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Near Earth Forms Advisory Board

By Staff Writer | November 15, 2004

      New Canaan, Conn.-based Near Earth LLC, a boutique investment bank that focuses on satellite-related industries, formed an advisory board that boasts an impressive array of prominent people from the industry.

      NearEarth, led by former Wall Street investment banker Hoyt Davidson and ex-satellite analyst Armand Musey, is catering to medium- and small-sized financing deals that typically would fall below the levels of interest to major investment banks. The advisors lured by Near Earth to its fold consist of past and present senior-level executives from the industry as well as consulting, legal and financial experts.

      The advisors include Dr. Terry Hart, a former Space Shuttle astronaut who recently left his post as president of satellite operator Loral Skynet and currently is principal of the Hart and Associates LLP consulting firm; Charles “Chuck” Hewitt, former president of the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association, and currently a partner in Atlas Business Development, an industry consulting firm; Erick Le Proux De La Riviere, president and CEO of Vista Advisers, a Paris- and New York City-based strategy consulting firm that specializes in telecommunications and space; Andrew McSpadden, principle of Trinity Advisers, a London-based boutique investment bank and former director of investment banking at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) and senior vice president at Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette; Marshal “Mark” Pagon, CEO of Pegasus Communications, the owner of six broadcast stations, bandwidth and until recently held the rights to market DirecTV services in rural parts of the United States; Jimmy Schaeffler, CEO of The Carmel Group, a satellite and media consulting firm; and Phillip Spector, partner of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, a major law firm, where he heads the communication and technology practice group.

      (Armand Musey, Near Earth, 646/452-9931)