June 22, 2021   |   11:00 am EDT 

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The second Leadership in Turbulent Times conference featured leaders who have been honored with induction into the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame and 20 Under 35 honorees. Exchanging ideas, challenging each other and finding common ground, they deepen our understanding of what it means to lead in a high-pressure, complex technology sector and where the innovations of today will lead the industry in the future.

Topics include:

Breaching the Barriers to Entry

Once upon a time, the space and satellite industry consisted of niches with high barrier to entry, in which competition was mild and change was leisurely. The $26 billion invested in the sector since 2009 has changed all that. The disrupters have breached the barriers and are inside the walls. Though competition is fiercer and new technologies are advancing at record speed, the industry has seen more partnership, cross-investment and cooperation than anyone expected. In this panel, members of the Hall of Fame and 20 Under 35 answer questions about leading teams and organizations at a time when a new and still undefined industry ecosystem is taking root. Moderated by SSPI Director of Development and Innovation Lou Zacharilla. Speakers include: Henry Goldberg, Partner, Goldberg, Godles, Weiner & Wright (Hall of Fame Inductee 2019), Richard Hadsall, Vice President, Global Network Operations, Kymeta Corporation (Hall of Fame Inductee 2016), Joost van Oorschot, Founder and CEO, Manna Electric SA (20 Under 35 2020) and Cate Van Oppen, Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Kymeta Corporation (20 Under 35 2018).

How to Keep Innovation Going for Half a Century

How do successful businesses keep innovating long after corporate adolescence is past and maturity sets in? It is a question that the current generation of startups will face as well as more established companies going all out to survive and thrive in turbulent times. We gather Hall of Famers and 20 Under 35 executives from Hughes Network Systems, one of the most storied names in the business, for a case study of achieving repeated innovation over the long haul. Moderated by SSPI Executive Director Robert Bell. Speakers include: Paul Gaske, Executive Vice President and General Manager, North America, Hughes Network Systems (Hall of Fame Inductee 2020), Adrian Morris, Executive Vice President, Engineering, Hughes Network Systems, Gaurav Bhatia, Principal Design Engineer, Hughes Network Systems (20 Under 35 2019 and Rohit Iyer Seshadri, Senior Principal Engineer, Hughes Network Systems (20 Under 35 2011).

Leadership Jam

Careers have inflection points, where what you want and what you’re really good at intersect to produce a leap forward. To open up that topic, we pair off members of the Hall of Fame and 20 Under 35 to ask each other questions about finding their professional bliss in an industry undergoing rapid and disruptive change. Moderated by SSPI Membership Director Tamara Bond-Williams. Speakers include: Kathy Lueders, Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA (Hall of Fame Inductee 2021), Terry Hart, Former Astronaut and Professor of Practice in Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh University (Hall of Fame Inductee 2018), Giulia Federico, Co-Founder, Space Products and Innovation (SPiN) GmbH (20 Under 35 2020), Dr. Jeffrey Stuart, Technologist/GNC Engineer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (20 Under 35 2020) and Bethany Downer, Chief Communications Officer, Hubble Space Telescope, European Space Agency (20 Under 35 2020).