As cultural attitudes toward satellite innovation are rapidly changing, policy and protocol changes throughout enterprise and government are of the utmost significance for companies and organizations. As agile new satellite business models foster disruptive change outside of the traditional supply chain, what elements of such operational modality are most needed to remain viable and competitive? What elements of a corporate culture are a hindrance to long term success? How are global actors influencing the market for satellite business? Finally, does the prominence of disruption represent a rising tide — or a rescinding domestic influence — over global markets?
Dara A. Panahy
As leader of the firm’s Transportation and Space Group in Washington, D.C., Dara’s practice involves representation of satellite operators, aerospace manufacturers, launch services providers, communications companies, banks, private equity firms and hedge funds in debt and equity offerings, project, structured and vendor financings, mergers & acquisitions, financial restructurings and in negotiating commercial contracts. He also advises on regulatory, sanctions, anti-corruption, national security and export control matters.
PRIMARY FOCUS & EXPERIENCE
Mr. Panahy’s practice focuses on representing clients involved in the aerospace and communications industries. His experience includes representing satellite operators, aerospace manufacturers, launch services providers, communications companies, banks, private equity firms and hedge funds in numerous financings involving public offerings, high yield debt, investment grade bonds, project and vendor financings, mergers & acquisitions, financial restructuring and reorganizations and in negotiating project contracts. He also counsels clients on domestic and international regulatory and trade matters, including licensing of communications systems, economic sanctions, regulation of foreign direct investment, anti-bribery and corrupt practices, national security and export control laws and regulations and risk management.
Tim Deaver
Tim Deaver Director of US Space Systems at Airbus Defense and Space, Inc. (ADSI). He is responsible for managing all US Government space-related marketing, program capture, program management and customer liaison activities for ADSI.
Prior to joining ADSI, Mr. Deaver worked for SES and SES Government Solutions for over 10 years where he led the business and product development activities. Mr. Deaver led the SES GS team which won the USAF Space and Missile System Center (SMC) Pathfinder 1 contract for the purchase of near-end of life
transponders, SMC’s Pathfinder 3 contract for prelaunched capacity on an SESsatellite, the NASA Global-scale Observation of Limb and Disk (GOLD) hosted payload launched on SES-14 (built by Airbus Defense and Space) in 2018 andthe FAA’s Wide-Area Augmentation System (WAAS) payload launched on SES-15 in 2017. Mr. Deaver also served as the program manager and eventually the Program Executive for the Commercially Hosted Infra-Red Payload (CHIRP) program which was launched in September 2011 aboard the SES-2 spacecraft.
Prior to joining SES, Mr. Deaver served 22 years in the U.S. Air Force in various space operational, acquisition and policy positions. Tim holds aBachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Nebraska, a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado and a Master’s Degree from Air University.
John Finney
A satellite and telecoms industry veteran with over $2 billion in new revenue creation directly attributed to his leadership, John Finney pioneered significant success for start-ups Huawei (founded Huawei in Europe) and O3b (founding employee and Chief Commercial Officer) along with other major leadership roles such as global business unit leader for Alcatel-Lucent. John has been identified as a Top 40 Executive by Global Telecoms Business three years in succession.
John Ratigan
John Ratigan, President of iDirect Government started the federal arm of iDirect Technologies in 2003. The rapid growth of the federal group led to the establishment of iDirect Government as a wholly owned subsidiary in April 2007.
Mr. Ratigan is responsible for the overall direction of iDirect Government and under his leadership it has deployed thousands of terminals in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, as well as many additional federal, state and local government networks.
Ratigan brings over 30 years of experience in the satellite communications arena. Prior to joining iDirect Government, Ratigan ran the East Coast operations for both Fairchild Data and EFDATA. In addition to starting his own company, he held the position of Senior Vice President of North and South American sales for Broadlogic.
Ratigan began his career in the United States Senate working for Senator Bill Armstrong (R-Colorado) and eventually joined the legal sales team at the Xerox Corporation.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from the University of Maryland
Stuart Martin
In January 2013, Stuart was appointed CEO of the Satellite Applications Catapult, one of a network of independent research and development centers established by Innovate UK to stimulate growth in the UK economy by accelerating the development and take-up of emerging technologies. His leadership of the Satellite Applications Catapult places the commercial exploitation of space right at the heart of the UK growth agenda, and the ambition established by the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy of 2010 to create 100,000 new jobs in the sector by 2030.
During his time at Logica, Stuart performed a range of engineering and management functions, mainly in the fields of satellite navigation and meteorological processing, before moving onto strategic business roles. More recently, Stuart held the position of Vice Chair of UKSpace, the UK trade association for space business, he was a member of Eurospace Council (the European equivalent), and chair of UK judges for the annual European Satellite Navigation Competition, also known as the Galileo Masters.
Stuart holds a BSc in Physics (first class) from Imperial College and, in 2013, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the Institute of Physics.
Dr. Ward Hanson
Ward Hanson analyzes the economics and marketing of new technology. Other areas of interest include the role of competition, policy issues involving the evolving role of interactivity, optimal product line pricing, and the emergence of the commercial space industry. As a pioneer in studying the commercialization and impact of the Internet, he has published research articles, a leading text, and created online courses on Internet marketing. He has served as an expert witness in areas of patent validity, e-commerce, Internet advertising, and industry analysis. He has recently published a number of articles on the economics of new space and serves on the editorial board of the New Space journal.
Dr. Hanson has taught at Stanford since 1995, first at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, then at the Department of Economics and the Public Policy program as part of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). Previous faculty positions include Purdue University and the University of Chicago. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.