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SIA Press Releases

National Space Council Executive Secretary Chirag Parikh to Deliver Keynote Address at Satellite 2021

Washington, D.C., September 8th, 2021 – National Space Council Executive Secretary Chirag Parikh will deliver the Government and Military Forum Keynote address at SATELLITE 2021.  The keynote address will take place on Thursday, September 9th at 3:30 p.m. EDT in Woodrow Wilson B-D at the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, MD.

Mr. Chirag Parikh was appointed as the Executive Secretary of the National Space Council on August 2, 2021. As Executive Secretary, Mr. Parikh is responsible for advising the President on domestic and international policy across the civil, commercial, and national security sectors; as well as monitoring the implementation of the President’s space policy. He joined the Biden-Harris Administration from Microsoft Azure, where he led the company-wide initiative to bring together the power of global cloud capabilities with the evolving space industry.

Prior to his work in industry, Mr. Parikh had a U.S. government career that spanned more than two decades. From 2010-2016, he served as the White House Director of Space Policy on the National Security Council. Prior to the White House, Mr. Parikh led the United States space intelligence community as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Science and Technology. Additionally, Mr. Parikh served as a Senior Executive at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency where he held a variety of roles including leading collection and tasking of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) sensors and the analysis of GEOINT data. Mr. Parikh began his career as an aerospace engineer at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. He holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

Earlier this year, SIA applauded the decision of the Administration of U.S. President Joseph Biden to keep the National Space Council which is tasked to assist the President regarding national space policy and strategy.  The Council was originally established by Executive Order in 1989 and was revived in 2017.