Board of Directors
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Mark Dankberg is a founder of Viasat and serves as its Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Dankberg previously served as Executive Chairman from November 2020 to June 2022, and as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer from Viasat’s inception in 1986 until November 2020. Mr. Dankberg currently serves on the board of directors 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 has been a director of Viasat since 2016. Mr. Baldridge joined Viasat in 1999, serving as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer from 2000, as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from 2002, and as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2003. Mr. Baldridge served as President and Chief Executive Officer from November 2020 through July 2022, and served as Vice Chairman from July 2022 until his retirement in June 2023. 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 1998 to 1999. From 1994 to 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.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.
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.
Andrew Sukawaty served as the Chairman of Inmarsat until its acquisition by Viasat in May 2023. Mr. Sukawaty previously served as both Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inmarsat between 2003 and 2012. He is a founding partner of Corten Advisers UK LLP, Chairman of Hg Capital USA, and a director of Hg Capital LLC and RELX plc. Previously, Mr. Sukawaty was a Senior Independent Director of Sky plc, Chairman of Ziggo N.V., Xyratex Technologies and Telenet, and Deputy Chairman of O2 plc. He has also previously served as an advisor to Apax Partners and Warburg Pincus and has previously been Chief Executive Officer and President of Sprint PCS, a global national wireless carrier, and Chief Executive Officer of NTL Limited. In addition, Mr. Sukawaty previously held various management positions with U.S. West and AT&T and served on the boards of directors of various listed companies. Mr. Sukawaty holds a B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota.Rajeev Suri served as the Chief Executive Officer of Inmarsat from March 2021 until its acquisition by Viasat in May 2023. Mr. Suri joined Inmarsat from Nokia, where he was President and Chief Executive Officer from 2014 to 2020. From 2009 to 2014, Mr. Suri served as Chief Executive Officer of Nokia Solutions and Networks. In 2021, he was appointed as a Commissioner of the United Nations Broadband Commission and in 2022 was elected as chair of the Global Satellite Operators Association (GSOA). Previously, Mr. Suri served as co-chair of the digitalization task force for the B20 and a member of various digital and healthcare committees at the World Economic Forum. Mr. Suri was also a member of the Chinese Premier’s Global CEO Council from 2014 to 2020 and in 2015 received China’s Marco Polo award. Mr. Suri currently serves as a director of Stryker Corporation (NYSE: SYK) and Singtel. Mr. Suri holds a B.E. in Electronics and Communications and an honorary doctorate from Manipal University.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.