Rebecca M. Cowen-Hirsch, Vice President, Global Government Services

 

Rebecca M. Cowen-Hirsch is the Vice President, Global Government Services for Inmarsat, the world’s leading provider of global mobile satellite communications. Ms. Cowen-Hirsch has overall responsibility for leading the strategic direction, development, and execution of Inmarsat’s government business across key markets around the world. 

 

Prior to joining Inmarsat, Ms. Cowen-Hirsch was a member of the Senior Executive Service in the United States Department of Defense with 20 years of aerospace and executive leadership experience. Within the DoD, she was the Program Executive Officer for SATCOM, Teleport, and Services at the Defense Information Systems Agency where she was responsible to acquire capabilities that provided critical access to the deployed warfighter; SATCOM services that are responsive, cost effective, mission oriented, and customer focused; and for the integration of communications assets providing the Commander-in-Chief mission capability anytime, anywhere, and in any environment.

 

She has also held key executive positions as DISA Vice Component Acquisition Executive, where she had executive management responsibility for the acquisition oversight and horizontal integration of DISA’s products, services, and programs, and as Director, Defense Spectrum Office, where her responsibilities included the development of National security spectrum strategic plans and policy, and National and International negotiation of Defense spectrum issues.

 

Her defense career ranged from systems engineering, experimental flight test, program management, spectrum management, and a wide range of executive leadership positions. She is a rated experimental flight test engineer; was the first female civilian Mission Commander for the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft (ARIA) mission; and is the recipient of an Exemplary Service Medal for her years of service to the Department of Defense. 

 

Ms. Cowen-Hirsch received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kentucky and completed her post-graduate studies in Engineering Management at the University of Dayton. She is also a graduate of the University of Tennessee Space Institute Experimental Flight Test Program; the US Department of Defense Acquisition University’s Acquisition Management Program; and the Cambridge Senior Executive Leadership Program.

 

Jack Deasy, Director of Civil Government Programs

 

As Director of Civil Government Programs, Jack Deasy leads business development activities for Inmarsat Government Services’ mobile satellite services in non-military national, state and local markets worldwide with a focus on emergency response and non-government organization humanitarian activities. He joined Inmarsat’s Washington D.C.-based Global Government team in August 2003.

 

Between 2000 and 2003, Mr. Deasy worked at the International Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission in positions responsible for international regulatory policy and cross-border radio communications negotiations. Previously, he served as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State, with foreign postings in Colombia, the United Kingdom and Chile, and in a variety of positions in the bureaus of Western Hemisphere, European and Economic Affairs. In the latter position, he was responsible for international telecommunications and information policy in the Western Hemisphere and led several U.S. public/private delegations to meetings of the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL).

 

He holds a BA from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA (1983) and has done graduate work in applied geography/GIS at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

 

 

James J. Shaw, CDR (Ret) USN, Director, Naval Programs

 

J.J. Shaw is the Director for Naval Programs for Inmarsat Government Services. Before retiring from the U.S. Navy, Commander (Ret), he was the Branch Head, Satellite and Tactical Communications as well as the Branch Head, Enterprise Information Technology/Space Policy for the Chief of Naval Operations. In this capacity, he led the development of Naval Space Policy and was Navy’s lead for the Transformational Communications Architecture and System development.

 

During previous tours, Mr. Shaw brought the “Challenge Athena” Commercial Wideband Satellite Communications Program to Fleet-wide implementation, increasing the U.S. Navy’s total bandwidth by 12-fold. He led the U.S. Navy’s migration from Inmarsat A to Inmarsat High Speed Data B implementation and consolidated the Fleet’s Inmarsat use into a lease structure.  While assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)/Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) J-2, he served as the Deputy, Year 2000 (Y2K) Intelligence Task Force. As a Naval Officer, Mr. Shaw has served aboard USS Ranger (CV-61) and USS Enterprise (CVN-65) aircraft carriers; USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2), USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20) and USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) amphibious command and control ships during numerous operational deployments.

 

Mr. Shaw is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a degree in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology; a graduate of the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, in Systems Technology (Space Systems Operations); and a distinguished graduate of the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, in National Security and Strategic Studies.