Management
Gerald Knoblach
Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Knoblach has served as Chairman and CEO since Space Data's incorporation in 1997. From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Knoblach was a program manager at CrossLink, Inc., a wireless communications equipment company. From 1992 to 1997, Mr. Knoblach was a business development and program manager for Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE:ORB), where he led the effort to develop the first hand-held, personal communicator for use with the Orbcomm© satellite network. Mr. Knoblach earned an MBA from Harvard University in 1992, an M.S.E.E. from the University of Minnesota in 1990, and a B.S.M.E. from M.I.T. in 1985. He is a licensed professional engineer and has been awarded two patents.
Jim Wiesenberg
Chief Strategy Officer
Jim Wiesenberg is responsible for forging strategic alliances with wireless broadband service providers and manufacturers, as well as serving as a liaison to the investment community. He has been a successful operator and developer of domestic radio frequency spectrum ranging from 2-40 GHz. Since 1990, he has co-founded five wireless transmission companies and completed sales, including major market licenses at 2.5 GHz, to Clearwire and a Sprint subsidiary, as well as 39 GHz rights for a quarter of the country to a concern now part of FiberTower. In addition, he has provided advisory services in connection with broadband wireless strategy, FCC auctions and license transactions independently and on behalf of Cantor Fitzgerald Telecom. Previously he was director of corporate development for Microband; vice president of marketing for The PlayCable Company; manager of market development for Showtime; and acting general manager of Viacom Cable in Cleveland. Mr. Wiesenberg has a bachelor's degree from New York University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
George Richie
Chief Financial Officer
George Richie joined Space Data in March 2008. Prior to joining Space Data, Mr. Richie served as Vice President of Financial Operations and Planning for H&R Block. He has also served as CFO for the Flagstaff Unified School district, ABB Catalyst Power, and was Director of Finance at Honeywell International. From 1991 to 1994, Mr. Richie worked for the Boston Consulting Group in Germany. He earned an MBA from UCLA.s Anderson School of Management in 1991 and a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from Wichita State University. Before receiving his MBA, Mr. Richie was a structural design engineer for the McDonnell Douglas C-17 aircraft.
Jerry Quenneville
Vice President, Business Development
As Vice President of Business Development, Jerry Quenneville is responsible for identifying new customer opportunities, securing new business, steering new areas of technology development, and maximizing the business impact of partnering relationships in Space Data's Government Division. Before joining Space Data in 2001, Mr. Quenneville spent over 20 years in the U.S. Air Force in various engineering, research and technical program management capacities in support of the U.S. intelligence community, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. His responsibilities included the engineering, development and deployment of intelligence systems; high-reliability space and terrestrial communications systems; modeling and simulation systems; and special-purpose digital and software-based applications. Mr. Quenneville earned a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an M.S. from the California Institute of Technology, both in electrical engineering.
Rhett Grotzinger
Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Drawing on decades of success in building technology based companies Rhett led a successful wireless sales and service organization in Texas that became a key provider of communications infrastructure and network services to Public Safety and Enterprise users. As the founding general manager of Kenwood Systems Group, he established Kenwood as a major player in the communications networks business. Grotzinger was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Trident Micro Systems where he established Trident's PassPort trunking protocol as an industry standard and led the company in unprecedented sales growth. He is a fellow in the Radio Club of America, frequent speaker at various industry conferences and events, author of numerous published articles on wireless technology, has served on the boards of the Enterprise Wireless Alliance, American Mobile Telecommunications Association, and International Wireless Communications Expo and is a member of the Asheville Regional Airport Authority board of directors.