Democratizing access to critical geospatial data

Dionisio Díaz González

VP of Satellite Engineering

Dionisio Díaz González serves on the leadership team of the Engineering and Production group as VP of Satellite Engineering in Satellogic. He joined the company in 2020 bringing a strong international experience developed in several leading positions across different cities such as Madrid, Paris, New York or Munich. 

Dionisio started his career in the German Aerospace Center. He carries extensive baggage in the design, implementation and optimization of internal company processes, focusing on enabling the technical transition from the prototype phase to the series production. Mr. Díaz González was previously the Head of Project Management and Development at Mynaric Lasercom, a German start-up of over 100 employees developing and manufacturing space wireless laser communication systems. In this role, he oversaw the elaboration and deployment of the company’s technical roadmaps for 10 years, managing a team of 50+ people. He contributed significantly to Mynaric’s growth, having been the first engineer hired by the company after it was founded.

Dionisio holds a bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering, specialized in Signal Processing and Radiocommunication, from the University of Sevilla, Spain.

Alan Kharsansky

VP of Mission Operations

Alan Kharsansky serves as Satellogic’s Director of Mission Engineering and Operations. He joined the company in 2011 and since then he has been working in electronics, power systems and as the lead systems engineer of the different satellites.

Mr. Kharsansky has over 10 years of electronics engineering experience and has worked in educational robotics projects and university research labs before joining Satellogic. He has also taught university courses on embedded systems and space systems engineering.

Alan’s background is in Embedded Systems, RTOS and UAVs and has just completed a Masters program at MIT on systems management and design.

Rebeca Brandys

General Counsel

Rebeca Brandys serves as Satellogic’s General Counsel. Rebeca brings over 20 years of international transactional experience to the company that includes legal director roles in both public and private companies and as an associate in leading law firms. She is specialized in corporate, commercial and technology law and has worked across multiple jurisdictions.

Most recently, Rebeca was the lead counsel for the Middle East, Africa and Southern Europe with CommScope, a US Fortune 500 telecoms infrastructure provider.  Previously, she was General Counsel of Oracle Team USA, the US sailing team competing in the Americas Cup, where she managed corporate, commercial, intellectual property, employment, contract, and licensing functions for the team globally, based in Valencia and San Francisco. In addition, Mrs. Brandys worked with the Spanish data privacy regulator and was an associate attorney with the corporate and finance department Bonelli Erede Pappalardo in Rome and was instrumental in setting up the firm Stephenson Harwood’s first technology law department in Madrid.

Rebeca received her law degree from the Complutense University of Madrid, including a French law diploma from the Law School of Aix-Marseille. She holds an LL.M. in American Law from Boston University School of Law and completed a Ph.D. program in European Union Law at the European University Institute in Florence, specializing in privacy and security. 

Rebeca is a licensed Attorney in Spain, Italy and New York.

Federico Hanssen

VP of Manufacturing Capability

Federico Hanssen serves as Satellogic’s VP of Manufacturing Capability.

Mr. Hanssen has been leading engineering and manufacturing organizations at Procter & Gamble for 20 years. He has also led the manufacturing capability development program for P&G plants in LA. His experience also includes maintenance planning and execution in Shell Oil and manufacturing capability consultancy to Mondelez Canada and US operations.

Federico earned his Mechanical Engineering degree cum laude from FIUBA, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Matt Tirman

President of Satellogic NA

Matt Tirman has more than seventeen years experience growing global technology and service businesses across public sector and commercial markets with a focus on defense and aerospace. He joins Satellogic from Descartes Labs, a leading provider of geospatial and multi-sensor analytics, where he was the Head of Government and was responsible for revenue growth and customer delivery across defense and intelligence clients. 

Previously, Matt served as interim-Chief Revenue Officer at a leading InsureTech startup and was Chief Commercial Officer at PlanetRisk where he was responsible for delivering enterprise geospatial risk analytics, customized big data solutions, and projects to Global 1000 customers spanning retail, manufacturing and technology. Matt played an integral role in the sale of the company’s product business to Everbridge, a global software company focused on the mass notification and risk market. 

From 2014-2018 Matt founded and operated the consulting and advisory firm, Access Global. Clients included family offices looking to invest in East Africa, global energy firms, and a US based cybersecurity company requiring an interim CEO, and a Canadian telecommunications leader keen to break into the SE Asian market.

