Board of Directors
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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. Mr. Dankberg also serves on the board of Lytx, Inc., a privately-held company that provides fleet safety management solutions. Prior to founding Viasat, he 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. Mr. Dankberg holds B.S.E.E. and M.E.E. degrees from Rice University.
Richard Baldridge is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Viasat, Inc. He has been a director of Viasat since 2016. Mr. Baldridge joined Viasat in April 1999, as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, added the positions of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2000, was appointed President in 2003 and then named President & Chief Executive Officer in November 2020. In addition, Mr. Baldridge serves as a director of Ducommun Incorporated (NYSE: DCO), a provider of engineering and manufacturing services to the aerospace and defense industries, and EvoNexus, a San Diego based non-profit technology incubator. Prior to joining Viasat, Mr. Baldridge served as Vice President and General Manager of Raytheon Corporation’s Training Systems Division from January 1998 to April 1999. From June 1994 to December 1997, Mr. Baldridge served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for Hughes Information Systems and Hughes Training Inc., prior to their acquisition by Raytheon in 1997. Mr. Baldridge’s other experience includes various senior financial and general management roles with General Dynamics Corporation. Mr. Baldridge holds a B.S.B.A. degree in Information Systems from New Mexico State University.
James “Jim” Bridenstine has been a director of Viasat since April 2021. Mr. Bridenstine served as NASA's 13th Administrator from April 2018 until January 2021. Under his leadership, NASA launched a new human lunar exploration mission, the Artemis program; continued the commercial re-supply of the International Space Station; led partnering efforts with American commercial enterprises on the Commercial Crew Program, which again launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil, something not done since the end of the Shuttle program in 2011; helped established the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program to partner with private enterprise in landing rovers on the lunar surface; backed the development of the X-59, a quiet supersonic aircraft and the X-57 Maxwell, NASA's first all-electric airplane; and supported the development of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management initiatives to facilitate the safe use of drones for commercial use. Since January 2021, Mr. Bridenstine has worked as a senior advisor to Acorn Growth Companies, a private equity firm. Prior, from 2013 to 2018, Mr. Bridenstine was a member of Congress where he represented Oklahoma's First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and served on the Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. Mr. Bridenstine's career in federal service began in 1998 as a pilot in the United States Navy. Mr. Bridenstine earned a B.A. degree with three majors – Economics, Business and Psychology – from Rice University and an M.B.A. degree from Cornell University.Robert Johnson has been a director of Viasat since 1986. Mr. Johnson has worked in the venture capital industry since 1980, and has acted as an independent investor and served on the board of directors of a number of entrepreneurial companies since 1983. Mr. Johnson has also taught classes at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford Department of Engineering, UCLA Anderson School of Management and the Claremont Graduate School. Mr. Johnson earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and M.B.A. and D.B.A. degrees from the Harvard Business School.
Sean Pak has been a director of Viasat since 2018, and has served as Lead Independent Director since February 2019. Mr. Pak has been a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP since 2009, and he currently serves as the Co-Chair of its National Intellectual Property Litigation Practice and Co-Managing Partner of the San Francisco office. From 2002 to 2009, Mr. Pak was an attorney at Latham & Watkins LLP, and previously worked in engineering roles at Intel Corporation and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He is a litigator with extensive experience litigating patents, trade secrets, copyrights and other intellectual property. Mr. Pak received a J.D. degree (cum laude) from Harvard Law School, and B.S. and M. Eng. Degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.
Varsha Rao has been a director of Viasat since 2017. Ms. Rao has served as the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Nurx Inc., a direct-to-consumer telehealth platform, since April 2019. From September 2017 to April 2019, she served as Chief Operating Officer of Clover Health Inc., a health insurance technology company. From 2013 to 2016, Ms. Rao served as the Head of Global Operations at Airbnb, Inc., a global travel marketplace. From 2011 to 2013, she served as the Senior Vice President International of LivingSocial, Inc. (owned by Groupon), an online marketplace for daily deals. From 2008 to 2011, Ms. Rao served as the Chief Executive Officer of SingTel Digital Media Pte Ltd., an online search and lifestyle portal and wholly-owned subsidiary of SingTel. From 2004 to 2008, she served as Vice President and General Manager of OldNavy.com, an e-commerce division of Gap, Inc. She also previously founded and sold Eve.com, an online beauty retailer, and served as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co., a consulting company. Ms. Rao earned a B.A. degree in Mathematics and a B.S. degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Business School.
John Stenbit has been a director of Viasat since 2004, and is a consultant for various government and commercial clients. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Stenbit served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence, or C3I, and later as Assistant Secretary of Defense of Networks and Information Integration / Department of Defense Chief Information Officer, the C3I successor organization. From 1977 to 2001, Mr. Stenbit worked for TRW, Inc., retiring as Executive Vice President. Mr. Stenbit was a Fulbright Fellow and Aerospace Corporation Fellow at the Technische Hogeschool, Einhoven, Netherlands. Mr. Stenbit has chaired the Science Advisory Panel for the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He also has significant expertise and perspective as a member of the boards of directors of private and public companies in various industries. Mr. Stenbit currently serves on the boards of directors of Loral Space & Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: LORL) and DGI Holdings Inc., a private corporation. Mr. Stenbit previously served as a director of Cogent, Inc., SM&A Corporation and SI International, Inc., as a member of the Advisory Board of the National Security Agency and of the Science Advisory Group of the U.S. Strategic Command.
Dr. Theresa Wise has been a director of Viasat since 2020. Dr. Wise is Chief Executive Officer and principal for Utaza, LLC, an information technology consulting company, a role she has held since 2017. Dr. Wise is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Delta Air Lines, a commercial airline, a role she held from 2008 to 2016. Prior to joining Delta, Dr. Wise held a number of positions at Northwest Airlines Corporation, a commercial airline, including serving as the company’s Chief Information Officer from 2001 until Northwest Airlines Corporation’s merger with Delta in 2008. Dr. Wise currently serves on the Board of Directors of Impinj, Inc., a manufacturer of radio-frequency identification devices and software, and TCF Financial Corporation, a financial services company. Dr. Wise received a B.A. degree in mathematics and chemistry from St. Olaf College and Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in applied math from Cornell University.