Candidate Statement for AMSAT-NA Board of Directors

I am among eight candidates for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. My candidate statement is below, and I would welcome your vote once ballots are mailed to AMSAT-NA members on July 15. Regardless of whether you vote for me or not, I hope you will join AMSAT, engage in the process, and vote for candidates whose skillsets and visions are persuasive to you.

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I am an attorney who has worked in domestic and international spectrum management since 2008, serving as ARRL’s Chief Technology Officer from 2010-2016. I have spent the last few years in the commercial satellite industry, and I currently serve as Director of Regulatory Affairs in the Washington, DC, office of Inmarsat.

Satellite communication is neither easy nor inexpensive, but we (and the broader amateur community) do with little what others do with much more. We do so because we have an abundance of passion for what we do, leading to worthwhile results.

The amateur-satellite service is a vital component of the vast benefit amateur radio brings to society. Our present fleet of amateur satellites may be operated by a United States amateur holding any class of license. As the broader amateur community seeks new ways to engage new radio amateurs (illustrated by ARRL’s consideration of revised privileges for Technician Class licensees), amateur satellites offer all a chance to do something out of the ordinary with low barriers to entry. AMSAT does itself and the broader amateur community a service when it promotes this aspect of our field.

Commercial (and amateur) spectrum management requires consensus building among a variety of stakeholders. My ability to build consensus has been recognized by appointments to chairs of ITU technical groups and industry coordination posts. I am particularly proud to have chaired the WRC-12 sub-working group that reached consensus on the relatively new 630-meter band (admittedly not an amateur satellite band, but hard won nonetheless).

To a person, all of my fellow candidates have made significant contributions to the cause, and I am honored to stand among them. If you feel, as I do, that spectrum and orbital management expertise would be a valuable addition to the collective skill set of our Board of Directors, I would welcome and appreciate one of your votes. Whether elected or not as either a member or an alternate, I pledge to promote congeniality and consensus among the varied interests within the amateur satellite community as we seek to add to our fleet and continue to grow.