Conference Update – Downlink 12

We are pleased to confirm the speaker line-up for the SGx Keynote Series at SATELLITE 2017! SGx, which takes place from 9am to 5pm on Monday, March 6, is a series of short and informal TEDx-style talks, during which speakers share their inspirations and passions for space with an audience of SATELLITE attendees and young professionals. The event is produced by our partners at SGAC and the Future Space Leaders Foundation, and sponsored by Ball Aerospace and Blue Origin. For more information on the event, visit the SGx portal on the SATELLITE 2017 website.

SGx speakers include leading satellite industry professionals such as:

• Debra Facktor Lepore, Vice President and General Manager, Strategic Operations, Ball Aerospace
• Michele Franci, CTO, Inmarsat Global, Ltd.
• Bruno Fromont, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Asset Management, Intelsat
• Paul Graziani, CEO, Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI)
• Aaron Lewis, Vice President, Corporate Communications & Government Relations, Arianespace
• Whitney Lohmeyer, Systems Engineer, OneWeb
• Suzi McBride, Senior Vice President, Program Office, OneWeb
• Carl Marchetto, Vice President and General Manager, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.
• William Pomerantz, Vice President, Special Projects, Virgin Galactic
• Laura Stiles, Aerospace Engineer, Blue Origin
• Charity Weeden, Senior Director of Policy, Satellite Industry Association

The program also includes first-time speakers on the SATELLITE program, including: Dr. Barrett Caldwell, Professor, School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University, who conducts research in applying human factors and industrial engineering principles to team performance in complex task environments. His early research examined the potential social and technological effects of internet multimedia communications, even before the release of the Mosaic browser in 1993. Prof. Caldwell’s discovery of the importance of information delay with increasing bandwidth has been meaningful since the growth of internet file sharing, which demonstrated that delay remains a concern to ensuring satisfactory quality of service.

Janet C. Karika, Director, Interagency Launch Programs, NASA Launch Services Program, works closely with senior leadership of established and emerging commercial space launch companies. Within the U.S. Government Interagency, she interacts with both the non-proliferation and space communities, she works on space-related issues supporting Congressional staffs and various Federal agencies and departments, including the National Security Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Departments of Commerce, Defense, State and Transportation.

Carie Lemack, CEO and Co-Founder, DreamUp, is an experienced innovator skilled in conceiving and building ideas into globally-recognized organizations, Carie Lemack has more than a decade of experience in entrepreneurial endeavors, advocacy and security policy. Currently the Cofounder and CEO of DreamUp, an organization bringing space into the classroom and the classroom into space, she focuses on spearheading programs and partnerships to inspire the next generation of innovators and explorers. Lemack co-founded Global Survivors Network, an organization for victims of terror to speak out against terrorism and radicalization. She coordinated and inspired events globally and produced an Academy Award-nominated documentary film, Killing in the Name. In 2001, she co-founded and led Families of September 11. Carie has testified before Congress and been interviewed repeatedly on national and international media outlets, including CNN, BBC, NPR, Fox News, al Jazeera, “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She authored opinion pieces that ran in The Washington Post, USA Today, The Boston Globe and The Guardian, among others.

Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, Retired U.S. Astronaut, NASA & Principal of MLA Space is a veteran of four space flights, Mr. Lopez-Alegria has logged more than 257 days in space and performed 10 spacewalks totaling 67 hours and 40 minutes of EVA. He retired from the Navy in June 2008 and left NASA in March 2012. He was born in Madrid, Spain, and grew up in Mission Viejo, California. Mr. Lopez-Alegria received a Bachelor of Science degree in systems engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. He is a graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security.

Kavya Manyapu, Flight Crew Operations Engineer, CST-100 Starliner Spacecraft, Boeing, holds a M.S in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and a B.S in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and has worked on several space projects with various companies including Human Mars exploration studies. In 2010, she was selected as a crew member for an analog Mars Mission organized by Mars Society. She is a private pilot and a certified SCUBA diver and presently training in Aerobatics. Apart from her day job, Kavya enjoys educating and inspiring students to pursue careers in Engineering and Science and has reached out to over 1500 students in the past 2 years. She is also a professional Indian classical dancer and has won a National Award from the President of India titled ‘Balashree’ in 1999. Her distinguishing awards include Woman Engineer of the Year Award from the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI), Outstanding Alumna of the Year and Outstanding Engineering Student of the Year Awards from Georgia Perimeter College, Youth Achievement Awards from Telugu Association of North America (TANA) and Metro Atlanta (TAMA) among others.

Eric Stallmer, President, Commercial Spaceflight Federation, has been featured in The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, NBC Today Show, ABC News, CBS News Radio, Fox News, The BBC, CNBC, SpaceNews and many more to promote the mission of CSF. For more than two decades, Stallmer has served as an Officer in the United States Army and Army Reserves. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service while engaged in combat operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is currently assigned to the Pentagon in the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff Army for Logistics, G-4. Stallmer earned a Master of Arts Degree in Public Administration from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and History from Mount Saint Mary College. He and his wife Amy live in Arlington, Virginia with their three children, Charlie, Billy and Catherine.

Dr. Danielle Wood, Goddard Applied Sciences Manager, NASA, is a space systems engineer and researcher with expertise in technology policy for the US and emerging nations. She currently serves as the Applied Sciences Manager in the Goddard Earth Science Division. Her role is to foster the transfer of Goddard’s earth science findings for societal applications such as food security and water resource management. Previously, Dr. Wood served as Special Assistant and Advisor to the Deputy Administrator at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Prior to working at NASA, Dr. Wood held positions at the Aerospace Corporation, Johns Hopkins University, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs. Dr. Wood studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned a PhD in Systems Engineering, M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, M.S. in Technology Policy and B.S. in Aerospace Engineering.