OUR TEAM

Charles Miller

Co-founder and CEO

Charles Miller is co-founder and CEO of Lynk.  He is a serial space entrepreneur with 30 years’ experience in the space industry. Charles has been the founder or co-founder of multiple private ventures and organizations. He is a national leader in the creation and development of public-private partnerships in commercial space to serve public needs. 

One of Charles’ previous startups is NanoRacks, which has delivered more than 700 payloads to space and is the current world leader in nanosatellite launches. Charles served as NASA’s Senior Advisor for Commercial Space from 2009-2012 where he advised NASA leadership on commercial public private partnerships. At NASA, he managed USG teams that developed strategies for commercial development of reusable launch vehicles, on-orbit satellite servicing, orbital debris removal, microgravity applications, lunar development, space communications, and space solar power. Charles’ clients have included NASA, DARPA, the USAF, and many private commercial space firms.

Margo Deckard

Co-founder and COO

Margo Deckard is the Co-founder and COO of Lynk Global, Inc. Previously, Margo served as VP of Programs for NexGen Space, where she managed projects, contracts, and financial operations. She was Project Manager for the Ultra-Low-Cost Access to Space Study for the United States Air Force. This study focused on how the United States Government could leverage free enterprise to achieve low cost access to space to meet our National Security needs in the next 5 years. She also served as the Principal Investigator for NASA-funded research on the environmental impacts of space solar power (SSP), and co-authored a study for the National Security Space Office on SSP.  She keeps her engineering skills current by working on an array of technical projects. Recently, Margo wrote a web data connector for NetHope to connect data from the United Nations Humanitarian Crisis Response Syrian Refugee Crisis REST APIs and populate Tableau. This product will guide over 43 NGOs in their efforts to meet the needs of the Syrian Refugees.  She has a B.S. in Genetic Engineering from Purdue University and an M.S. in Systems Engineering from Wright State University.

Tyghe Speidel

Co-Founder and CTO

Tyghe Speidel is the Co-founder and CTO 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.

Dr. Joe Bravman

Chief Engineer

Dr. Joe Bravman is Chief Engineer at Lynk. He is the founder and served as the CEO of Omnisat, LLC, a satellite consulting and data transmission and services company that provided satellite services over most of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Dr. Bravman previously served as Orbital’s Senior Vice President/Corporate Development until May 2000, as Corporate Chief Engineer, Senior Vice President of Orbital’s Advanced Systems Group, and Senior Vice President for Engineering and Operations of the company’s Space and Electronic Systems Group. Dr. Bravman managed the construction of the ORBCOMM satellite constellation and Orbital’s role as provider of the ORBCOMM space segment. Prior to Orbital, Dr. Bravman was Corporate Executive Vice President of Fairchild and President of its Defense Electronics division that produced avionics, satellite communications, and mission planning ground support systems. Dr. Bravman has a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from MIT, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Cornell. He was awarded the Silver Night of Management in 1991 and was granted 3 US patents for Ka-Band store and forward gigabit per second data delivery satellite systems.

Daniel P. Dooley III

CCO

Dan Dooley is Chief Commercial Officer of Lynk.

Dan has 33-years experience as an executive in the global communications industry, where he has built and managed teams that consistently achieved above industry standards in EBITDA and revenue. He spent the bulk of his career at Sprint/Nextel as President leading their Wholesale, Wireline and International Business Units. Dan served 5 years as CRO of TOMIA – A Vista Equity Partner Company and earlier spent 2 years founding TruMobility, a USA based MVNO. He also served as President and General Manager of Transaction Network Services leading their Telecommunications Service Division focused on Roaming.

Over the past two decades, Dan has been widely recognized for his industry leadership including being ranked #26 in the Global Telecom Business Magazine Power 100 list of the most influential global telecom executives. Dan received his MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University and BS from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington IN.

