Satellite Spectrum Security

Ahsun Murad is the President and CEO of Optimal Satcom, which he co-founded as a spin-off from Lockheed Martin and Comsat in 2002. Over the last 22 years since its founding, Optimal Satcom has grown to support a large segment of the satellite industry with industry-leading enterprise-level software products and systems for resource management, service planning, optimization, and business intelligence. Over 15 satellite operators, 20 of the largest satellite service providers, and major US Government DoD and civilian agencies use Optimal Satcom products and systems today.

As a world expert in satellite communications technology with over 30 years’ experience, Mr. Murad advises satellite companies and governments on satellite system design, application of emerging technologies, and formulating policy decisions. Before founding Optimal Satcom, Mr. Murad held management positions at Lockheed Martin and COMSAT Laboratories. In these positions, he headed the development of products for transmission planning and satellite capacity management and was the lead system architect for a number of commercial SATCOM and MILSATCOM projects.

Before joining COMSAT Laboratories, Mr. Murad worked at the NASA Center for Satellite and Hybrid Communications Networks where he was involved in research and development related to hybrid satellite-terrestrial mobile communications systems, and complex multi-satellite systems. Mr. Murad graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India, with a Bachelor of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering. He holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Matthew Erickson is SpiderOaks Vice President of Solutions guiding federal clients in applying zero trust and distributed ledger technologies to securing sensitive data, communications and hybrid space environments.

Joining SpiderOak in 2010 Matt is the architect of the companies initiative to expand the federal use case for blockchain in Hybrid Space, DoD and Intelligence.

In 2018 Matt was Executive Director of the Digital Privacy Alliance where he was responsible for bringing together sectors of the tech industry that respect user privacy enabling  them to speak with a single voice in legislatures across the country.

Lee Kenyon is a Senior Project Leader in the Communication Technologies and Engineering Division at The Aerospace Corporation. At Aerospace, he leads and consults on a wide range of problems in satellite communication systems and signal processing across the Department of Defense portfolio. This includes providing advice to decision-makers, leading the development of proof-of-concept prototypes, and leading studies to shape acquisition plans. Prior to joining Aerospace in 2018, he held a range of technical leadership positions in industry in the areas of satellite communication, communication and signal processing research, modem development, and electronic intelligence.

John leads space products for Aitech Systems where he defines new product development and business development strategies. Leaning on his space experience, John provides support to the business development team and to customer to translate their needs to COTS base system solutions.

John brings 30 years of manned space experience which includes the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and Blue Origin. He also led IRAD and CRAD programs for all of McDonnell Douglas. John has 9 awarded patents, has been published in IEEE, SAE and other industry white papers and has received several honors for technology advancement from these organization.