In many respects, the year 2003 will be remembered as a turning point for the global satellite industry. This past year renewed industry drive, ambition and a will to move forward and upward, out of the economic doldrums that anchored satellite business navigators for the better part of the new millennium. Replaced are fantastic ventures promising every application under the sun delivered through a network of satellites with strategic, sounder ventures delivering much needed applications and at the same time garnering a return on those investments. In addition, 2003 also showcased examples of successful business management that involved overseeing expectations and carrying a business virtually unscathed through its fourth quarter financials while the economy, financiers and customers were struggling, playing it close to the vest and not signing as many contracts as they once did.

It is achievements such as these that Via Satellite magazine celebrates and recognizes in our annual Satellite Executive of the Year award. Each year, the PBI Media Satellite Group develops a list of leading candidates for the prize, which is given to the industry executive we believe has made the most significant contribution to the industry throughout the past calendar year. Below is our short list of top nominees in the running for the award. Via Satellite’s Satellite Executive of the Year 2003 award will be honored on March 4 at the Satellite 2004 conference in Washington, DC. We look forward to seeing you there when we announce the winner.

Mark Albrecht, President, International Launch Services

In a market segment that billed significant time on the ground and struggled to do the same in space in 2003, McLean, VA-based ILS kept soaring toward geostationary orbit. The joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Russian companies Khrunichev and Energia grew its service-oriented launcher business with both commercial and military launches. It once again closed out a strong year with successes in its launch vehicle families of the Atlas and Proton rockets with three commercial Atlas launches and one commercial Proton mission.

In addition to the commercial business, and like most in the satellite arena, ILS also focused a good portion of 2003 on gaining military payloads. At press time, ILS had two launches and four new contracts signed with the U.S. government.

Steering ILS through these challenging times for launch service providers is President Mark Albrecht. In 2003, Albrecht’s longtime business vision of mutual back-up propelled ILS forward by garnering seven commercial launch contracts (at our press time), a third of which included this mutual back-up option, giving ILS a leading edge on the year’s marketshare of the business.

This launcher back-up option, which Albrecht executed with his customers, has now caught on with ILS’ competitors. This past July, Arianespace S.A., Boeing Launch Services and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. announced agreements to provide back-up options to its clients. Essentially, the agreement offers a back-up launch vehicle from the initial contract signing stage out of these three different launcher families to ensure on-time payload delivery for customers.

In a challenging business year, ILS under Albrecht’s leadership, proved reliability and customer care matters and that differentiated it from its competitors, surfacing the company as one of the most reliable options for the delivery of both commercial and military payloads into space.

Mark Dankberg, Chairman and CEO, Viasat Inc.

Like many in 2003, working with the military proved to be a wise move for company balance sheets and Viasat was no different. What made Viasat stand out last year was its long-term commitment to providing a diverse set of satellite communication products to a variety of market segments both in the United States and abroad. At the helm of this equipment powerhouse rests Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO. Through his consistent strategy of addressing a range of both commercial and defense markets, Dankberg enabled Viasat to prosper in a time when many companies were failing. The company continued to successfully cross the boundaries between defense and commercial, shifting employees to new projects and developing customized products and technologies for both markets.

In February for example, Viasat won a $2.5 million contract from Eutelsat S.A., for two broadband satellite networking systems and development of a future Ka-band system. Viasat’s Linkstar product enhances Eutelsat’s multimedia services offering broadband IP satellite network for corporate Internet access, videoconferencing, distance education and Virtual Private Networks.

Shortly thereafter, Viasat received a delivery order from Arinc Inc. for initial production quantities of SkyLink Airborne Integrated Satellite Communications Terminals for the corporate jet business sector, bringing the total value of this partnership to more than $9 million. On the commercial aviation side, Viasat successfully completed flight testing with Connexion by Boeing and received a production order for delivery of more than 100 airborne receive and transmit subsystems.Through these deals, Viasat is enabling in-flight, two-way, broadband data communications.

On the military side, Viasat won a contract from the U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command to design and produce the Enhanced Bandwidth Efficient Modem. This new product, designed to be the new high-speed military satcom standard, enhances defense communications with advanced commercial technologies, such as turbo coding and higher order modulation, while maintaining compatibility with current equipment.

So whether it is military, in-flight Internet service or broadband for the enterprise sector, Dankberg’s foresight in recognizing where the next business opportunity lies will surely keep Viasat in the global satellite arena for some time to come.

Charles Dolan, Chairman, Cablevision Systems Corp.

A bold initiative surfaced in late 2003 within the Direct Broadcast Satellite arena. As its name suggests, it is geared toward taking the High Definition Television (HDTV) programming platform from zero to 60 in a blink of an eye. Voom–the new DBS service offered throughout the continental United States by Cablevision’s satellite division, Rainbow DBS–is revving up to grab its share of the rapidly growing and underserved HDTV market.

In the driver’s seat of this endeavor is Charles Dolan, chairman of Bethpage, NY-based Cablevision Systems Corp. He believes that Voom will jump-start the era of HDTV. The service will offer subscribers up to 39 high definition channels along with 88 standard definition channels, including more than 40 cable channels. The centerpiece of the Voom service, however, is a suite of 21 exclusive, commercial-free high definition channels. This mix of programming immediately puts Voom on a competitive edge within this marketplace that took decades for its rivals to reach.

