Ahsun Murad
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.
Chris Badgett
Chris Badgett is Vice President of Technology for the Kratos Space, Training and Cybersecurity Division. In this role, Chris sets the vision, technology strategy, and direction for the portfolio of Kratos Space products. He is driving strategic solutions for secure and protected, virtualized satellite ground for military and commercial applications.
Chris is also responsible for developing strategies to provide Communications Superiority for our Warfighters. This includes secure tactical Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems for Department of Defense, Civil, Intelligence Community, and commercial customers with a focus on protected waveforms, Common Data Link (CDL) waveforms, and ISR ground systems.
Prior to joining Kratos, Chris served in the Air Force as a Weapons Engineer in the Air Force Research Lab. He also worked in the Space Development and Test Wing as a Program Manager for a satellite system developed by Ball Aerospace.
Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and a Master of Science in Space Systems from the Air Force Institute of Technology.
Mike Kaplan
Mike Kaplan is a visionary leader in the space arena, with a significant track record of cultivating diverse teams that achieve powerful results. He is a thought leader across multiple space domains with extensive experience in both government and commercial industries, previously holding senior leadership positions at NASA, Boeing, Raytheon Technologies, Ball Aerospace, Space Systems Loral, and most recently, Belcan.
Mike has led teams in the development of new space technologies and products, including highly complex payloads, spacecraft subsystems, spacecraft buses, planetary landers, and robotic satellite servicers. He’s also contributed his expertise to entire missions from LEO to deep space in the civil, commercial, and national security arenas. He has created and won more than $15 billion in commercial and U.S. government markets with a career capture-success rate of greater than 75%.
As the NASA Astrophysics Advanced Programs Branch Chief, Mike led the creation of several transformational space missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA.) Recently, he has focused on proliferated LEO constellations to revolutionize weather prediction.
He is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Space Northwest Alliance Board of Directors member.
Mike earned a bachelor’s in aerospace and mechanical sciences/engineering physics at Princeton University and a master’s degree in electro physics at The George Washington University. He’s also an adjunct faculty member at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, teaching masters-level students space technology & systems.
John White
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.