William Atkins

CFO, Strategic and Financial Advisor

William Atkins has a unique background that is a great fit for Lynk. Currently, he is a Partner at FLG Partners, the leading CFO consulting and advisory firm in the USA. He brings extensive experience as the CFO of high-growth, venture-backed companies and as the CFO of several public companies, including companies focusing on broadband communications, emergency communications, and commercial satellite communications.

William advises start-ups and established companies and has previously served as the CFO at Mobileum, a telecoms infrastructure software company, and as the CFO of One Concern, a resilience data analytics company. He also served as CFO of other venture capital and private equity backed companies such as Clarify Health and Airobotics. In the public company arena, he was EVP and CFO of Calix, a company specializing in designing broadband access communications systems and software for telecommunications service providers, and was previously CFO of Intelsat, a global leader of satellite services to the media and telecoms sectors. Before joining Intelsat, William was a senior banker at Morgan Stanley, where he held various roles, including Head of European Corporate Finance Execution, Deputy Head of Investment Banking in Japan, and Head of European Telecommunications Corporate Finance.

Robert Brumley

CEO, Laser Light Communications

Bob Brumley is the Senior Managing Director at Marble Arch Partners, LLC. He currently serves as Chairman and CEO of the Laser Light Companies. He was CEO of TerreStar Corporation (formerly Motient Corp.) from 2006 to 2008, and CEO of TerreStar Global and TerreStar Networks Inc., from 2005 to 2008. He led these firms into the emerging field of hybrid mobile satellite and terrestrial communications, raising over $1B in private investment. He is a former senior executive with Deutsche Telekom and Bell Atlantic International [now Verizon]. He was appointed by President Reagan as Chief Legal Officer of the Department of Commerce and Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce and chaired the Reagan Administration policy working group that privatized commercial space transportation.

Roy Chestnutt

Former EVP and CSO, Verizon

Roy H. Chestnutt is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for Verizon and is currently on the Board of Directors at Telstra, Digital Turbine and Boingo. He is also advisor for Accenture Luminaries, for VMware, Tillman Global Holdings and FTI/Delta Partners. For the last three years, he has been on the Board of Directors of Saudi Telecom and a senior advisor at Blackstone.

At Verizon, Roy was responsible for the development and implementation of Verizon’s overall corporate strategy, including business development, joint ventures, strategic investments, and acquisitions and divestitures. He served on the Board of Directors of the GSMA and was Chairman of the Chief Strategy Officers Group of the GSMA, which was comprised of 25 global strategists from the world’s leading carriers. He also served as a member of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC Board of Trustees.

Mary Patterson Clark

Former CPO/CMO,
Synchronoss

Mary Patterson Clark is an accomplished marketing and product management C-suite leader with 25+ years’ experience creating growth for companies in the Telecommunications, Media and Technology sector.  

Most recently, Mary served as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Product Officer, at Synchronoss.  While at Synchronoss Mary led the transformation from a customized software, license-driven business into a product-based platform business, with a SaaS-PaaS revenue model, shifting from telecommunications to the broader telecoms, media and technology sector. Previously at Syniverse she was Chief Marketing Officer and also served as Senior Vice President, Next-Generation Roaming Services and Standards, and Senior Vice President, Roaming.  Previous to that, Mary was VP of Operations and then VP of Global Financial Settlement at Cibernet, a subsidiary of the CTIA.

Mary was named to the Connected World Magazine, June 2019 “WoM2M of IoT” list as well as Capacity Magazine’s 2019 “20 Women-To-Watch List” and previously named National Diversity Council’s 2017 “Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology” list. Mary holds a Bachelor of Arts in communications from the University of Delaware.

Hoyt Davidson

Founder and Managing Partner of Near Earth LLC

Hoyt Davidson is the founder and Managing Partner of Near Earth LLC, an investment bank focused on the satellite industry, commercial space, and aerospace/defense sectors. During his career, Hoyt has helped raise $15 billion in public and private financing for satellite and aerospace companies. His current clients include major companies in those industries, private equity and hedge funds, and early stage entrepreneurial firms seeking private equity capital. Hoyt has advised commercial launch companies in the past and has reviewed the business plans of many other prospective launch companies.

