February 13th, 2024 |
Simon Peter “Pete” Worden
[expander_maker id="15" more="Read more" less="Read less"]Simon Peter “Pete” Worden, (Brig. Gen., USAF, Ret., PhD) (born 1949, in Michigan, USA) is the Chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation and Executive Director of the foundation’s ‘Breakthrough Initiatives’. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Michigan and a PhD in Astronomy for the University of Arizona. Prior to joining the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, Dr. Worden was Director of NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, USA until his retirement on March 31, 2015. He has held several positions in the United States Air Force and was research professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA. He is a recognized expert on space and science issues – both civil and military, and has been a leader in building partnerships between governments and the private sector internationally.[/expander_maker]
Dr. Bhavya Lal
[expander_maker id="16" more="Read more" less="Read less"]Dr. Bhavya Lal is currently a Professor at RAND School of Public Policy. She most recently served as NASA's Associate Administrator for Technology, Policy, and Strategy, advising the NASA Administrator and senior leadership on a broad spectrum of domestic and international policy issues, strategic planning, and technology investments. During her tenure at NASA, she also broke new ground as the first woman to act as NASA's Chief Technologist. In the early days of the Biden Administration, she was the highest-ranking Administration appointee at NASA, serving as the acting Chief of Staff. In all these roles, Dr. Lal was instrumental in advancing the NASA Moon-to-Mars program, and spearheading initiatives in planetary defense, space sustainability, space ethics, and space nuclear systems. She also played a pivotal role in formulating critical policies on international competition and commercial space ventures.
Before joining NASA, Dr. Lal directed influential analyses at the Institute for Defense Analyses' (IDA) Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI), leading high-impact studies on space commercialization, government investment strategies, and economic policy frameworks for emerging space sectors. Her research has directly influenced U.S. space industrial policy, orbital debris mitigation strategies, and market-driven approaches to national security space programs.
Dr. Lal has frequently testified before Congress and the National Space Council on economic and policy issues related to space commerce. She has authored peer-reviewed papers and reports on topics including space nuclear power investment models, asteroid resource economics, and private-sector participation in space infrastructure development. She continues to shape the future of space economics through formal advisory roles at NASA, the National Academies, and international space policy organizations. She currently chairs the International Astronautical Federation’s Space Economy Committee.
Dr. Lal's extensive research and leadership have earned her numerous accolades including the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, Associate Fellowship at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the AIAA Public Service Award for “lasting and sustained leadership in national space policy and setting the course for NASA’s future missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond,” and induction into the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and YWCA’s Academy of Women Achievers.
Her academic credentials include bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a second master’s from MIT’s Technology and Policy Program, and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration from George Washington University. She is a member of the honor societies for both nuclear engineering and public policy and public administration.[/expander_maker]
James A. M. (Jim) Muncy
[expander_maker id="17" more="Read more" less="Read less"]James A. M. (Jim) Muncy is the President and founder of PoliSpace. Mr. Muncy started PoliSpace, an independent space policy consultancy, in early 2000 to help space entrepreneurs and intrepreneurs succeed at the nexus of space business, technology, and public affairs. Muncy spent over five years working in the U.S. Congress, including three yeas on the Professional Staff of the House Science Committee. Muncy spent over two years on Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s as lead space policy staff. He worked as a policy assistant in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Reagan. Muncy began his work in space policy in 1981 as a staff advisor to Rep. Newt Gingrich, where he helped found the Congressional Space Caucus. A long-time leader in the space advocacy community, Muncy co-founded the Space Frontier Foundation in 1988. He is a frequent speaker and writer on space policy issues. Mr. Muncy holds an MS in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota and a BA from the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar.[/expander_maker]
