Interconnected Earth Stations

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.

Rob is Director Business Development in the Satellite Management Services division of SSC Space US, Inc. Prior to joining SSC, Rob was one of the earliest employees at Pumpkin (2008), where he evangelized the elevation of CubeSats from kits to turnkey spacecraft for sophisticated government customers.

He is versed in spacecraft design, manufacture, launch, and operations, as well as ground station services. Rob managed Pumpkin’s programs for the government, as well as Pumpkin’s 6U SUPERNOVA-Beta mission, which was launched in 2015.

Rob began his career at Bain & Company in Palo Alto, Boston and Moscow offices. While in the former Soviet Union, Rob developed large, highly profitable consumer products businesses.

He brought his pioneering energy to space, challenging convention and business models. His interest in space, his interest in Russia, and in international cooperation all stem from one event: Apollo-Soyuz.

A graduate of Stanford University, he completed dual majors in Economics and Russian Literature. He later earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Rob is driven by units which are measured in dollars rather than in milliamps or micro-radians and believes that human capital, not technology, is what makes the world better.

He holds a current amateur radio license and SCUBA certificates as well as expired sky-diving credentials. He speaks fluent Russian and is a fan of Mariinskiy ballet. Rob and his wife live in the Bay Area and enjoy frequent travel to friends around the world.

Dr. Casey is a principal at NewCap Partners and Co-Founder of the Silicon Valley Space Center and president of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Space and Satellite Professionals International. He has served over two decades as a NASA astrophysicist and airborne astronomer. He is a co-author of numerous publications and has a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Chicago and dual MBAs from the Berkeley Haas and Columbia Schools of Business.

Mr. Shayn Hawthorne works in the AWS Region Services Division as the Colorado Lead, Space Technical Lead, and General Manager of the AWS Ground Station service. In this role, Shayn works backward with commercial and Government space customers around the world. Shayn is focused on developing services and features that disrupt how space and intelligence operations are conducted and enabling space customers to share, fuse and leverage space data to improve their missions and products.

Prior to AWS, Shayn worked at the MITRE Corporation. In his last role, Shayn served as the Technical Director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), responsible for directing the engineering activities of MITRE engineers in support of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Program, Command and Control Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) System, the Ballistic Missile Defense Overhead Persistent Infrared Architecture (BOA) and the Midcourse Tracking System (MTS) and many other programs.

Previously, Shayn led the MDA Space Knowledge Center as the Technical Director, which performed independent technical assessments and evaluated experiments related to MDA space programs. In previous MITRE work efforts, Shayn has led Advanced Development efforts for Air Force space situational awareness, missile warning, and missile defense sensors, as well as the Command and Control (C2) systems and correlator/tracker systems responsible for detecting and tracking air, space and missile threats to the United States and Canada.

Additional MITRE efforts include developing the Satellite as a Sensor concept and leading the start-up of the Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System. Shayn was personally requested to support DoD Space System Vulnerability analyses that led to the National Security Space Protection Policy. He also played a critical role in starting the Space Radar program, focusing on theater tasking and Ground Moving Target Indicator data.

As a member of the Air Force Reserve, Shayn volunteered to mobilize in support of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) and fielded a satellite protection system while leading the Defensive Counter-space Testbed (DTB). Shayn supported the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and Electronic Security Command (ESC) as an Active Duty Air Force Officer.

Shayn received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering Mechanics from the United States Air Force Academy and a Master of Science Degree in Astronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Katherine Monson is the head of KSAT USA (Kongsberg Satellite Services). KSAT is a world-leading provider of ground station services for satellites, rocket launchers, and experimental spacecraft. With over 50 years of experience, KSAT’s network today spans over 180 antennas at over 20 ground station locations across the globe (including Pole to Pole coverage from Antarctica to the Arctic) and is constantly expanding. We are proud to be the behind-the-scenes bridge back to earth, supporting the vast majority of space companies, agencies, and start-ups.

Christopher Richins is Founder and CEO of RBC Signals, a provider of global satellite communication “infrastructure as a service.” Richins began his career as an RF Communications Engineer at Boeing Sea Launch, where he supported multiple launch campaigns from the ship-based equatorial launch site. After business school, he completed an internship with SpaceX before joining Bain & Company as a management consultant. Post Bain, Richins held management roles at Arkyd Astronautics (Planetary Resources), Space Angels Network, Expedia, and Applause. Richins earned an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia as a Jefferson Fellow, a master’s degree in Astronautics from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Brigham Young University. He lives with his family near Seattle, Washington.