Building Teleport Infrastructure in an Age of SmallSats

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.

Ron Faith is a serial entrepreneur returning to the space industry after stints in cloud computing and mobile commerce. Most recently Ron was the CEO of Datacastle, a cloud based endpoint data protection company acquired by Carbonite last year. Prior to Datacastle, Ron worked at Apple Computer where he launched Apple’s first standalone Internet product in the mid-90s. Ron is a published author and patent owner. Ron graduated from the University of Washington with a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering where he performed research for Boeing Aerospace and Defense Group in frequency selective surfaces. Ron attained his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College where he double-majored in Engineering Sciences and Philosophy.

Chris Faletra has more than 35 years of experience in the satellite communications industry. Born in Boston, MA, Chris’s satcom career began at GTE Telecom International Systems, Waltham, MA in 1986, starting as a Co-Op student from Northeastern University and moving up to Senior Project Engineer. Chris currently continues to expand the services available at COMSAT Teleports. The long time WTA Tier 4 certification of both the COMSAT Southbury and Santa Paula put them in a unique position to support Ground Segment Infrastructure for the GEO/MEO/LEO Services.

Erwin is the Head of Region for the Americas for Swedish Space Corporation and the President & CEO for SSC Space US which is the US entity. He has been working in the satellite industry for over 28 years. The first nine years of his career as an engineer and then transitioned to the commercial side of the satellite industry. He has worked for the top satellite operators in the world and innovative successful start-ups. Before joining SSC, he worked for ABS as Vice President of Sales for the Americas, and prior to that he was the Regional Vice President of Sales for O3b Networks. He also held Regional Vice President of Sales positions with Intelsat, Director of Sales for SES, and Managing Director for Orblynx, an internet start-up. He has an MS in Telecommunications Management and a BS in Electrical engineering and is based in the Washington DC area.

William (Bill) Milroy currently serves as Chairman and CTO of ThinKom Solutions, Inc., located in Hawthorne, CA and focused on the design, development, and manufacture of innovative antenna access solutions for the Fixed and Mobile Broadband Wireless Communication markets.

Prior to co-founding ThinKom, Mr. Milroy held the position of Senior Engineering Fellow within the Electromagnetic Systems Department of Raytheon’s Electronic Systems (ES) Segment. During his tenure at Raytheon (Hughes Aircraft), Mr. Milroy managed and led the RF antenna design, development, and manufacture of a wide range of antenna array implementations and products for radar and communication applications in both the commercial and military marketplaces including 1-D and 2-D Electronically-Scanned Arrays (ESA’s).

Mr. Milroy is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, earning BSEE, MSEE, and Engineer (Ph.D. course, field, and examination requirements) degrees. He is the author or co-author of nine journal and symposia papers in the fields of Network Analysis, Circuits, Antennas, and Microwaves. He is the inventor or co-inventor of over fifty awarded and pending patents in the fields of Electromagnetic Scattering, Materials, Microwave Devices, and Antennas. Mr. Milroy is a past Chairman of the Los Angeles Chapter of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (APS.)