Leadership

Executive Team

Doug Hutcheson

Chairman and Co-CEO

Doug Hutcheson

Chairman and Co-CEO

Doug joined in 2019 and is responsible for the strategic and financing activities of the company and serves as the Chairman of the Board. He previously served as a senior advisor of Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) for Searchlight Capital. Most recently, he participated in the sale of Electric Lightwave/ Integra to Zayo for $1.4B which provided a nearly three times return on invested capital. Doug served as chief executive officer and a director of Laser, Inc., a corporation created in connection with the acquisition of Leap Wireless International (Leap) by AT&T. Doug formerly served as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Leap Wireless Incorporated and its operating subsidiary Cricket Communications, where he was responsible for developing and implementing strategy, all operations, and the oversight of all relationships and partnerships for the Company until its sale in March 2014 to AT&T.

Walter Berger

President and Co-CEO

Walter Berger

President and Co-CEO

Walter joined in 2019 bringing experiences at an executive level include a broad cross section of go-to-market, manufacturing and supply chain, strategic and financial responsibilities and outcomes. His domain expertise is largely focused around technology, communication and media centric enterprises. He has worked with early stage to Fortune sized companies, including Nuvectra, AppDynamics, SoftLayer, LEAP Wireless (Cricket) and CBS. He has worked with public as well as venture and private equity investors and Wall Street in general. Walter has served on a number of public boards including REG a renewal energy company (NASDAQ) and private and nonprofit boards. He holds a BBA from the University Of Massachusetts at Amherst.

William Marks

EVP & Chief Development Officer

William Marks

EVP & Chief Development Officer

Bill joined in 2014 and is responsible for global sales and new business development. He is a senior executive in the satellite and cable TV industries for over 25 years, and an active investor in mobile platform technology and software as a service companies. Prior to that, he was the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN), which provides satellite connectivity and content to remote locations around the world. MTN’s customer segments include cruise lines, yachts, oil and gas, news agencies, aviation and the government and military. In 2007, Bill won the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for his role there.

Melisah Burke

SVP, Chief People Officer

Melisah Burke

SVP, Chief People Officer

Melisah joined in 2022 bringing 17 years of global human resource and talent acquisition experience for both public and private companies. Her background ranges from managing global capital construction, facilities and security teams including distribution centers. She has experience in taking a company public along with working closely with Board members and leading compensation committees for public companies.

Leadership Team

Adam Einarsen

Vice President Finance

Adam Einarsen

Vice President Finance

Adam came to Kymeta in 2020 with over 15 years of experience in the technology and communications industries, performing across a broad range of Finance and Accounting roles in both private and public companies. Prior to joining Kymeta, Adam most recently served in a senior Finance position at venture backed Brain Corporation, an A.I. company for autonomous robotics applications. Previously, he served in the venture backed Ingenu, company with a proprietary Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) communication for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Additionally he held corporate finance roles at Leap Wireless and worked in Technology, Media, and Telecom Investment Banking client coverage at J.P.Morgan. In these roles, he has led and supported debt and equity financing transactions, M&A activity, contract negotiation and pricing, investor reporting, Accounting policies and documentation, international expansion, tax planning and compliance, and equity management among many responsibilities. Adam received his M.B.A from the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Alisa Garcia

Senior Director Sales Operations

Alisa Garcia

Senior Director Sales Operations

Alisa joined in 2018. She leads a team focused on revenue assurance that supports Kymeta’s customers and channel partners around the globe with sales quotes, order processing and master agreements, working closely with the sales, finance and manufacturing teams to deliver products. Alisa has 25 years of both Sales Operations and Operations leadership roles across a multitude of global industries: consulting services, telecommunications, supercomputing, medical call centers. Alisa graduated with a BA in Education from Central Washington University.

Bejamin Ash, Ph.D.

Senior Director Manufacturing

Bejamin Ash, Ph.D.

Senior Director Manufacturing

Ben joined in 2014 and is responsible for developing and implementing the manufacturing and test strategy for Kymeta’s antenna and terminal products. Leading the production, manufacturing engineering and quality teams, Ben brings over 20 years of cross-functional experience to the unique manufacturing challenges inherent in our cutting edge product lines. In 2020, he led the successful onshoring of Kymeta production, standing up our current u8 manufacturing facility in Redmond, Washington. Ben holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Brenda Kuhns

Senior Director of Marketing

Brenda Kuhns

Senior Director of Marketing

Brenda joined Kymeta in 2021 leading the marketing team and has responsibility for all strategic marketing and communications initiatives. Brenda has over 25 years of leading high performing marketing teams in technology companies. During her 16 years at Panasonic Avionics, she managed the corporate marketing team and built a new consumer focused marketing group to further expand inflight connectivity awareness and adoption by global customers. Prior to Panasonic, she worked in marketing at Tenzing (now SITA) the first company to provide inflight connectivity service commercially. She was previously a part of the team at Teledesic, a startup working on delivering global broadband communication services. Brenda graduated with a BA from the University of Washington.

Isabel LeBoutillier

Vice President Customer Operations

Isabel LeBoutillier

Vice President Customer Operations

Isabel joined the company when Kymeta acquired Lepton Global Solutions in 2020 to build out a global network services offering. In her current role, Isabel oversees Kymeta’s Connectivity offering as well as the company’s technical support operation. Isabel founded Lepton Global Solutions in 2013 after several years at MTN Government Services. Isabel is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she studied Foreign Affairs with a focus on the Middle East.

