Space Advisory Board

Phil Eichensehr, CTO of BTD LLC

Eichensehr is the Co-owner and Chief Technology Officer of BTD LLC, an engineering consulting firm that brings nanotechnology and advanced materials to serve missions within the defense industry. He is an advisor to NewAscent, a space-launch company, and to IP3, an integrator of secure nuclear power solutions.

Eichensehr previously worked with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and General Dynamics. He built the Aerospace Engineering division of RadiantBlue and helped pioneer the small satellite revolution with the Pentagon and larger intelligence community. He led the Sensors and Ground Modernization Group at Maxar, which grew to produce $70 million in annual revenue and fill mission service roles within the U.S. Air Force and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He was subsequently CEO of Scientific, an aerospace company that provides next-generation analytics and design tools.

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US ARMY LIEUTENANT GENERAL KEN TOVO

A 1983 graduate of the United States Military Academy, he commanded at every level in the 10th Special Forces Group (Abn) from detachment to group commander. He has also served as Deputy Commander, U.S. Southern Command; Commanding General, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan and NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan; Commander, Special Operations Command Central; and Deputy Commander, Special Operations Command Europe. His operational assignments include the first Gulf War; refugee relief operations in Turkey and Northern Iraq; noncombatant evacuation operations in Sierra Leone; peacekeeping operations in Bosnia on two occasions; five tours in Iraq; and one tour in Afghanistan.

GENERAL ELLEN PAWLIKOWSKI

Before retiring in 2018, General Pawlikowski was the four-star commander of Air Force Material Command, leading over 80,000 people and managing $60 billion annually, executing critical warfighter support through leading-edge research and development technology. With a PhD in engineering from UC Berkeley, she served 36-years on active duty and is a key technology leader in areas as diverse as airborne lasers and space communications. Gen. Pawlikowski is also widely credited with restoring technical rigor to the systems acquisition workforce as the Commander of the Space & Missile Systems Center. Prior to that position, Gen. Pawlikowski was the Commander of the Air Force Research Lab, the Deputy Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, and held various senior positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

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FRED DOYLE

Mr. Doyle is president of ISBF, LLC, an aerospace and defense consulting company. Previously, he was VP Defense & Intelligence at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. Mr. Doyle held various executive-level positions at Space Imaging, Corp. from 1998 to 2005, including the company’s first commercial high-resolution imaging satellite launch: IKONOS. Prior to joining the private sector, Doyle served more than 20 years in the Defense Mapping Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and other branches of the intelligence community.

ADMIRAL JAMES A. “SANDY” WINNEFELD, JR.

A 1978 graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Admiral Winnefeld holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering. He began his naval service as a fighter pilot, flying the F-14 Tomcat during several deployments to the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf regions, and continued his career instructing at the Navy Fighter Weapons School (also known as TOPGUN) and serving as senior aide-de-camp to General Colin L. Powell. He commanded a fighter squadron, the amphibious ship USS CLEVELAND, and the aircraft carrier USS ENTERPRISE. As a flag officer, he commanded a carrier strike group, two NATO commands, the United States 6th Fleet, United States Northern Command, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). He retired in 2015. A prolific fiction and non-fiction strategy and military science writer, Sandy’s latest work can be found at https://www.usni.org/people/james-winnefeld-jr

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| SpiderOak
Celeste Ford

Celeste Ford is Board Chair and Founder of Stellar Solutions, Inc., a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award-winning aerospace engineering company with the vision to satisfy customers’ critical needs while realizing employees’ dream jobs. She is Managing Director at Stellar Ventures.

Ford founded Stellar Solutions in 1995 and served as CEO until 2018 with the mission to deliver high-impact performance for defense, intelligence, commercial, civil and international clients. She established Stellar Solutions Foundation in 1998, QuakeFinder humanitarian R&D program in 2001, and expanded Stellar’s global presence with companies in the United Kingdom and France in 2003 and 2017, respectively. She launched Stellar Ventures in 2022 to invest in the next generation of space technology companies.

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