Mapping ROI in New and Emerging Satellite Ventures

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.

Artiom is President and CEO at Noosphere Ventures, a prominent U.S. investment firm founded by Dr. Max Polyakov, focused on financing, and cultivating promising space technology companies. Noosphere’s space portfolio includes orbital launch and in-space transportation provider Firefly Aerospace, in-space electric propulsion firm SETS, synthetic aperture radar satellites venture EOSSAR and remote sensing data analytics platform EOS among others.

Artiom is a licensed attorney (NY) with a graduate degree in Space Law and a life-long passion for commercial exploration and use of outer space.

Mike Collett is Founder and Managing Partner of Promus Ventures in Chicago. Mike previously was Founder and Managing Partner of Masters Capital Nanotechnology Fund and also on the Technology Equity team with Masters Capital, a hedge fund. Mike was Vice President at Merrill Lynch in the M&A Group as well as an Associate in M&A Division with Duff & Phelps. Mike has invested in over 60 software/hardware startups and is currently on the board of Spire, Layer, Kurbo Health, Gauss Surgical, Dispatch, Enview, FirstLine, and Daylight Solutions. Mike received his BS in Math and a BA in English from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. Mike and his wife Paige have four children and live in Chicago.

Steven Jorgenson is the Founder and General Partner of Starbridge Venture Capital, a Washington D.C. based investment firm started in 2017, focused on opportunities in and around the space industry. Starbridge is currently managing its second investment fund, with a focus on technologies that expand the space economy while also addressing large existing terrestrial market needs. This results in a truly multidisciplinary approach to space investing, with clearer, quicker paths to profitability. Steven is also an active angel investor, advisor, and a proponent of the idea that commercial space companies will be a main driver of 21^st century innovation.

Previously, Steven had a two decade career as an investment manager and financial markets trading specialist – beginning at the Chicago Board of Trade, then the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and later for over a decade as the Portfolio Manager for two market-beating Florida-based hedge funds. Steven is also Founder of Fifth Point Advisors, a Registered Investment Advisor company (RIA), and seemingly a lifetime ago, graduated with honors from University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in Bacteriology, Biology, and Business.

Mr. Schmidt is a Managing Director at KippsDeSanto & Co., recently acquired by Capital One’s commercial bank, and co-heads the Aerospace & Defense Group, where he focuses on sellside and buyside M&A advisory engagements and sourcing growth capital.  Key areas of experience includes space, defense electronics, and armaments.  Prior to joining KippsDeSanto & Co., Mr. Schmidt worked at a competing investment bank where he helped create a leading Aerospace·Defense·Government Services industry banking group.  Notable space-related clients and assignments include multiple General Dynamics space businesses, BEI Precision, Orbital Sciences, GeoEye, and other space-component businesses.

Leading up to his entry into investment banking, Mr. Schmidt served in various combat arms assignments in the US Army across the globe and in various Joint and Army staffs working on classified intelligence assessments, equipment modernization, and weapons testing.  Mr. Schmidt earned a B.S. in (aeronautical) engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, an M.S. in operations research from the Naval Post Graduate School, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  He is registered with FINRA as a General Securities Registered Representative (Series 7, 63).

Shireen is a Vice President in the Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) Group in the Investment Banking Division (IBD) of Goldman Sachs.

Shireen is focused on M&A and capital markets activities for companies in both traditional and emerging telecom / satellites / space. Most recently she advised on AT&T’s ~$100B merger of Warner Media with Discovery, and AT&T’s ~$16B DIRECTV joint venture with TPG.

Prior to joining the firm in 2015, Shireen held investment banking roles in New York and Australia. She earned a Bachelors of Business (Applied Finance) from Western Sydney University, and Bachelor of Laws from Sydney University.