The Government sector forms a critical part of the business here at ST Engineering iDirect and, rather than showcasing our products and solutions, we thought it would be a great opportunity to introduce you to our team of experts. These are the guys that our customers interface with on a daily basis. Backed up by decades of experience in the government and military sectors, often with hands-on military service, each member of our global Government team brings their own unique insight to advise our customer base on the right solutions for their own very specialized requirements.
We sat down with each member of the team and asked them about their role, how they see the overall goal of the team, the biggest challenges, current industry trends and customer needs. This is what they told us!
Our VP Global Government & Global Accounts is Tim Winter.
Tim manages all strategic global account engagements and captures pursuits for Global Government opportunities. He is also a Commander and Naval Aviator in the United States Navy Reserves.
Based in the U.S., Tim’s primary focus is to grow the global government market by leveraging organic capabilities such as our baseband solutions, cyber security and cloud technology from our parent company, ST Engineering. He also drives the solutions with our ecosystem partners, terminal integrator partners, and others. Tim aligns resources around large programs and other opportunities.
Team Goal: To continue ST Engineering iDirect’s position as the de facto choice for hardened and resilient satellite communications.
Biggest Challenges: Security, particularly cyber security. RF energy is difficult to hide! Customers are also constantly looking for operational efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and ease-of-use.
Current Industry Trends: “We’re seeing a move towards more cloud-based functions and applications and virtualization. That said, some will always need to stay on premises. New entrants to the market are also pushing the industry to advance satellite technology rapidly. This is coupled with the emergence of new LEO/MEO satellite constellations. We all need to accelerate our speed to develop and deliver. It’s an extremely interesting time to be in the satellite industry.”
Superpower? “Team Building Guru – I just make sure I build a team where I am surrounded by folks with the most amazing Superpowers! (Yes, this makes my rather pedestrian powers look…well, just that, pedestrian…but I love having a great team!)”
Craig Bowley is our Regional Director for EMEA.
Craig started his career with ST Engineering iDirect back in 2013, developing partnerships across Europe. Based in the UK, Craig is focused on Europe, the Middle East, and Africa regions. He looks after our large installed Government base on our Evolution, Evolution Defense and Dialog platforms as well as identifying new opportunities.
Biggest Challenges: There still remains an ongoing debate between SCPC vs. TDMA within Ministries of Defense. Craig also re-established an independent board for our ST Engineering iDirect Europe Satcom Center of Excellence in Belgium to focus on our EU opportunities.
Typical industry requirements: “Security is a big issue. Some customers want to transition from commercial off the shelf (COTS) solutions to build more resilience into networks, others are leaning towards software-defined radio (SDR) modems and wish to own just one remote that accommodates multiple waveforms (ours as well as competitors), for strategic programs.”
Ghassan Dadokh is our Business Development Manager, MENA
Ghassan graduated from the Turkish Military Academy with a double major in communications engineering and military science. He went on to serve as an officer with the Jordanian Armed Forces for ten years. Ghassan is based in Jordan and is focused on Middle East and North Africa regions.
Biggest Challenges: Understanding the unique characteristics of each country including the availability of funds, political and economic stability, awareness of the latest technologies, as well as the willingness to adopt these new technologies. Ghassan’s background allows him to intrinsically understands these sensitives and is able to navigate through them with the customer.
Typical industry requirements: “Customers have diverse requirements – from reliable, cost-effective VSAT solutions to sophisticated highly secure, military-grade solutions – and fortunately, we have a broad portfolio of solutions to meet those needs and provide support globally. This is helped through our great synergy with our wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, iDirect Government, and our parent company, ST Engineering.”
Superpower? “I’ve had the adrenalin rush of being involved in real missions and I can bring the experience of what the end user really needs in the field. My understanding of real-life scenarios enables me to grasp the importance of efficiency, ease of use and Size, Weight and Performance. Now I’ve switched seats, I look forward to serving those heroes with the latest knowledge and technology and the same spirit!”
For further information, please visit Defense and Government Connectivity – ST Engineering iDirect. Also, read on to view part two of our Government Team blog series here.