James is the founder of Orbital Insight. Since 2013 the company has been pursuing the mission
of processing geospatial data at petabyte scale to help commercial and government customers
understand what we are doing on and to the Earth. In 2024 the company was acquired by
Privateer Space and has since operated as a fully owned subsidiary. In addition to being the
founder of Orbital Insight, James also works as Chief Strategy Officer for the combined
company.

Previously he was SVP of Science and Engineering at the Climate Corporation through its $1B
acquisition by Monsanto. Before his time at Climate he was CTO and Software Architect at
Moon Express — a company with the goal of putting the first commercial robot on the Moon.
Previous to that he was engineering Director of Google Book Search where he was in charge of
Google’s project to scan, index, and make searchable the world’s books.

James holds PhD and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from the University of Texas at
Austin, and a BA in Math and Computer Science from Rice University.

Frank Backes is the Chief Executive Officer at Capella Space, with 30+ years in the satellite launch, command, control, and communications industries. Previously, Mr. Backes served as Senior Vice President for Kratos Space Federal and Commercial Cyber. He is a technology pioneer in the systematic and continuous application of cyber security solutions for space systems. Mr. Backes is the former Chief Executive Officer for Braxton Technologies LLC and Braxton Science and Technology Group, LLC, leading manufacturers of launch, command and control software for intelligence, military and commercial applications.

He was recognized with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2009 for achievements in the aerospace industry. Mr. Backes is the founder and president of the Space ISAC and serves on the board of directors for Modern Technology Solutions Inc. (MTSI). He received a BSEE in Semiconductor Physics from the University of California at San Diego along with minors in communications/marketing and computer hardware.

Jeff Bell is the Deputy Director for NGA Commercial Operations, where he leads a group in solving national security mission challenges with innovative commercial GEOINT solutions while leveraging the power of commercial capabilities to achieve GEOINT supremacy, diplomacy, and sustainability.

Previously, Jeff served as the Deputy Director for Analysis Plans and Business Operations (AP), leading the Analysis directorate’s strategic and business activities, budget planning and execution, and resource management. Jeff served as the Foundation GEOINT National System for Geospatial-Intelligence Executive (FG NOX). He was responsible for leading the coordination and prioritization of community requirements for Foundation GEOINT products, data, and services. He co-chaired the Foundation Data Requirements Subcommittee (FRSCOM) co-chair under the National Geospatial Intelligence Committee

Jeff served as the deputy director to the Office of Geography in the Source Directorate. He was responsible for leading the day-to-day operations of topographic, political geography and human geography missions in support of the Warfighter as well as the national security objectives of the US Government. Jeff deployed to Afghanistan in 2018 as the Senior Intelligence Officer (SIO), responsible for all GEOINT Analysts across the Combined Joint Operations Area – Afghanistan (CJOA-A). He ensured NGA products and intelligence analysis was timely and accurate for briefings to senior military officials at Resolute Headquarters, Kabul Afghanistan. From 2016 to 2017 Jeff was the Senior GEOINT Authority (SGA) for GEOINT Standards, chairing the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) GEOINT Standards Working Group (GWG) on behalf of the Director of National Intelligence, and established the GEOINT Functional Manager’s Standards Assessment (GFSMA) program. He led the Enterprise Architecture and Standards Office in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and later CIO-T from 2013 to 2016. Prior, Jeff held various Division Chief, Branch Chief and Subject Matter Expertise positions in Office of Geospatial Management (OGM), OCIO, and the Office of Strategic Transformation (OST) focused on agency transformation efforts.

Jeff began his NGA career in 2003 as an Aeronautical Analyst in the Eastern Europe Division. Before NGA, Jeff was a pilot for Trans World Airlines, and held various civilian pilot jobs during and after college. He received his Bachelors of Science in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He enjoys trail running and competes in multiple ultramarathons each year.

Allyson Jenkins serves as Vice President of Public Sector at Pixxel, where she spearheads strategic initiatives to bring the company’s revolutionary hyperspectral satellite technology to government and defense markets. Drawing on more than 15 years of distinguished experience in geospatial intelligence and emerging technologies, Allyson has built a career marked by global impact and innovative leadership.
Her career spans critical roles, beginning with a foundation as an imagery analyst at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, serving as an international liaison in the Middle East, and most recently as Vice President of Strategic Capture at BlackSky. This diverse experience has given her unique insights into both operational intelligence needs and commercial space opportunities.
Allyson specializes in architecting strategic partnerships and accelerating breakthrough technology adoption in Earth observation. Her passion for leveraging disruptive technologies to solve complex government challenges has established her as a trusted advisor in the geospatial intelligence and space community.

Mr. Adam Maher serves as Founder & CEO of Ursa Space Systems Inc (Ursa), whose services enable users to research, monitor, search, and discover changes in physical objects around the globe, from the perspective of space. Ursa Space’s platform orchestrates the collection, analytics, and fusion of data from a virtual constellation of radar, optical, and RF satellites to automate and abstract the complicated process of gaining access to, processing, and fusing satellite data with terrestrial data sources.
Adam’s vision is to improve the satellite Earth observation user experience by bringing the community of traditional and new space members together to illuminate how our physical world impacts daily actions by creating a virtual mosaic of the world that anyone can access. He founded Ursa in 2014 to develop this vision of connecting people to information rich data derived from synthetic aperture radar, seeing an obvious frustration and disconnect between the technology and those who could take full advantage of the capabilities. Today Ursa’s mission is to enable a community of developers to build applications that can illuminate how our physical world impacts daily actions, to understand how changes in the economy,
supply chains, and the geopolitical landscape impact daily decisions, and reveal those changes in our ever-evolving world to leaders, professionals, and, one day, all people.

Prior to founding Ursa Space, Adam worked at MAXAR (Space Systems Loral). There, he served as a system engineer from paper to launch for complete satellite builds and multiple successful commercial satellite proposals. In addition to broadband satellite communications work, he also worked on efforts in space robotics, electric propulsion, Earth observation, and government programs.

Adam holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and Master of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, from Cornell University. At Ursa Space Systems Inc., he uses his knowledge of the satellite industry to fuel his vision of a living world map, where the connection between satellites and users is no longer complicated or difficult, and users are empowered to make better decisions with better data.

Alex is CEO of GeoOptics, an Earth system satellite data company. He has held several roles at GeoOptics, including managing the deployment, sales and operations of its CICERO satellite constellation and the development of its new radar technology. Before joining GeoOptics, Alex was the Executive Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, leading policy development and business operations. He has also been a Legislative Director on Capitol Hill, working on science and technology, space, climate and non-proliferation issues.

Alex holds an AB from Harvard and a PhD from Stanford University, both in Physics, and enjoys playing soccer and reading science fiction.