Dr. John Jurist
Dr. Jurist was simultaneously a physicist and a medical researcher before becoming involved in business. He has degrees in biophysics and nuclear medicine earned while he was at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Jurist has held faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) in the Medical School’s Division of Orthopedic Surgery and in the Space Science and Engineering Center. In the former, he studied human factors in space flight during Apollo and what was then called Apollo Applications and organized a metabolic bone disease laboratory for translational research. In the latter during the early 1970s, he was team leader of the group that transmitted the first medical imaging over communications satellite links in a precursor to telemedicine. In the business arena, he created and ran a biomedical engineering consulting firm, was president of a highly successful outpatient surgical center, and founded a nonprofit medical research institute and ran it for four years -- it now has an eight figure annual research budget. Dr. Jurist is a proven expert on running a business and evaluating a business plan. He is now applying his experience to the developing NewSpace industry as an early investor in several small NewSpace corporations, supported R&D in others with corporate grants, and has partly funded academic propulsion and robotics research groups at multiple universities. Among other professional organizations, he is currently a Life Member of the International Association of Military Flight Surgeon Pilots, an Associate Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, an Emeritus member of the Orthopaedic Research Society, and a Fellow of the Gerontological Society. His teaching and research activities revolve around his present positions of Adjunct Professor of Space Studies in the Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences at UND and Adjunct Professor of Biophysics and Aviation at Rocky Mountain College.

Christain Lenz
Christian Lenz is currently a Sr Space Systems Designer and GNSS Engineer at Broad Reach Engineering. Christian joined BRE in 1998 as one if its first employees and has been involved on a number of projects. For Tacsat-2 Christian acted as systems engineer and flight software lead developer and was involved in the spacecraft I&T efforts, launch, and early on-orbit checkout. Recently Christian has been working on various flight software developments, including some work on the SUMO robotic arm project. Currently Christian is part of a team developing BRE's next generation GPS receiver and he is also Sr designer on the CICERO space segment. Lately he has been helping to develop the GeoOptics/CICERO business at a technical and financial level. Besides being a hands-on space systems designer, Christian enjoys pursuing new and exciting ventures in space and otherwise. Christian holds an MS from the University of Colorado in Aerospace Engineering.

Dr. Pat Patterson
Dr. Patterson is currently the Director of the Strategic and Military Space Division within Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory (USU/SDL), and is the Chairman of the annual American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics/USU Conference on Small Satellites. Other roles include membership on the Technical Committee for the European Space Agency’s 4S Symposium, and the Scientific Program Committee for the International Academy of Astronautics Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation. Dr. Patterson also serves as an Industrial Advisory Committee member for USU’s Electrical and Computer Engineering department, as a Trustee for the Rocky Mountain NASA Space Grant Consortium, and member of the Issues and Programs Committee for the Universities Space Research Association.

Dr. Billie Reed
Billie Reed is the executive director of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA) and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS). The VCSFA, a subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia, was established in July 1995, to promote industry and economic development and to enhance scientific and technology education, primarily through the operations of MARS. As executive director, Dr. Reed is responsible for executive management of spaceport design and development, development and negotiation of agreements, permits, and licenses, oversight of space launch operations at MARS, and new business development in the aerospace sector. Dr. Reed also holds an appointment as assistant professor of Engineering Management in the College of Engineering and Technology at Old Dominion University (16 years). He served in the United States Navy for 20 years as a commissioned officer in nuclear powered submarines and he has over 37 years of participating in and supervising advanced technology development, application, and operation of military, industrial, and civil systems. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master's Degree in Engineering Management, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Management.