Direct to Device: What are the Key Enablers between Satellite and Consumer Terrestrial

Noel Rimalovski is a Managing Director at GH Partners, an independent New York-based investment banking firm. Mr. Rimalovski leads the firm’s representation of mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, debt financings, and strategic advisory services to domestic and international clients. At GH, Mr. Rimalovski specializes in the telecom, media, technology, space and defense sectors.

Prior to joining GH, Mr. Rimalovski was with Macquarie Capital, Wasserstein Perella, and Lazard Frères.

Mr. Rimalovski graduated from Tufts College and received an MBA from Columbia Business School.

As Vice President of Strategy at Omnispace, George Giagtzoglou is responsible for developing corporate strategy, market and competitive intelligence, and supporting strategic partner development initiatives for the company that is redefining mobile communications.

Previously, George was the President of Alazo Consulting. In this role he delivered expert satellite industry insights to support strategic investments and acquisitions. The company serves companies seeking to invest in satellite communications, satellite operators, satellite industry vendors, banks, bondholders with satellite industry debt, private equity firms, and satellite bandwidth customers seeking to restructure their business.

George was also previously the head of Corporate Development at ABS Global with responsibilities including corporate development, corporate & regional strategy, business planning, market intelligence, satellite business case development, and financing.

Prior to ABS he was with Intelsat for 11 years as the head of Corporate Strategy & Planning and also led Corporate Development, Global Marketing, Product Strategy & Development, and Business Development.  Mr. Giagtzoglou was instrumental in various company sale processes in 2005 and 2008, and the acquisition of PanAmSat in 2006.  He played a key role in developing and commercializing the company’s capabilities, primarily in the area of broadband services.

Prior to joining Intelsat in 2000, Mr. Giagtzoglou’s career in the space and telecommunications industry included engagement leadership positions in the telecommunications practice of A.T. Kearney Management Consultants, and senior engineering and business management positions at Telstra (Australia).

Mr. Giagtzoglou has a master’s degree in Business Administration from The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), in addition to a degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the University of Adelaide in South Australia.

As Director of Spectrum and Standards for EchoStar Corporation, Munira’s focus is on advancing satellite technology to be part of the next generation of integrated networks across the 5G ecosystem. In this capacity Munira plays an active role at 3GPP and other forums in contributing to and advocating for non-terrestrial networks (NTN) to be included in the 5G specifications and its evolution towards 6G. Along with others satellite stakeholders, Munira helped lead the successful effort to gain approval for work items leading to the completion of NTN-NR and NTN-IoT specifications in 3GPP Rel-17. Prior to EchoStar, Munira served as a senior advisor developing business and technical strategy for the design and execution of deployment plans for FirstNet, the US nationwide public safety LTE broadband network, incorporating both terrestrial and non-terrestrial solutions.

Earlier in her career Munira held various key positions with telecom and technology organizations including Sprint Nextel, Lockheed Martin, and LCC International. Her roles included managing and participating in numerous wireless deployment and spectrum management projects. Munira is currently Chair of the Standards Working Group of Global Satellite Operator Association (GSOA) https://gsoasatellite.com. She received her MBA from the George Washington University and holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. She also holds a PMP certification from the Project Management Institute.

Experienced CEO with a large professional background in the Telecommunications Industry, Jaume Sanpera is a classic in technological entrepreneurship in Spain.

Founder of various companies mainly telecommunications, creating a business group that was listed on the stock market and with a wide international presence, such as Eurona, (1st telecom satellite operator in Europe that was listed in 2010), Ambientum , (leading the enviromental sector in Spain), Cidec a praxis technology, TechnoTrends, Festuc etc.

Jaume is backed by almost 30 years of experience in Telecommunications and recognised  achievements in this sector.

Its consolidation as an entrepreneur and CEO expert in the Telecommunications Industry makes him a very present figure in the media, forums and other information and broadcasting platforms.

At Lynk, Tyghe manages and coordinates Lynk’s technology development activities and coordinates internal engineering resources and priorities. Prior to Lynk, Tyghe was the Principal Spacecraft Systems Engineer at NexGen Space, where he was responsible for system design and technology application on NexGen Space technical projects. Tyghe also worked as a Management Consultant for Accenture developing supply chain analytics and simulation capabilities for the DoD. While at Accenture, Tyghe founded and was the global lead for Accenture’s commercial space community of practice, which he created to develop a portfolio of projects and clients for the firm in the commercial space sector. Tyghe gained his experience in orbital mechanics, satellite navigation and control, and spacecraft systems design as a mechanical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on terrestrial satellites and a Mars rover. He holds a BS and M. Eng in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.