Board of Directors
Gerald Knoblach
Chairman and CEO, Space Data
Alan Auckenthaler
Alan Auckenthaler is a professional director, after a career as a legal executive in the telecommunications industry, much of it at Inmarsat, the leading provider of mobile satellite communications worldwide, where he was General Counsel. He is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, with a Certificate of Director Education from NACD's Corporate Directors Institute, and the American Bar Association's Corporate Governance Committee.
Eric Frische
Co Founder, Space Data
Eric Frische is a consulting engineer. From inception untill 2010 he headed-up Space Data's technical development, most recently as Chief Technical Officer. From 1989 to 1998, Mr. Frische was owner and president of Applied Solutions, an engineering prototyping company, where he led all engineering, production and marketing activities. During his tenure, Mr. Frische developed a wide variety of prototypes for client companies in such areas as telecommunications, consumer electronics and medical devices. Prior to Applied Solutions, Mr. Frische was a captain in the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Frische has also been employed as a toy designer for Mattel, Inc. (NYSE:MAT), and an engineer at the M.I.T. Robotics Laboratory. Mr. Frische earned a B.S.E.E. from M.I.T. in 1985. He is a licensed patent agent and has been awarded three patents. Mr. Frische holds a technician-class amateur radio license.
David Jones
General Counsel, Hubbard Broadcasting
David Jones earned a bachelor's degree and a law degree from the University of Minnesota. Since 1994, Mr. Jones has served as general counsel for Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc.
From 1994 to 1999 he also served as senior vice president of United States Satellite Broadcasting (USSB) until its merger with DirectTV in May 1999.
At Hubbard, Mr. Jones is responsible for overseeing corporate legal affairs, including regulatory compliance with the Federal Communications Commission and Securities Exchange Commission. Prior to his employment with Hubbard, Mr. Jones was a partner in the law firm of Popham, Haik, Schnobrich and Kaufmann, Ltd., where he headed the Communications Practice Group and chaired the Administrative Law Department.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Jones served as general counsel for Rogers U.S. Cable Systems, Inc., one of the ten largest cable operators in the United States.
Eric Schimmel
Former VP of Telecommunications Industry Association
Eric Schimmel earned degrees in electrical engineering and business administration from Northwestern University.
In 1999, he retired from the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) where he had served as vice president since its formation in 1988. At TIA, Mr. Schimmel was responsible for the administration of policy and technical activities of the wireless communications division. Mr. Schimmel was appointed by the U.S. State Department to head the U.S. delegation to Working Party 8A of the International Telecommunications Union, which oversees international regulation of terrestrial mobile services including paging and cellular services.
Mr. Schimmel is the immediate past president of the Vehicular Technology Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and is a member of the IEEE Committee on Communications and Information Policy.
Prior to his service at TIA, Mr. Schimmel was vice president of the Information and Telecommunications Technology Group for the Electronic Industries Association.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Schimmel held a number of engineering and management positions at Motorola over a period of 20 years, including FCC liaison manager.
Jesús M. Sotomayor
Chairman, Softel; Chairman, Méryta
Jesús Sotomayor earned a Ph.D. in electronic and communications engineering and currently holds a professor's chair in telecommunications and information technology at Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) and is a visiting professor in corporate governance at Instituto Panamericano de Alta Direccion de Empresa (IPADE).
Dr. Sotomayor is chairman of both Softel, a telecommunications company specializing in M2M applications, and Méryta, a consulting firm focused on information technology, regulation and telecommunications. He is a former corporate director of the Mexican telecom carrier Telmex and former chairman of Red Uno, now a Telmex subsidiary.
Mike Wooley
CEO, Wooley & Associates
Mike Wooley is the CEO of Wooley & Associates, LLC, a consulting firm in Navarre, Florida, concentrating in Special Operations plus Military and Civilian Aviation. He is a 35-year veteran of the US Air Force and retired in 2008 at the rank of Lieutenant General. He held Command Positions six times during his career. His last command was The Air Force Special Operations Command. He is both a military and civilian pilot with numerous certificates and ratings. He holds a B.B.A. from Northeast Louisiana University and an M.S. from Webster University plus completed two military programs of study at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is on the Military Advisory Board of FLIR Systems, Inc. and is a member of the Board of Directors for Alenia North America.
David Wu
CEO, Ai Squared
Dave Wu joined Ai Squared in 2008 and is responsible for overall strategic direction and tactical execution for the company. Dave brings a 20+ year track record of developing technology-based entrepreneurial ventures from concept to commercial success. During his career he has been instrumental in raising over $750 million in equity and debt investments for his companies and has achieved liquidity for his investors with valuations totaling over $4.5 billion.
Prior to joining Ai Squared, Dave was President and an early member of Space Data Corporation, a provider of wireless data and voice telecommunications servicing customers in underserved rural and remote regions. Additionally, he was President and a founding member of Mirror Image Internet, a pioneer in global content delivery networks. Earlier in his career, Mr. Wu was Vice President of Marketing at VideoGuide (sold to Gemstar TV Guide), an early innovator of interactive digital video recorders (DVRs) and at Intel where he was the marketing manager for video and document conferencing products. He started his career as an electrical/software engineer designing optical and machine vision products at General Scanning and Analog Devices.
Mr. Wu earned his MBA from Harvard University and both his BSEE and MSEE/CS from MIT.