Speaker: Tuesday Opening General Session - The Satellite Connection: How Operators are Capturing a Larger Piece of the Data-Networking Pie

Speaker: Ecosystem Battle- Who Wins and Loses?

Mark Dankberg is Chairman of the Board and Executive Chairman of Viasat, Inc. He co-founded the Company in 1986, and held the position of CEO until he became Executive Chairman in November 2020.As Executive Chairman, Mark focuses on advancing the strategic technology and business direction of the Company, as well as shapes the national and global space and broadband regulatory environments that are critical to Viasat’s global strategy. Under his leadership as CEO, Viasat has consistently been one of America’s fastest growing technology companies, and has been recognized multiple times by leading business and industry publications including BusinessWeek, Fast Company, Forbes, Fortune, DefenseNews, SpaceNews, and Washington Technology for its leadership.

Mark is an acknowledged industry expert in aerospace, defense, and satellite communications, and is the leading visionary for a new generation of high-capacity satellite systems. He has co-authored several military standards on satellite networking, and holds a number of patents in communications and satellite networking technologies. He has participated on Department of Defense advisory panels and was invited to testify before a Congressional committee on high technology growth companies and IPOs.

Mark has received a number of awards for his industry and business leadership. He has also been an invited speaker on communication technology, entrepreneurship, and executive management at several universities including Rice University, NYU, and University of California at San Diego. He was a founding member of the board of directors of the San Diego Telecom Council (now CommNexus), and served on the San Diego County Regional Economic Advisory Board. In addition, he has been invited to serve as a judge several times at the local and national levels for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program.

Prior to founding Viasat, Mark was Assistant Vice President of M/A-COM Linkabit, a manufacturer of satellite telecommunications equipment, from 1979 to 1986, and Communications Engineer for Rockwell International Corporation from 1977 to 1979.

He earned B.S. EE and M.S. EE degrees from Rice University and is a member of the Rice University Electrical and Computer Engineering Hall of Fame.