Laura Montgomery
[expander_maker id="18" more="Read more" less="Read less"]Laura Montgomery teaches space law at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law. In her private practice through Ground Based Space Matters she specializes in regulatory space law, with an emphasis on commercial space transportation and the Outer Space Treaties. She provides expert opinion on the Commercial Space Launch Act, its implementing regulations governing the launch of launch vehicles, the reentry of reentry vehicles, the operation of launch and reentry sites, and the financial responsibility and liability requirements of those regulations. She has testified to the space subcommittees of both the House and Senate, including, most recently in the summer of 2019. Laura Montgomery spent over two decades with the Federal Aviation Administration. She served as the manager of the Space Law Branch in the FAA’s Office of the Chief Counsel. Before that, she was the FAA’s Senior Attorney for Commercial Space Transportation. She has published articles on the Outer Space Treaty, human space flight, and launch safety. She also writes science fiction, some of which is bourgeois, legal science fiction.[/expander_maker]
Michelle Hanlon
[expander_maker id="19" more="Read more" less="Read less"]Michelle Hanlon is Co-Director of the Air and Space Law Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law and its Center for Air and Space Law. She is also a Co-Founder and President of For All Moonkind, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that is the only organization in the world focused on protecting human cultural heritage in outer space. For All Moonkind has been recognized by the United Nations as a Permanent Observer to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Michelle Chairs the International Committee of the National Space Society and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Space Law, the world’s oldest law journal dedicated to the legal problems arising out of human activities in outer space.[/expander_maker]
John Reed
[expander_maker id="20" more="Read more" less="Read less"]John Reed is United Launch Alliance’s Chief Rocket Scientist, and former Senior Technical Fellow for Guidance Navigation and Control. Mr. Reed manages the Technical Fellows program at ULA. He is currently focused on a wide variety of initiatives from Principal Investigator for launch vehicle reuse to enhanced navigation and trajectory planning, from defining our next generation capabilities to creating a culture of innovation and protecting our Intellectual Property. He has been working a variety of roles on launch vehicles in Denver since 1986. Reed is a long-time member of the AAS and an Associate Fellow of the AIAA. He is the Collaboration Program Chair for ASCEND and serves as TC Liaison for the Rocky Mountain Section of AIAA. He received his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Missouri at Rolla (now the Missouri University of Science and Technology) and his master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.[/expander_maker]
Hoyt Davidson
[expander_maker id="21" more="Read more" less="Read less"]Hoyt Davidson is the founder and Managing Partner of Near Earth LLC, an investment banking boutique focused on the satellite industry, commercial space and the Internet of Things.
Hoyt received a Physics degree from MIT and upon graduation spent six years in the Space Systems Division of Lockheed leaving as a Senior Research Engineer to return to MIT for an MBA. At MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Mr. Davidson was awarded the Henry B. duPont III scholarship for academic excellence and headed to Wall Street where he rose to the level of Managing Director at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and later at Credit Suisse. At DLJ, in the mid-1990s, he co-founded the Space Finance Group, the first corporate finance coverage group focused on the commercial satellite industry. This group had a #1 ranking for the sector for many years and raised over $15 billion for commercial satellite companies.
