Keynote Speakers

Organization: U.S. Air Force

Title: Commander, 14th Air Force, Air Force Space Command; and Deputy Joint Force Space Component Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

Bio: As Commander, 14th Air Force, General Whiting leads more than 16,000 personnel responsible for providing strategic missile warning, nuclear command, control and communication, position, navigation and timing, space situational awareness, satellite operations, space launch and range operations. As Deputy JFSCC, he directs all assigned and attached USSTRATCOM space forces on behalf of the JFSCC, providing tailored, responsive and synchronized theater and global space effects in support of national security and combatant commander objectives.  He is also responsible for protecting and defending critical U.S. and allied space capabilities.

General Whiting is a 1989 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is a space operations officer, and has commanded the 13th Space Warning Squadron, Clear Air Force Station, Alaska; the 614th Air and Space Operations Center/Joint Space Operations Center, Vandenberg AFB and the 21st Space Wing, Peterson AFB, Colorado.

The general’s staff assignments include positions at Headquarters, United States Air Force; United States Space Command; United States Strategic Command; the Chief of Naval Operations’ Strategic Studies Group; the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense; and Headquarters, Air Force Space Command.

Organization: Airbus

Title: Director of Commercial Space - USA

Bio: Emmanuel graduated as an Aerospace Engineer from the Ecole Nationale Superieure de l’Aeronautique et de l’Espace (Toulouse, France) and also holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Toulouse University.

Emmanuel spent most of his career in the Space Systems division of Airbus (formerly Astrium), occupying various positions in spacecraft design and engineering, spacecraft flight operations, program management, business development and sales.

Emmanuel has been working in Europe, Africa and Asia, and is now based in America. Emmanuel worked in Bangalore, India from 2007 to 2010, as part of a partnership with the Indian Space Agency for commercial satellites manufacturing. Since then, Emmanuel has been focusing on business innovation applied to commercial satellites.

Emmanuel is now in charge of commercial space activities for Airbus Defense and Space Inc, the U.S. affiliate of Airbus Defence and Space. He is based in the San Francisco Bay area since last August 2015.

Organization: Data Collective

Title: Entrepreneur in Residence

Bio: Chris Boshuizen is the current Entrepreneur in Residence of Data Collective, a venture capital fund that backs entrepreneurs applying deep tech to transform giant industries.

Chris was co-founder of Planet Labs, a DCVC company providing unprecedented daily, global mapping of our changing planet from space. As the company’s CTO for 5 years, he took the company from the drawing board to having launched more satellites into space than any other company in history, completely transforming the space industry along the way.

Chris was previously a Space Mission Architect at NASA Ames Research Center. After working on a number of traditional spacecraft programs at NASA, Chris co-created Phonesat, a spacecraft built solely out of a regular smart phone. The cost was so low, and the concept so simple, that space exploration is now within grasp of the everyday person, and many other groups around the world are pursuing their own low-cost space programs as a consequence.

While at NASA, Chris also established Singularity University, a school for studying the consequences of accelerating technological development. Initially fulfilling the role of Interim Director, Chris helped raise over $2.5 million to establish the university, assembled the faculty, and served as co-chair for the University’s Department of Space and Sciences.

Chris received his Ph.D. in Physics (with honors) and BSc. in Physics and Mathematics, both from the University of Sydney.