kymeta Corporation, is on the Board of Directors of the American Astronautical Society, Director Emeritus of the Society of Satellite and Space Professionals International and of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation, and served on the Board of Governors of the Pacific Telecommunications Council for 12 years. In 2013 Ms. Irwin was inducted into the SSPI Satellite Hall of Fame. She holds a Masters of Arts degree from San Francisco State University.
Catherine Melquist
President of the Mobile Satellite Users Association, Catherine spearheads the group’s mission to promote satellite mobility market development and innovation at conferences and events located around the world. MSUA has been in existence for over 25 years and represents 30 corporate and small business leaders in the satellite mobility marketplace. MSUA hosts an annual Mobility Innovation Awards program and luncheon during Satellite Week in Washington DC and disseminates Mobility News, a weekly culmination of mobility news to a community of over 1500 followers.
Catherine’s full-time position is with NetNumber as Director of Business Development for the Private LTE Group. Private LTE is a secure, scalable hybrid satellite/LTE mobility solution providing local telco-quality communications and control to a specific group of users or devices. Private LTE is ideal for industries and operations such as mining, energy, defense, emergency response, infrastructure management, maritime, public safety and more.
Mike Pigott
Mr. Pigott joined Global Eagle Entertainment on January 31, 2013, upon the consummation of the public merger of Row 44, Inc. and Global Eagle Acquisition Corp, and has been Senior Vice President of Product and Portfolio since May 2018. Mr. Pigott was Vice President Connectivity Products and Solutions from September 2017 through April 2018, Vice President Commercial Operations from June 2015 through June 2017, and Vice President and Assistant General Counsel from February 2013 through May 2015. Prior to February 2013, Mr. Pigott served as General Counsel of Row 44, Inc. from April 2009 through January 2013. Earlier in his career, Mr. Pigott practiced law representing technologies companies in the areas of venture capital and related financing, intellectual property, government regulation and mergers and acquisition. Mr. Pigott holds a degree in Political Economy and Philosophy from Tulane University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Reza Rasoulian
Reza Rasoulian, vice president, broadband satellite services at Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), leads the company’s strategic planning and business development related to aeronautical and maritime satellite mobility services.
Prior to joining Hughes in his current position, Mr. Rasoulian was vice president, global connectivity at Carnival Corporation. Before Carnival, Mr. Rasoulian worked at Comtech EF Data as senior vice president of mobility systems.
In his current role, Mr. Rasoulian rejoins Hughes, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, from his early years as an intern to roles in global network engineering, mobile satellite systems, and spacecraft and network design and implementation.
Among many awards for excellence and leadership, Mr. Rasoulian received the 2018 Euroconsult Smart Ship of the Year award for a record 3.174 Gbps of satellite bandwidth delivered to a ship. A member of the VSAT Global advisory board, Mr. Rasoulian is a frequent speaker at industry conferences.
Mr. Rasoulian holds a Master of Science Degree in Systems Engineering from the Whiting School of Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Systems Management & Management Science from University of Maryland.