In 2002, he left Credit Suisse to start Near Earth LLC, to continue focusing on the growth of space-related companies. Near Earth is a FINRA licensed broker-dealer and provides M&A advisory services for small to lower middle market companies, equity private placement services and strategic and financial consulting. Clients include major companies and institutional investors in those industries, and early-stage entrepreneurial firms seeking private equity capital or strategic partners. Near Earth has also been engaged by NASA and the U.S. Air Force for space related consulting assignments. Hoyt currently serves on the board of XO Markets Holdings, the parent of NanoRacks LLC, and on the advisory boards of Lynk Global and Nexteon. His non-profit participations include serving on the board of the Space Foundation, where he acted as Treasurer from 2016 – 2019 and is a member of its Finance Committee, serving on the board of the National Space Society, where he was the Vice President for Development from 2017 until recently and is a member of the Policy and Investment Committees, and he formerly served on the NASA Advisory Council for Commercial Space.[/expander_maker]
Chris Hearsey
[expander_maker id="22" more="Read more" less="Read less"]Chris Hearsey has over ten years’ experience in the private, non-profit, and government sectors of the aerospace community. In that time, Chris has built and managed his firm OSA Consulting LLC and previously served as the Director of DC Operations and Legislative Affairs for Bigelow Aerospace. Chris also has served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Space & Advanced Technology at the US Department of State and has managed political campaigns at the state and federal level, including a run for Congress in Maryland in 2018. Chris holds a BA in Mathematical Economics from Temple University, a MS in Legal Theory from The American University, a MS in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, and a JD with honors in Air & Space Law from the University of Mississippi School of Law.[/expander_maker]
Dr. Greg Autry
[expander_maker id="23" more="Read more" less="Read less"]Dr. Greg Autry is the Chair of the Safety Working Group on the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) at FAA. He has researched and taught technology entrepreneurship at UC Irvine, USC and ISU / Florida Tech. Dr. Autry served on the 2016 NASA Agency Review Team and as White House Liaison at NASA. He was nominated for NASA CFO in 2020 (Senate failed to vote). He publishes in peer reviewed journals and major outlets including Foreign Policy, Forbes, and Space News. He holds a BA from California Polytechnic University at Pomona and an MBA and PhD from UCI.[/expander_maker]
Robert Brumley
[expander_maker id="24" more="Read more" less="Read less"]Bob Brumley is the Senior Managing Director at Marble Arch Partners, LLC. He currently serves as Chairman and CEO of the Laser Light Companies. He was CEO of TerreStar Corporation (formerly Motient Corp.) from 2006 to 2008, and CEO of TerreStar Global and TerreStar Networks Inc., from 2005 to 2008. He led these firms into the emerging field of hybrid mobile satellite and terrestrial communications, raising over $1B in private investment. He is a former senior executive with Deutsche Telekom and Bell Atlantic International [now Verizon]. He was appointed by President Reagan as Chief Legal Officer of the Department of Commerce and Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce and chaired the Reagan Administration policy working group that privatized commercial space transportation.
Bob holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the California Polytechnic State University, in San Luis Obispo, California, and has completed graduate courses and management programs at Harvard University, Santa Clara University, the Wye River Institute, San Jose State University and the Defense Acquisition University.[/expander_maker]
Alexandra Field
[expander_maker id="23" more="Read more" less="Read less"]Alexandra (Sasha) Field is a partner at the Potomac Law Group in Washington DC where she specializes in working with companies in the aerospace and telecommunications industries providing targeted advice and representation appropriate to the developmental stage and resource constraints of each individual client. Ms. Field has worked for more than three decades in the space arena, which has given her the opportunity to experience working with and for nonprofits, regulators, and private companies in all stages of the development cycle from highly leveraged start-ups to prominent publicly traded companies. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Field served as General Counsel of Spaceflight, Inc., an aerospace company that specializes in space launch services. Earlier in her career, she worked in a number of startup space services companies and spent a number of years at the Federal Communications Commission in the International Bureau covering satellite and international licensing and policy issues. Ms. Field received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center; her M.A. from Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management; and her B.A. in astrophysics from Harvard University.[/expander_maker]
Dr. Marlène M. Losier
[expander_maker id="23" more="Read more" less="Read less"]Dr. Marlène M. Losier is a legal expert in international law. She advises private and public clients around the world on international and national laws relating to culture and space policies affected by maritime, terrestrial and beyond Earth considerations often resulting from the succession of states in the post-colonial context. She advises on the United Nations treaty system and its auspices, counsels on bilateral and multilateral agreements and assists in developing corresponding domestic rules. Dr. Losier is an expert in complex matters of sovereign immunity and jurisdiction, where they conflict, when they are evoked in areas beyond national jurisdiction and specifically in respect to issues relating to title and proprietary rights, including with regard to the moral and ethical arguments concerning the rights of communities of origin and private individuals. Her academic background is in government and social anthropology and her legal basis is in international litigation, alternative disputes resolution and contractual matters. She is Principal of Losier & González, PLLC based in Washington, D.C.[/expander_maker]
Dr. Michael Simpson
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Dr. Michael K. Simpson is the past Executive Director of the Secure World Foundation and former President of the International Space University. He is a Board Member of the Institute of Space Commerce and Chairperson of the Ten to the Ninth Plus Foundation.