In 2009 Mr. Tirman left his role at Accenture to become the first employee at Strategic Social, a technology and services firm operating in emerging and frontier markets across the Middle East and North Africa. He was responsible for revenue generation, establishing foreign business ventures, operations, and the strategic direction of the firm and was integral to the acquisition of the company. Matt and his team grew Strategic Social to more than $40M in annual revenue before it was sold to Constellis in 2014. He has served as an analyst for the US Department of Defense on cooperative Research and Development and as a speechwriter for senior military leadership in Washington D.C. and Baghdad, Iraq. 

Matt holds a MA in Defense and Security from Lancaster University and a BS in Political Science from East Carolina University. 

Thomas VanMatre

VP of Global Business Development

Thomas VanMatre serves as Satellogic’s Vice President of Global Business Development. Mr. VanMatre brings 20 years of experience in leading teams in geospatial solutions, international defense policy & defense diplomacy and product development. As the leader of international business development for defense & security, he was responsible for formulating and executing Maxar’s international growth strategy.

Before joining Satellogic, Tom spent 5 years at Maxar where he was Director of Global Business Development. Prior to that, he spent 12 years at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in various roles both in the U.S.A. and Australia, delivering geospatial intelligence to policymakers, diplomats, warfighters, and first responders. Together with his team he was awarded the Australian Intelligence Community Medallion for outstanding achievement in countering terrorism.

Tom has a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) focused in International Business Management and professional graduate courses focused in International Law & Security. He is currently pursuing his MBA at the University of Denver.

Daniel Smulovitz

VP of Marketing

Daniel Smulovitz brought more than 20 years of experience in Branding, Communications and Marketing to his position as VP of Marketing at Satellogic. He has a significant record of achievement in developing strategic and tactical marketing programs for a broad range of organizations, from hi-tech start-ups to multinational FMCG companies.

Most recently, Mr. Smulovitz spent 13 years as Corporate Marketing Director at Samconsult, a group of 30+ agribusiness companies with worldwide operations, where he led Marketing activities in the five continents. Previously, he served as the Communications and Marketing Manager at Core Security Technologies in its transitioning business model from a local consulting firm to a global software development company. Earlier in his career, he assumed a lead management role at Neoris as Information Architecture Coordinator, where he launched the creative services department and has been selected as the company’s representative for the worldwide merging process of 7 companies at a global scale.

Daniel earned a bachelor’s degree in Institutional Communications from National University of Rosario, Argentina, where he was an Associate Consultant for an academic consulting program, also completed a postgraduate course in Corporate Image in Buenos Aires, studied pedagogy and group dynamics in Israel, and holds an Executive MBA from IAE Business School.

Julia Dormaar

VP of People

Julia Despina Dormaar serves as the VP of People at Satellogic. She joined the company in September 2021 bringing strong international experience across the entire Human Resources spectrum from both established multinational corporations to highly dynamic start-up and scale-up organizations. Julia is convinced that talent is the most essential and inimitable foundation on which businesses build their long-term success. Her passion is to foster  workplaces where diverse engineering, commercial and creative talents can learn from each other, grow as a team and have a positive impact on the world around them. 

After completing a semester abroad at the American University in Cairo, Julia gained initial professional experience working in the Middle East. She moved on to Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt and later National Australia Bank in Melbourne, where she managed the organizational change and people aspects of large-scale IT infrastructure outsourcing initiatives. Moving to professional services, Julia held a number of senior HR leadership roles at professional services firm EY and, with her team of 40+ people, was responsible for the entire Talent Development spectrum, from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, to Engagement, Leadership Development, Performance, Learning and Education and strategic Future of Work programs.

Julia joined Tesla as the HR Director for EMEA in early 2018, building the HR team and capability for European expansion across 17 national territories, scaling the business for Model3 introduction and leading people and employment aspects for the first European Gigafactory set-up.

Prior to joining Satellogic Julia spent a few months at Artemis GmbH, a start-up under the Audi brand, focused on the development of autonomous electric vehicles, where she and her team built-out the core recruiting and people management foundation, setting the business up for growth.

Julia holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business and Intercultural Studies from the University of Applied Sciences in Heilbronn, Germany.

Julia is married and has a son at pre-school age. She enjoys being active, cultivating her creative side and exploring contemporary art.