Constellation Challenges: From Launch Through Operations to End of Life

Mr. Baugh serves as the President and Founder of Northern Sky Research (NSR), which he created in 2000 to provide independent, actionable market research and consulting services to the satellite industry. Mr. Baugh directs all NSR multi-client research reports and single-client consulting projects and manages a global team of analysts that stand at the forefront of satellite industry expertise.

Before forming NSR, Mr. Baugh served as Senior Analyst for Pioneer Consulting where he covered all aspects of the satellite market. Prior to Pioneer, Mr. Baugh was an International Trade Specialist and Economist for the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC. While at the Department of Commerce, Mr. Baugh was a recipient of the Charles F. Meissner Memorial Award for his work on trade negotiations in the International Trade Administration.

Mr. Baugh also has extensive legislative and analytical experience from his work for the Committee on International Relations and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, both in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Baugh holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Westminster College and a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from The George Washington University.

Dan cofounded LeoLabs to accelerate the new commercial economy in LEO, protect satellite assets, and preserve the space environment. LeoLabs is the first commercial data source for tracking satellites and mapping LEO. Prior to co-founding LeoLabs Dan was a Program Director at SRI International where he supervised the Allen Telescope Array and developed advanced radar imaging technologies. Dan holds a Ph. D. from U. C. Berkeley in electrical engineering.

Samer Halawi is the Chief Commercial Officer for Intelsat, where he is responsible for leading the Company’s global commercial operations, including the broadband, mobility, media and government businesses, as well as the sales and marketing teams.  He brings tremendous experience and expertise, with more than 20 years in business development, telecommunications and global satellite communications.

Prior to joining Intelsat, Samer served as the Chief Commercial Officer for OneWeb where he established and oversaw the distribution, product management, communications, business development, strategy, and sales and marketing functions for the company.

Before that, Samer held the position of the Chief Executive Officer for Thuraya Telecommunications Company for six years, where he led a turnaround in Thuraya’s performance and positioning and drove its growth to become a prominent international mobile satellite operator.

Samer spent eight years at Inmarsat in global strategy and running operations for the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. His telecommunications experience includes roles at Flag Telecom and ICO Global Communications (ICO). His role at ICO followed a private placement for the shares of the company that he led during a three-year period in investment banking in the Middle East. Samer began his career in the automotive industry, where he occupied several positions with Chrysler Corporation and Ford Motor Company.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Lawrence Technological University and an MBA from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in the United States.

Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) operates the world’s first Globalized Network, delivering high-quality, cost-effective video and broadband services anywhere in the world. Intelsat’s Globalized Network combines the world’s largest satellite backbone with terrestrial infrastructure, managed services and an open, interoperable architecture to enable customers to drive revenue and reach through a new generation of network services. Thousands of organizations serving billions of people worldwide rely on Intelsat to provide ubiquitous broadband connectivity, multi-format video broadcasting, secure satellite communications and seamless mobility services. The end result is an entirely new world, one that allows us to envision the impossible, connect without boundaries and transform the ways in which we live.

Mr. Shayn Hawthorne works in the AWS Region Services Division as the Colorado Lead, Space Technical Lead, and General Manager of the AWS Ground Station service. In this role, Shayn works backward with commercial and Government space customers around the world. Shayn is focused on developing services and features that disrupt how space and intelligence operations are conducted and enabling space customers to share, fuse and leverage space data to improve their missions and products.

Prior to AWS, Shayn worked at the MITRE Corporation. In his last role, Shayn served as the Technical Director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), responsible for directing the engineering activities of MITRE engineers in support of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Program, Command and Control Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) System, the Ballistic Missile Defense Overhead Persistent Infrared Architecture (BOA) and the Midcourse Tracking System (MTS) and many other programs.

Previously, Shayn led the MDA Space Knowledge Center as the Technical Director, which performed independent technical assessments and evaluated experiments related to MDA space programs. In previous MITRE work efforts, Shayn has led Advanced Development efforts for Air Force space situational awareness, missile warning, and missile defense sensors, as well as the Command and Control (C2) systems and correlator/tracker systems responsible for detecting and tracking air, space and missile threats to the United States and Canada.

Additional MITRE efforts include developing the Satellite as a Sensor concept and leading the start-up of the Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System. Shayn was personally requested to support DoD Space System Vulnerability analyses that led to the National Security Space Protection Policy. He also played a critical role in starting the Space Radar program, focusing on theater tasking and Ground Moving Target Indicator data.

As a member of the Air Force Reserve, Shayn volunteered to mobilize in support of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) and fielded a satellite protection system while leading the Defensive Counter-space Testbed (DTB). Shayn supported the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and Electronic Security Command (ESC) as an Active Duty Air Force Officer.

Shayn received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering Mechanics from the United States Air Force Academy and a Master of Science Degree in Astronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Johanne Lecomte is Vice-President, Business Development and Sales for Thales Alenia Space (TAS), in Arlington, VA. Over the last 7 years, she has been responsible for increasing Space business in North America in the institutional and commercial markets, for the Telecom, Remote Sensing, Exploration, Planetary Sciences and Navigation domains. Additionally, over the past few years, Ms. Lecomte has also been leading TAS North America Government Strategy, making particular inroads in the DoD market in the USA and DND in Canada.

She has more than 25 years of experience in the telecommunication and satellite industries. She was Vice-President of Sales and Marketing in North America for 10 years at Airbus Defense and Space and Vice-President, Sales, Marketing and Communications at International Launch Services (ILS). She also occupied various leadership positions at Telesat, Amos by Spacecom, Dynegy, Teleglobe International and Bell Canada. Throughout her career, she conducted various in-country Business Development projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
Johanne holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) from Ecole Polytechnique and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering/International Program Management (MBA/MSEE), from Sherbrooke University in Canada.

Mike began his career practicing law representing numerous technology startups in the areas of venture capital and related financing, intellectual property, government regulation and mergers and acquisition.  Mike then moved on to serve on the executive team for Row 44, an innovative startup delivering inflight connectivity and entertainment.  In 2013, Mike managed the legal aspects of Row 44’s successful IPO via a SPAC transaction with Global Eagle Entertainment, and then moved on to take on various business roles on the management team of Global Eagle.  Mike currently serves as EVP Connectivity at Global Eagle responsible for the delivery of connectivity and entertainment services to the airline, cruise, commercial shipping, large yacht, enterprise and government markets. Mike 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.