Mr. Rizwan Parvez is currently Senior Director at Maxar Technologies, focused on Market Strategy and Business Development for Maxar’s U.S. Government Civil Space pursuits. He joined Maxar after serving as Chief Technology Officer & founding Vice President of Engineering for BridgeComm (formerly known as BridgeSat), a start-up focused on commercializing free-space optical communications across space, airborne and terrestrial applications. Previous to that, he has held positions analyzing commercial low-Earth & emerging markets and has led engineering teams across various disciplines supporting the design, integration, testing, launch and operations of GEO communication satellites. Rizwan was a founding Board Member of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Society of Space and Satellites Professionals International (SSPI), which was established to facilitate the bridging between ‘New Space’ and ‘established Space’. Rizwan graduated in 2003 from Duke University with a degree in Electrical Engineering and has been immersed in the space and communications industry ever since.