He has also been President of Utica College (now Utica University) and the American University of Paris with a combined total of 22 years of experience as an academic chief executive officer. He holds an appointment as Professor of Space Policy and International Law at ISU. He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a member of the International Institute of Space Law and a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Space Commerce.
Dr. Simpson served in the United States Navy retiring after Reserve service with the rank of Commander. His duty included service as a Political-Military Action Officer with US European command. He is a graduate of the French National Institute of Advanced Defense Studies (IHEDN).
He is the author of numerous scholarly papers, presentations, articles and book contributions. He has also authored a book on space travel for young children. His practical experience includes service as an observer representative to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, participation in the IAF committees on Commercial Spaceflight Safety and Space Security, participating organization representative to the Group on Earth Observations and member of its 2015 Ministerial Working Group, member of the Board of Directors of the World Space Week Association and the Board of Governors of the National Space Society in the USA, member of the Panel on Asteroid Threat Mitigation, and Vice Chair of The Hague Space Resources Governance Working Group. He is a board member of the Secure World Foundation and the Institute of Space Commerce. He chairs the Ten to the Ninth Plus Foundation, is an advisor to the Moon Village Association and the Beyond Earth Foundation, and served as an Observer in the Global Expert Group for Sustainable Lunar
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Frank Dibello
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Over a 50-year career in the business of space, Frank DiBello has served in a wide variety of roles, all of them dedicated to guiding and strengthening the aerospace industry in America. In January of 2024, Frank formed SolvX Space Industry Advisors after he retired from Space Florida– an Independent Special District of the State of Florida. In his 14 years with Space Florida he was instrumental in the state’s recovery from the retirement of the Shuttle in 2011 and its subsequent rise to even greater heights as the thriving commercial space operations and manufacturing cluster it is today. Frank’s leadership and contributions to the advancement of the aerospace industry in Florida has positioned the state as the clear leader in a rapidly transforming aerospace market, which has set an example to many other states, such as New Mexico, Virginia, Alaska, Texas and Georgia to improve their capabilities in the marketplace as well.
Frank began his career in the space industry at KPMG, where he spent more than 20 years guiding the firm’s aerospace industry practice. While at KPMG, he founded the firm’s Space Industry Practice to focus on new space businesses, including taking satellite programs to Wall Street for financing and developing commercial uses for the International Space Station (ISS). After his time at KPMG, Frank co-founded SpaceVest, a venture capital firm focused on investing in companies taking defense and space technologies to commercial applications and markets. He went on to serve as President and CEO of Constellation Communications, International (CCI), where he planned and raised the financing for an early global satellite network for mobile broadband communication services. Before joining Space Florida, Frank became President and CEO of Florida’s Aerospace Finance Corporation (FAFC), which was established by the Florida Legislature to assist with financing the infrastructure needs of new and established companies in the aerospace, aviation and space markets.
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Charles Miller
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Charles Miller is a serial space entrepreneur and senior commercial space executive who has repeatedly delivered breakthrough results over 3 decades. Most recently, Miller served as co- founder and CEO of Lynk Global, Inc. (Lynk) the creator of satellite-direct-to-standard-phone (sat2phone) that has become the hottest category in the satellite industry, where he serves as Chairman of the Board.
Miller built the team that discovered and invented the technology to allow satellites to connect directly with standard mobile phones on Earth – without any change to the phone. At the time, this was generally thought to be impossible. Miller then incorporated Lynk, brought sat2phone to the market and created a new $300+ billion business category. Industry analysts now predict 1 that sat2phone will become the largest opportunity in all of space and satellite.
Prior to co-founding Lynk, Miller was:
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