Terrestrial Infrastructure Enablers for Advanced Space Systems

A corporate partner and satellite practice co-head, Steve Kaufman uses industry knowledge and versatility to negotiate and close many types of deals globally.

For 18 of his 30 years at the firm, Steve served as outside general counsel for satellite clients, leading strategic joint ventures, “bet-the-company” contracts, financings, and M&A.

What Steve does best: understanding complex business issues and translating them into legal documents. If a client can describe something, Steve can draft it. Working from complicated to simple, he has many times reduced a lengthy contract into a few pages of bullet points, showing the client what it needs and how to obtain it. He has even written a business and financing model for parties in the form of an agreement. Many clients comment that the business guidance from Steve is as valuable as the legal advice.

Steve relies on his familiarity with issues common to satellite and communications companies to give him an edge in negotiations. This experience produces extra benefits when Steve deals with specialized satellite contract terms, targeted warranties, creative covenants, use of insurance to close gaps, license and spectrum issues, and even finance and accounting matters. According to Chambers Steve Kaufman is “a real authority and somebody who will always know the answer.”

In advising clients, Steve emphasizes practicality, striving to achieve the client’s business objectives for the transaction, whether economic, risk reduction, regulatory/compliance, or transaction speed. This carries over into deal management as well as negotiations, where he willingly takes the lead. Steve and satellite practice co-head Randy Segal are regulars at the satellite conferences, making connections among clients and even adverse parties. He is listed in Chambers, Super Lawyers, and Legal 500.

Darren Ludington is the ST Engineering iDirect Vice President of Sales for the Americas region where he currently manages the commercial activities for Mexico, Central , South and North America. Since joining iDirect in 2004, Ludington has held various sales, technical and customer-facing roles and was responsible for assisting customers across the globe with product selection, designing satellite networks and infrastructure, and delivering technical training.

Prior to joining ST Engineering iDirect, Ludington was a Technical Support Engineer with Marconi Communications, where he provided technical expertise to customers and trained in ATM, Optical Transmission, Ethernet/IP and Wireless communications.

He has worked in the engineering and satellite communications industries for over 15 years, spanning a wide range of technologies.

Ludington holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh and is fluent in English and Spanish, both written and spoken.

Pam Lugos is currently the Senior VP at CPI Satcom Products responsible for global business development. Pam joined CPI in 1993 and has held various roles in Product Management, Worldwide Service and Customer support, Program Management of New Product Development and Business Development. She has 25 years of experience in the Satcom ground equipment segment specific to amplifiers and amplifier technology. Pam received her undergraduate degree from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo in Industrial Technology and her MBA from Santa Clara University.

Alexander Mueller-Gastell joined ND SatCom in September 2017. His main focus at ND SatCom is to manage the success-oriented organization and define and implement the growth strategies for the three business units Government & Enterprise, Defence and Broadcast. Before joining ND SatCom, he was Presidentx&xCOO of Signalhorn, where he was responsible for managing the company´s daily operations and strategic direction including the growth strategy through acquisitions. Alexander started his career as a controller at Alcan and served in various companies as CFO.

Alexander Mueller-Gastell holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina, USA and the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.

Steve Richeson joined Mission Microwave in 2017 and is responsible for the company’s global sales and marketing. He has over 30 years of Satellite and Radio Frequency (RF) experience in engineering and executive roles across the wireless and satellite communications industry including positions at Harris Corporation, EchoStar, Scientific-Atlanta, GTE Spacenet International, Radiation Systems SATCOM Technologies, and Schlumberger. As a Schlumberger Field Engineer Steve launched the LOGNET service in the Gulf of Mexico with a portable VSAT terminal on a semi-submersible drilling platform – in 1986. This was the first commercial mobile VSAT system. Steve is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Registered Professional Engineer. He earned his engineering degree at Georgia Tech and an MBA at Georgia State University.

Tony Wilkey is Senior Vice President at AvL Technologies with responsibility for US Sales, Marketing and Customer Service. Tony has 30 years of experience in satellite communications in engineering, sales, program management, and general management roles. He began his career at Ford Aerospace in Palo Alto, California (1981-1983) before joining RSI SatCom Technologies (1983-1987, 1992-1995), Georgia Tech Research Institute (1987-1992), COMSAT RSI (1995-1998), and TriPoint Global (1998-2000). Most recently he served as Director of Antenna Systems Business Development for ViaSat (2000-2008), a $500MM US satellite ground systems equipment provider, before joining AvL Technologies in 2008. Tony earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in 1981 and his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 1983.