SSPI

The risk of start up in an industry as complex as commercial space and satellite is made even more intense by the challenges that are part of our business. Yet all around the world, people are looking at the opportunities, the new space of space and making the leap. These are our innovators, and this podcast series will bring them to you. The first episode of this series features a conversation with Kranthi Chand, Head of Strategy & Special Projects at Dhruva Space.

In his position at Dhruva Space, Kranthi is responsible for market research and strategic planning for corporate development, including bid management for government tender opportunities. He builds relationships with strategic government and defence clientele in India and overseas for the company and has established global partnerships in the ground station networks, remote sensing and in-space transportation areas.

In this third year of our Summer Fun podcast series, we again talk with industry leaders and some of space and satellite’s most interesting people to find out something about them you may not know. This year’s question is: “What did you learn about the commercial space & satellite industry that you didn’t learn in school?” For the final episode of the series, we hear a conversation based on the July edition of the New York Space Business Roundtable, focusing on meditation and the insights it has brought to industry greats.

Our guests include:

• Lon Levin, Vice President of New Ventures, Lockheed Martin Space
• Nicole Stott, Astronaut and Author: Back to Earth
• Frank White, Author: The Overview Effect, The New Camelot, The Cosma Hypothesis
• Steven Wolfe, President and Co-founder, Beyond Earth Institute; and Partner, CWSP International
• Jason Rainbow, Senior Staff Writer, SpaceNews
• Debra Werner, Silicon Valley Correspondent, SpaceNews

In this third year of our Summer Fun podcast series, we again talk with industry leaders and some of space and satellite’s most interesting people to find out something about them you may not know. This year’s question is: “What did you learn about the commercial space & satellite industry that you didn’t learn in school?” For the sixth episode of Summer Fun – School’s Out, we hear from Meredith Garofalo, Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and Science/Space Journalist for News 12 New York.

In this third year of our Summer Fun podcast series, we again talk with industry leaders and some of space and satellite’s most interesting people to find out something about them you may not know. This year’s question is: “What did you learn about the commercial space & satellite industry that you didn’t learn in school?” For the fifth episode of Summer Fun – School’s Out, we hear from Chris Stott, Founder, Chair and CEO of Lonestar Data Holdings, Founder and Non-Executive Chairman of ManSat, SSPI Chair Emeritus and the 2015 Mentor of the Year.

In this third year of our Summer Fun podcast series, we again talk with industry leaders and some of space and satellite’s most interesting people to find out something about them you may not know. This year’s question is: “What did you learn about the commercial space & satellite industry that you didn’t learn in school?” For the fourth episode of Summer Fun – School’s Out, we hear from Sydney Hamilton, Structures Stress Manager at Boeing and a 2021 Promise Award Recipient.

In this third year of our Summer Fun podcast series, we again talk with industry leaders and some of space and satellite’s most interesting people to find out something about them you may not know. This year’s question is: “What did you learn about the commercial space & satellite industry that you didn’t learn in school?” For the third episode of Summer Fun – School’s Out, SSPI’s Lou Zacharilla speaks with Lon Levin, Vice President of New Ventures at Lockheed Martin Space.

In this third year of our Summer Fun podcast series, we again talk with industry leaders and some of space and satellite’s most interesting people to find out something about them you may not know. This year’s question is: “What did you learn about the commercial space & satellite industry that you didn’t learn in school?” For the second episode of Summer Fun – School’s Out, we hear from Bob Collom, Integration Lead on the Mars Reconnaissance Team in the Planetary Science Division at NASA HQ.

In this third year of our Summer Fun podcast series, we again talk with industry leaders and some of space and satellite's most interesting people to find out something about them you may not know. This year's question is: "What did you learn about the commercial space & satellite industry that you didn't learn in school?" For the first episode of Summer Fun - School's Out, SSPI's Lou Zacharilla speaks with Randy Segal, Partner at Hogan Lovells US LLP and the 2018 Mentor of the Year.

In this Making Leaders podcast, originally released in December 2021, SSPI Executive Director Robert Bell speaks with Donna Potter, Former Senior Executive Director of Research and Development at Maxar Technologies, now retired, and the 2021 Mentor of the Year. Donna shares insights about mentorship, managing a team and the leadership lessons she has learned throughout her career and continues to learn even in retirement.

Until her retirement in 2019, Donna Potter served as Senior Executive Director of Research and Development at Maxar, after she originally took on the position at Space Systems/Loral (SSL) in 2011. She managed the research and development portfolio for SSL and later Maxar, furthering the technologies the company needed to remain competitive in the GEO communication satellite market. Donna’s responsibilities included crafting strategy for new technology development and driving progress and productivity on a wide array of technical projects. Along the way, she also helped employees develop critical project management and technical leadership skills, which resulted in multiple researchers publishing technical papers and earning patents under her leadership. She was instrumental in SSL’s transition from working exclusively with commercial customers to executing government contracts, including the Spider program for in-space robotic assembly of spacecraft and the Psyche mission to explore an asteroid.

Donna has consistently made time throughout her career to mentor others both within her companies and the industry as a whole, even taking time out for them after her retirement. As a manager, she provided frequent opportunities for her subordinates to learn more about leadership, including organizing a book club to read and discuss The Ideal Team Player. Donna has served as a role model for many women seeking to improve their leadership skills and rise through the ranks and went the extra mile with several mentees to help them adopt strategies to be taken more seriously in positions of authority. Donna was chosen as SSPI’s 2021 Mentor of the Year. Learn more about Donna at www.sspi.org/cpages/ma-potter.

Billy Joel was in a New York State of mind and he made the world want to be here in it too. Today the commercial space industry would LIKE to be in a New York space of mind. Or would it? States like Florida, Texas and Virginia are all beginning to attract investment and investors to the rich space and satellite ecosystems that they have built by bringing together universities, local governments and innovators of all kinds to pan for the new gold and explore the millions of opportunities of the new frontier. It’s serious business. And New York has the ways and means. But it does it have the vision and the political intelligence? You'll find out in this podcast, based on the June 15 New York Space Business Roundtable. We’ll be getting real with Wall Street and the State of New York about why it is that the state which built the Erie Canal and the Empire State Building is not the state where space is flying.

Featuring guests:

• Terence J. Clas, Business Development
• Patrick Chase and Evan Lerner, Co-founders, Empire Space
• Will Porteous, General Partner and COO, RRE Ventures
• Jason Rainbow, Senior Staff Writer, SpaceNews
• Debra Werner, Silicon Valley Correspondent, SpaceNews