Mobile Satellite Users Association (MSUA) has announced the organization's 2019 Board of Directors, their new Board Chair and the start of this season’s Satellite Mobility Innovation Awards Contest.
MSUA is a nonprofit association dedicated to promoting satellite mobility innovation and development of the satellite mobility market worldwide. The association fosters the exchange of news, information and ideas among mobility providers and users including those focused on communications, navigation, safety and other evolving new applications.
The 2019 MSUA Board will consist of eight returning and four newly elected board members. New members joining this year’s board include:
- David Harrower of Kymeta
- Maureen C. McLaughlin of Iridium
- J. Alberto Palacios of Globalsat Group
- Morris Shawn of Roadpost.
Additionally, Erwan Emilian of Speedcast, was elected to serve as the Board Chair and he will be joined by Geoff Hall of Cedarwood Associates, who was elected to continue in his role as MSUA Vice Chair. Also continuing their leadership roles for 2019 are John Stolte of ORBCOMM serving as Treasurer and Todd Hill of Panasonic serving as Chair of the MSUA Programming Committee and Lisa Dreher of GuideForce serving as Chair of MSUA’s Mobility Marketing Team.
“MSUA has put together a strong plan for promoting satellite mobiIity in the emerging era of 5G mobility and for sharpening our collective understanding of the user experience when selecting and accessing satellite versus other forms of wireless technology,” said Erwan Emilian, MSUA Board Chair. “I am pleased to lead the MSUA Board and to work alongside an esteemed group of industry colleagues in support of the association’s 2019 objectives.”
Representing mobility market leaders operating in markets and geographies around the world, the 2019 MSUA Board of Directors includes, (in alphabetical order):
- Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, Senior Vice President, Government Strategy & Policy, US Government Business Unit, Inmarsat
- Lisa Dreher, CEO, GuideForce
- Erwan Emilian, Executive Vice President Enterprise & Emerging Markets at Speedcast
- Kim Bille Gram, Vice President, New Business Development, 
Cobham SATCOM
- Geoff Hall, Chief Executive (Owner), Cedarwood Associates International (CAI)
- David Harrower, Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Kymeta
- Todd Hill, Senior Director, Global Satellite Planning, Panasonic Avionics Corporation
- Maureen C. McLaughlin, Vice President of Public Policy, Iridium
- J. Alberto Palacios, CEO, Globalsat Group
- Morris Shawn, President of Roadpost Inc.
- John Stolte, Executive Vice President, Technology and Operations, ORBCOMM
- Mark Sykes, Director, Applied Satellite Technology (AST)
MSUA is also excited to promote its 2019 Mobility Innovation Award Categories, including:
- Top Mobility User Experience Solution
- Top Connected Platform Solution
- Top Infrastructure Solution
- Top Public Safety Solution
- Top op Cybersecurity Solution
- Top Top 5G Hybrid Connectivity Solution
- Company to Watch
MSUA updated this year’s award categories to capture the evolving use cases and new models of business delivery. Applications must include a one to two page description of the mobility innovation along with evidence substantiating its market success. Applications will be accepted through April 10th and should be emailed to marketing@msua.org.
MSUA’s Satellite Mobility Innovation Awards Program and Luncheon will take place on Tuesday, May 7, during SATELLITE 2019 and award winners will be announced at the event.
“Our members are actively aligning their services for the converging IT and Telecom marketplace,” said Catherine Melquist, President of MSUA. “We are looking forward to learning more about new innovation and market successes and to celebrating a new crop of satellite mobility innovation winners.”
MSUA is pleased to announce and welcome three new association members: Blue Sky Networks, CopaSat, and Pathfinder Digital. Other members comprising the MSUA association include: AST, Cobham, Clarke Belt 2.0, Woods Hole Group, Comsat, Globalsat Group, Globalstar, Hughes, iDirect Government, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Iridium, Isotropic Systems, Isotropic Networks, Kencast, Kymeta, Marlink, MVS Group, OneWeb, ORBCOMM, Panasonic, Phasor, Roadpost, SES Government Solutions, Speedcast, Thales Defence and Security, Inc., Thuraya and Viasat. The association also includes individual and honorary members.
Note: MSUA is currently running a special membership discount offer available now until March 31, 2019. For more information, see the MSUA website at www.msua.org or email MSUA at membership@msua.org.