Mark Foster

Founding CTO, NeuStar

Mark Foster is a founding partner at Blazar Ventures where he brings an understanding of how to build successful businesses around new, innovative technologies and strategies.  As the founding CTO at Neustar, Mark helped invent local number portability and led the industry-wide implementation of a complex change regarding how all calls are routed. Mark also led venture developments in internet infrastructure, digital identity, mobile messaging, and digital media. Before Neustar, Mark was CTO at Phone Base Systems, an innovative venture in value-added communications services, among the founding roles in 6 start-ups over a 40-year career in tech. Mark is currently a board member for Lynk, and an advisor at Airside Mobile, Wireless Registry, and ICX among others.

Laetitia Garriott de Cayeux

Managing Partner, Global Space Ventures

Laetitia Garriott de Cayeux is the Founder/Managing Partner of Global Space Ventures, which backs critical enabling technology pioneers across AI, biotechnology, space and beyond. She is widely known as a leading tech entrepreneur and investor with a passion for advancing national security and building better futures at scale. An early investor in SpaceX, she was also instrumental as co-founder/President of Escape Dynamics in meaningful advances in high power microwave systems and beamed energy technology, and its onboarding on NASA’s roadmap. She serves on the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Science Board; on NATO Maritime Unmanned Systems Innovation Advisory Board; on the advisory board of the Truman Center for National Policy; on the board of directors of XPRIZE; and the board of the National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath). She is also a security fellow of the Truman National Security Project, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, and Women Corporate Directors.

Peter Gaynor

Emergency Response Industry Executive

SVP and Director of National Resilience, Response and Recovery Programs at The LiRo Group

Pete is an accomplished executive with over 13 years of leadership in Emergency Management & Homeland Security at every level of government. Results orientated, decisive leader with proven success in creating vision, implementing strategy, gaining momentum, and enriching culture in complex organizations. Outcome focused achiever skilled in leading the development, coordination, and implementation of enterprise strategy to improve programs, policies, deliverables, and apply best practices for optimal organizational effectiveness. Consistently delivered mission-critical results at the National-level during historic natural disasters, economic hardship and global pandemic. Extensive experience in managing a diverse, multi-generational workforce.

He has led a wide-variety of challenging disasters at the local, state and federal level. Most recently he served as the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, FEMA Administrator and Deputy FEMA Administrator.

Pete understands that every disaster is unique, and requires the ability of leaders to adapt to the challenge at hand at a moment’s notice. In today’s demanding environment leaders must be ready for the unthinkable.

During his time at FEMA, Pete led the agency’s response to over 300 presidentially declared emergencies and major disasters. During the historic year of 2020, Pete oversaw FEMA’s first ever operational response to a nationwide pandemic while simultaneously responding to a record number of historic natural disasters. As a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Pete directed FEMA’s operational coordination for the whole-of-Government response to COVID-19. Prior to his career in emergency management Pete served twenty-six years in the United States Marine Corps as both an enlisted Marine and commissioned officer.

George Guo

Senior Wireless Industry Executive

George Guo is a seasoned executive with 26-years in the telecommunications sector. George is former Executive Vice President for Ericsson’s North East Asia Market Area where he managed 2,000 staff and a $700M business unit. Before Ericsson, George was the Corporate Vice President and Managing Director of Asia Pacific at Syniverse, a spin-off from Verizon. He also served as VP and General Manager of Asia Pacific and was a founding member at Neustar, and was instrumental to their successful IPO on NYSE in 2005.

