SIA Announces New Officers for 2017 Executive Committee

Washington, D.C., January 25, 2017 – The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) today announced the election of its 2017 Executive Committee. The SIA Board of Directors elected Patricia Cooper of SpaceX to serve as Chair for this year, joined by Gerry Oberst of SES as Vice Chair and Bruce Cathell of ViaSat Inc., as Treasurer.
“SIA is pleased and privileged to announce and welcome these industry leaders and experts to lead our 2017 Executive Board,” said Tom Stroup, President of SIA. “All three executives bring years of valuable commercial and regulatory experience to the board and the new Committee continues to reflect the diverse and expanding nature of the domestic satellite industry. I would also like to thank SIA’s outgoing board for their service during 2016 and we look forward to a new year as the voice of the U.S. satellite industry.”

Patricia Cooper is Vice President of Satellite Government Affairs at SpaceX.  Prior to joining SpaceX, Patricia served as Vice President, Government Affairs and Policy at Intelsat.  From 2007-2014, she led the Satellite Industry Association as its President, leading its regulatory, government and export controls portfolios and managing the organization.  Before SIA, she held senior positions at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), including Senior Satellite Competition Advisor and Chief, Regional and Bilateral Affairs Branch. Prior to the FCC, Patricia worked at start-up Internet firm Core Express Corporation and led the international market access work for PanAmSat Corporation. An economist by trade, Patricia began her career at the Commerce Department promoting the U.S. satellite and telecommunications industry internationally.

Gerry Oberst is Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory and Governmental Strategy at SES.  He has more than three decades of professional experience advising the satellite communications industry and before joining SES was a partner in the law firm Hogan Lovells. He started his career in Washington, D.C. and moved to Brussels in 1991 to help open a new European office for the firm and advise on international regulation of communications services. During his career he has worked with and advised a host of major telecommunications clients in their dealings with the International Telecommunication Union, the European Commission and EU Member States, as well as some emerging market administrations. He was the regulatory columnist for Via Satellite magazine for twenty years and has published extensively in other publications, including a blog at his law firm entitled the “International Spectrum Review” and the book “The Consolidated EU Electronic Communications Regulatory Framework” reflecting 2009 amendments. Gerry is a member of the International Institute of Space Law.

Bruce Cathell is Vice President, Government Operations at ViaSat Inc.  Bruce is the principle senior executive interfacing to the U.S. Government and leads all aspects of ViaSat’s Defense & Aerospace Operations in the Washington, DC area.  In this capacity, Bruce provides technical, policy, regulatory and budgetary leadership across all aspects of ViaSat’s Government Systems Division broad products and services portfolio.  Bruce has worked a variety of space programs over his 25 year career in government and industry, having most recently worked at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he provided program oversight of multi-billion dollar satellite and terminal programs.  In this role, Bruce led a number of Department level studies on satellite communications, led acquisition efforts to turn around underperforming programs, worked policy, budget and legislative issues, authored a number of congressional reports on satellite communications and drafted speeches and press releases.  Bruce is well versed in commercial and military communications satellites, ground control segments, terminals, satellite manufacturing and launch operations.  Bruce holds engineering degrees Virginia Tech University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

About The Satellite Industry Association
SIA is a U.S.-based trade association providing representation of the leading satellite operators, service providers, manufacturers, launch services providers, and ground equipment suppliers. For more than two decades, SIA has advocated on behalf of the U.S. satellite industry on policy, regulatory, and legislative issues affecting the satellite business. For more information, visit www.sia.org.

SIA Executive Members include: The Boeing Company; DIRECTV; EchoStar Corporation; Intelsat S.A.; Iridium Communications Inc.; Kratos Defense & Security Solutions; Ligado Networks; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Northrop Grumman Corporation; OneWeb; SES Americom, Inc.; Space Exploration Technologies Corp.; SSL; and ViaSat, Inc. SIA Associate Members include: ABS US Corp.; Artel, LLC; Blue Origin: DigitalGlobe Inc.; DRS Technologies, Inc.; Eutelsat America Corp.; Global Eagle Entertainment; Glowlink Communications Technology, Inc.; Hughes; Inmarsat, Inc.; Kymeta Corporation; L-3 Electron Technologies, Inc.; O3b Limited; Panasonic Avionics Corporation; Planet; Semper Fortis Solutions; TeleCommunication Systems, Inc.; Telesat Canada; TrustComm, Inc.; Ultisat, Inc.; and XTAR, LLC. SIA Affiliate Members include: The Aerospace Corporation; COMSAT; HawkEye 360; Wiley Rein LLP

Media and PR Contact: Dean Hirasawa
Satellite Industry Association
Email: dhirasawa@sia.org
Endeavour Communications