• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Featured
  • More News ⌄
    • SatNews
    • SatMagazine
    • MilSatMagazine
  • Events ⌄
    • MilSat Symposium
    • SmallSat Symposium
    • Satellite Innovation
  • Contacts
  • SUBSCRIPTION

SmallSat News

You are here: Home / News / BlackSky Appoints Top Defense + Intelligence Experts To New Advisory Group

BlackSky Appoints Top Defense + Intelligence Experts To New Advisory Group

April 6, 2022 by editorial

Prominent leaders from the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense: U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Space Force to provide strategic guidance to BlackSky

BlackSky (NYSE: BKSY) has formed a Strategic Advisory Group and has appointed three prominent U.S. leaders with diverse backgrounds from the national security, defense and intelligence communities. This new advisory group will provide deep insight and guidance to BlackSky’s leadership on business growth, technology investment and strategic partnership opportunities.

Members of BlackSky’s inaugural Strategic Advisory Group include the following influential thought-leaders from key U.S. military agencies:

  • Former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and retired Navy Vice Adm., the Hon. Joseph D. Kernan — He served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, where he was the principal intelligence, counterintelligence and security advisor to the Secretary of Defense. In that capacity, he served simultaneously as the Director of Defense Intelligence in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Kernan graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1977 and served as a Surface Warfare Officer and Naval Special Warfare Officer until his military retirement. Over the course of his career, he commanded SEAL Team TWO, the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, the Naval Special Warfare Command, and U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. Fourth Fleet. He also served as Senior Military Assistant to former Defense Secretary Robert Gates and as the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Southern Command.
  • Former Associate Director for Military Affairs at the CIA,retired Army Gen. John F. Mulholland, Jr. — He served as the CIA’s Associate Director of Military Affairs, where he served as the senior military advisor to the Director of Central Intelligence. The career Special Forces officer joined the First Special Forces Regiment in 1983 and led Army and joint special operations units from the time he was a captain until attaining the rank of lieutenant general. He served as Deputy Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command; as the Commanding General, Army Special Operations Command; and as the fifteenth Deputy Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command. Mulholland led two notable joint special operations “Task Force Dagger” campaigns. He was commander of Joint Special Operations Task Force-North during the opening days of Operation Enduring Freedom immediately following 9/11 and commander of Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-West during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
  • Former Space Force Chief Architect, retired Air Force Col. Michael R. Dickey – He served a career in both public service and the private sector. His military assignments included research and development leadership positions in missile defense, aviation, and space operations with assignments across the Air Force, Joint Staff and National Reconnaissance Office with a special detail to NASA. In the private sector he focused on the development of space system solutions that leveraged the technology and economics of small spacecraft to meet mission needs. He returned to the Air Force as a civilian executive in 2016, serving as Chief Architect for the Air Force Space Command, and subsequently for the Space Force, where he oversaw, directed and coordinated efforts to implement a resilient, multi-domain compatible enterprise for DoD space mission areas. He continues to advance commercial and national security elements as an independent consultant.

The Strategic Advisory Group joins BlackSky Director Sue Gordon to expand BlackSky’s network of national security leaders that will inform the company’s long-term strategy for the U.S. and international defense and intelligence markets. The members of the non-governing Strategic Advisory Group will each serve a two-year commitment and assist BlackSky in developing and growing the company’s business in various government-related markets.

“It’s my pleasure to welcome aboard Mr. Kernan, Mr. Mulholland, and Mr. Dickey to the BlackSky team,” said Brian E. O’Toole, BlackSky CEO. “We look forward to their insights and extensive defense and intelligence expertise to help guide our strategy during this important time when commercial space capabilities have a growing and important role in our national security.”

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019

© 2019–2025 SatNews

x
Sign Up Now!

Enjoy a free weekly newsletter with recent headlines from the global SmallSat industry.

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing! You will now receive weekly SmallSat News updates.
We love our advertisers.
And you will too!

Please disable Ad Blocker to continue... We promise to keep it unobtrusive.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.