Jake Talbot

Senior Director Supply Chain

Jake Talbot

Senior Director Supply Chain

Jake joined in 2019 and leads Planning, Strategic Sourcing, Purchasing, Supply Chain Compliance, Materials, Logistics and Fulfillment functions. He brings over 20 years of Supply Chain and Operations experience in high technology enabling rapid scaling, capability development, and cost-revenue optimization. Jake has held Supply Chain leadership roles at Dell, Microsoft, and in multiple VC-funded hardware startups. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the United States Military Academy.

Janna Schober

Vice President Program Management

Janna Schober

Vice President Program Management

Janna joined in 2021 where she oversees the program strategy, execution and delivery for product development. Janna has over 15 years of program management experience in the aerospace industry where she led a wide range of programs across commercial, military and space platforms. Janna has a bachelor’s in Aerospace Engineering and master’s degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University , master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from UCONN and Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic University.

Jonathan Osler

Vice President, Global Sales and Services

Jonathan Osler

Vice President, Global Sales and Services

Jon joined Kymeta in 2022 and is responsible for leading Kymeta’s global services business and is also currently acting as the VP of Global Sales.

Jon’s career has covered various disciplines of the telecommunications industry including space, terrestrial, MNO and internet sectors. In his previous role at Intelsat Jon led market development, external partnerships and alliances into emerging markets and technologies globally. Jon also led several key initiatives including the creation of Intelsat’s Global Accounts program and managed Intelsat’s African business. Jon also held various senior sales and marketing leadership positions at ViaSat, Uniden Corp. and Motorola.

Lilac Muller, Ph.D.

Vice President of Product

Lilac Muller, Ph.D.

Vice President of Product

Lilac joined in early 2018. She oversees product strategy, definition, and launch activities and was instrumental in the productization of the u8 platform. Lilac has over 20 years of product development experience in the consumer electronics, medical devices, and telecommunication industries where she has led cradle-to-grave product development efforts with a focus on performance, quality, cost and customer experience. She holds 19 U.S. patents, most of them in the field of MEMS-based switching in fiber optic networks. Lilac has a bachelor's and master’s degrees in Aeronautics/Astronautics from MIT and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley.

Nima Seyedali

Vice President Legal

Nima Seyedali

Vice President Legal

Nima joined Kymeta in October 2021 as Vice President of Legal, managing the company’s legal affairs including corporate governance, regulatory, intellectual property, financing, and business transactions. He is an experienced attorney who started his career in aerospace as a Mechanical Engineer at Boeing, then joined Seed IP Law Group as a Patent Attorney during which time he prosecuted patents across various technologies and assisted in patent and trademark litigation. Nima’s first inhouse role was at Greenpoint Technologies as General Counsel where he negotiated international contracts for large aircraft VIP interior completions, oversaw patenting strategies, and managed the company’s legal matters through its growth and sale to Zodiac Aerospace. In his most recent role prior to Kymeta, Nima was General Counsel for Aviation Technical Services, managing acquisitions, large airline and OEM contracts, corporate compliance, intellectual property, and government affairs. Nima holds an MBA and a Juris Doctorate from Seattle University, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from University of Washington.

Paul Klassen

Vice President of Engineering

Paul Klassen

Vice President of Engineering

Paul joined in 2016 and is responsible for leading the organization’s Software, Mechanical, and Engineering disciplines. Paul brings over 20 years of experience leading cross-functional engineering teams to build innovative, robust and secure technologies for diverse industries including connected car, mobile, media, and satellite. Paul has a successful background managing large engineering organizations to deliver award-winning programs such as Toyota Entune (CES Best-in-Show), Lexus Enform, Chrysler Uconnect.  These programs well-exceeded revenue targets of over $700 million and had the highest user conversion rates of its peers. Paul has a strong expertise in machine learning, and has successfully architected and overseen development of deep learning platforms used for tracking major population movements.

Ryan Stevenson, Ph.D.

Vice President Chief Scientist

Ryan Stevenson, Ph.D.

Vice President Chief Scientist

Ryan leads Research and Development and Intellectual Property and is a founding member of the organization. Ryan has worked on the development of Kymeta technology since 2011. With his work at Intellectual Ventures, he helped spin out and create Kymeta. He brought an extensive background in RF/microwave engineering, photonics, and semiconductor manufacturing to his role. Previously Ryan held leadership roles in research science and system analytics in the government, public sector and aerospace markets. Ryan holds a B.S. in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California.

Trenton Pologar

Vice President of Information Technology

Trenton Pologar

Vice President of Information Technology

Trenton joined Kymeta in 2022 and oversees the IT department including Network Infrastructure and Operations, Security and Business Support Systems. Trenton has over 15 years of technology, consulting, and M&A experience across a variety of industries including High tech, Retail and AgTech. Prior to joining Kymeta Trenton held leadership positions at both startups and multinationals including Indigo Ag, REI, SAP, and Hewlett-Packard. Trenton holds a B.S. in Computer Information Systems and an M.S. in Data Warehousing & Business Intelligence.