But with every bold venture comes its own set of challenges. Some Wall Street analysts are not entirely convinced that the fledgling program provider will gain enough subscribers to develop into a profitable business. With its chief competitors having a combined subscriber base of roughly 20 million, Dolan is banking on capturing the forecasted 25 to 30 million HDTV subscribers entering the marketplace within the next three years. In addition, Voom would also have limited local channels in its beginning–an advantage the established players have.

Even so, these risks did not deter Dolan from solidifying his mark in this arena. To date, U.S. satellite and cable TV operators have offered no more than seven syndicated HDTV channels and Dolan remains confident that higher definition programming will bring in those discriminating subscribers. To further strengthen Voom, Dolan plans to adopt MPEG-4 technology equipment. This could bode well for satellite equipment manufacturers in the broadcasting arena who are producing MPEG-4 compatible hardware. Currently, both DirecTV and Echostar could upgrade their services to MPEG-4, but that would most certainly materialize in a costly and operationally challenging set-top box replacement endeavor.

Whatever the future brings for Voom, it is important to note that its arrival and Dolan’s initiative is another step forward for HDTV programming providers and hardware manufacturers.

Mary Ann Elliott, President and CEO, Arrowhead Global Solutions Inc.

Even though Arrowhead Global Solutions Inc. falls under the small business category, this provider of satellite and terrestrial telecommunication networks, integrated information technology solutions and professional services to government and corporate sectors stood its ground with the big players in 2003. Under the leadership of its founder and CEO Mary Ann Elliott, Arrowhead’s most significant accomplishment this past year was designing, building, installing and testing a total of 17 large ground stations in eight locations around the globe under two different contracts. Most importantly, the teleports were completed under budget and ahead of schedule–not something the Defense Department (DoD) is accustomed to. In November, DoD extended Arrowhead’s contract to include an additional six systems with an in-service delivery date slated for this summer. Now with the hardware in place, the DoD Teleports will provide deployed warfighters with broadband, global reach-back capabilities across both commercial and military satellite systems. Now the U.S. military will have a single point of presence that will increase its ability to deliver data seamlessly at anytime to any location.

But Elliott has long been accustomed to working with the government in growing its use of commercial satellite products and services. During this past year, which was plagued by war, this insight into how the commercial satellite arena can successfully aid DoD in meeting its communications objectives further strengthened the company’s core programs of fixed and mobile satellite services.

In fact Arrowhead was able to add Globalstar satellite services, expanding its mobile satellite offerings that already includes Inmarsat services. This addition landed a government contract assisting U.S. Homeland Security efforts for agencies to use as back-up services in the event their terrestrial network in place is disrupted.

In addition to gaining a contract for mobile satellite services, Arrowhead also won a contract valued at up to $50.25 million throughout the next 10 years to provide satellite transponder services to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Under the contract, Arrowhead will provide the FAA with satellite communications services covering the entire state of Alaska along with Seattle, WA, and other parts of the Pacific Northwest.

So whether in peacetime or in war, Arrowhead solidified the standard in 2003 for successful commercial and military synergy when it comes to satellite-enabled communications.

John Kealey, President and CEO, iDirect Technologies

It is one thing to have vision. It is another thing to translate that vision into a successful business plan when everything seems to be stacked against you. That is exactly what John Kealey did for iDirect Technologies in 2003. In a year marked by a challenging economy, Kealey had his hands full. He was faced with a daunting task of mending a broken balance sheet, operating model and lack of strategic industry partnerships. For this privately held company that develops broadband IP hardware and software that enables bi- directional Internet connections via satellite, 2003 marked a year that took the company from substantial losses to a stage of fourfold revenue growth and company profitability.

On the contrary, Kealey managed to accomplish just the opposite. He challenged the company to rethink the direction of the business and to design a new strategy centered on leveraging the core technical strengths and intellectual property of the company while completely shifting iDirect’s distribution model. This direction dictated the divestiture of the service business allowing iDirect to focus on the company’s core competency–IP over satellite solutions. And this began to pay off with increased business and strategic global partnerships both in the enterprise and military arenas.

In June for example, the new iDirect teamed with Technical and Management Services Corp., an information technology (IT) company with expertise in telecommunications and IT services, to implement a TDMA satellite network to support the successful military efforts in Iraq. By using the iDirect products, all 27 nodes were able to share satellite bandwidth and provide Army units maintaining force readiness with access to stock databases worldwide.

And in September, iDirect partnered with Netdish, the telecommunication provider affiliate of Italy’s Fracarro Group and RCS Media Group, and launched two virtual private networks in Italy that employ Internet Protocol technology to provide a distance learning program for municipal and regional employees. Since the company’s new strategy implementation, it has signed agreements with more than two dozen network operators/providers.

These are just a few examples of how a successful re-branding of a company can indeed yield results. Through Kealey’s leadership, iDirect won recognition as one of the fastest growing 500 companies in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine and placed in the top half of the Deloitte and Touche Technology Fast 500 national ranking. As such, Kealey assures his place as an innovative leader destined to further establish his niche within the global satellite market.