Alan Harper

Chairman at Azuri Technologies, AquaComms and Avanti

Alan Harper is currently the Chairman at Azuri Technologies, AquaComms and Avanti and was a Non-Executive Director at MTN from 2010 to 2019. He is a leader in the mobile network industry for both the UK and Africa. Alan co-founded Eaton Towers in 2008 and held the position of CEO until early 2015. Eaton Towers, a leading telecom tower company, established over 5,000 towers across seven African countries, and served major mobile operators that include Airtel, MTN, Orange, Tigo, Vodacom and Vodafone. Prior to his tenure at Eaton Towers, Alan spent 12 years at Vodafone Group PLC in various roles that included Managing Director of Vodafone Ltd and as the Group Strategy Director, focusing on growth in emerging markets.

Phil Herget

Founder/Managing Member of Avonlea Capital

Phil Herget is Founder/Managing Member of Avonlea Capital, a venture capital firm focusing primarily on high potential internet, media, mobile, technology companies. Phil currently serves on the Board of Directors of ICX Media and BlackLynx. Phil is former Co-Managing General Partner of Columbia Capital, a venture capital/private equity firm focused on Media, Communications, Technology. Phil joined Columbia Capital in 1992 leading the firm’s growth and transition into a premier institutional investor backed investment firm.  Former Columbia portfolio companies that Phil managed include Altiga Networks (acquired by Cisco Systems), Call Technologies (acquired by 3Com), Columbia Spectrum Management (acquired by P-Com), GoAhead Software (acquired by Oracle), NMP (acquired by AppNet / Commerce One), Ocular Networks (acquired by Tellabs), Riverbed Technologies (acquired by Aether Systems), Saville Systems (NASDAQ: SAVLY subsequently acquired by ADC Communications), Taqua (acquired by Tekelec), Telular (NASDAQ: WRLS), Torrent Networking Technologies (acquired by Ericsson), Vubiquity (served as Board Chair, acquired by Amdocs).

Reza Jafari

Former Chairman, ITU

Reza Jafari is a former Chairman of the Board of Directors of ITU TELECOM (a UN Agency), a former Commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development, and served as a board member of GSMA Ltd (Global mobile industry Association). Reza previously served as Chairman Neustar International and was Group President of Global Telecom, Media and Entertainment for HP Enterprise.

Reza is an authority in the transformation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and services into the cloud and unified communications through his contributions, innovations, thought leadership and work in the private sector, at the ITU, the UN Broadband Commission and the GSMA Ltd.  

Reza is the Chairman, CEO and Founder of e-Development International, an executive advisory group that promotes, facilitates, and participates in ICT initiatives. Reza serves as the Co-Chairman of Connected City Advisory Board of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA).

Reza received his MBA and EdS and PhD (ABD) degrees from Indiana University.

Robert Poulin

Founding Partner at Blazar Ventures

Robert Poulin brings nearly 30 years of experience in technology markets, where he has exercised capabilities in business development, operations management, finance, and team building. As one of the founders of Neustar, he led the development of the original business and subsequently served as the founder and general manager of Neustar’s internet and other businesses. Prior to Neustar, Robert participated in developing many new ventures in telecommunications, including selling satellite services for GTE Spacenet in Asia.

Currently, he is a board member for Airside Mobile and Cloudtenna, a board observer at Lynk, and an advisor to Wireless Registry. Robert is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley.

Varsha Rao

CEO, Nurx

Varsha Rao is the CEO of Nurx, and widely known as a tech executive with a passion for global commerce and digital marketplaces. She is the former COO of Clover Health, and is former Head of Global Operations at Airbnb where she focused on international markets, including the AirBNB’s expansion across Asia. Prior to that, Varsha served as Senior Vice President of International for LivingSocial. Before joining LivingSocial, she served as CEO of Singtel Digital Media, where she directed the launch of a new digital lifestyle guide, InSing.com. In 1998, Varsha established Eve.com, a web-based cosmetics and accessories retail outlet. Eve.com grew to 125 employees, raised $25 million in venture capital and was sold for $110M.