As the 2020’s progress, NewSpace has made amazing strides, garnered billions in investment, and we are seeing very profitable exits. Not so long ago, these outcomes would not have been so easy to predict.
The biggest winners have been in the realms of launch, satellites, and related services for both.
But for humans to become truly – and permanently – an interplanetary species, much more will be needed, and the investors to go with it.
So what will be the Next Big Thing for investors to look at? This session will feature experienced pros in all aspects of the industry, with a focus on investor finance, from initial angel round to Series C. Expect a lively debate on what might be the next wave of space venture development!
Space Business
Session Chair Info
Thomas Andrew Olson
Board Chair, Center for Space Commerce and Finance
For over three decades, Mr. Olson has been a business systems engineer and analyst in the Communications, Aerospace, and Publishing sectors. In addition, he spent several years in the Financial Services sector (cash and fund management). He served on the original organizing committee for the ’Space Investment Summits’, an event that brought together interested investors and space entrepreneurs for knowledge sharing and professional networking. From 2006-2010, he was a regular Read More
Space Business
Session Speakers Info
Lee Anderson
Growth and Strategy Leader, Independent
Lee Anderson is a growth and strategy leader, formerly Market Leader at KPMG Ignition Chicago and the strategic lead for KPMG’s US space sector practice, where she has focused on go-to-market strategy, partnership development, and thought leadership across commercial and dual-use space. She holds an Executive Master of Global Management in Space Business, Leadership, and Policy from Arizona State University and has presented at conferences such as NEXPLORE, ASCEND, and Read More
Mordy Friedman
CEO, World Space Elevator Competitions
Mordy Friedman is the Founder and CEO of WSPEC (World Space Elevator Competitions), a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the engineering reality of a space elevator. Driven by the belief that space access should be scalable and foster an economy that’s beneficial for all humanity, Mordy advocates for a pragmatic, phased approach to development. By uniting global teams through high-stakes engineering competitions, building the ecosystem needed to transition space from a Read More
Joe Latrell
CEO, Quub, Inc.
Joseph “Joe” Latrell is a space systems engineer and entrepreneur, and co-founder of Quub, a company developing modular PocketQube satellites for Earth observation, communications, and environmental monitoring. Joe brings a rare blend of hands-on hardware engineering and startup execution—personally designing spacecraft subsystems, writing embedded software, building deployment mechanisms, and leading business development across government, commercial, and international partners. His work spans satellite platforms, laser communications, swarm concepts, and low-resource machine Read More
Doug Owens
Founder and Managing Partner, Space Outcomes LLC
Doug is the founder and managing partner of Space Outcomes LLC. Doug is on a mission to help bring about a Star Trek future for the benefit of humanity, and his current focus is on helping to capitalize excited New Space projects. During his government contracting career, Doug helped build and run Coverent, an intelligence community startup who won consistently again big integrators like Leidos and CACI. He held executive Read More
Jim Plaxco
President, Chicago Society for Space Studies
Jim Plaxco is President of Chicago Society for Space Studies, serves as the Economics SME for the NSS Space Ambassadors Program, and is a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador. Currently serving on the NSS Board of Directors, Jim previously held the positions of NSS Vice President for Chapters and NSS Director of Information Systems. Jim’s professional career was spent in corporate IS/IT with ATT, Baxter Labs, IBM, and Sears Technology Read More
Camisha Simmons
Attorney | Principal | Managing Member, Simmons Legal PLLC
Camisha L. Simmons is a business attorney based in Dallas, Texas. She is a frequent writer and speaker on cutting-edge legal topics that impact businesses. She is licensed to practice law in both Texas and New York. Read More
Sandy Therrien
Founder and CEO, Blue Moon Space Operations LLC
Sandy Therrien is the Founder and CEO of Blue Moon Space Operations, a startup focused on scalable orbital debris capture and sustainable space infrastructure. With over three decades of experience in aerospace, including aircraft maintenance, mission operations, technical program management, and proposal development, she brings a systems-level perspective to space sustainability challenges. Sandy has participated in flight test and mission control operations and has supported complex aerospace programs across government Read More
James Anthony Wolff
Partner, Greenspoon Marder LLP
James Anthony Wolff is a partner at Greenspoon Marder LLP and a space, AI, and emerging technologies attorney focused on the legal and capital architecture of frontier industries. His work spans space policy, planetary defense finance, and the structuring of mission-driven ventures operating at the intersection of law, science, and long-term risk. In 2023, he was a co-founder recipient of a NASA award for advanced space systems research, followed by Read More