Space Commerce Institute’s cadre of consultants possess deep working knowledge and proven track records of excellence across a broad spectrum of business and space topics that are shaping the global space economy.
Expertise areas include (and not limited to):
- Business growth and development—financial models, customer acquisitions, investments
- Access to federal dollars
- Technology transfer and supply chain
- IP and patent law
- Space law and federal regulations
- Engineering and manufacturing
- Domestic and international space agencies
Expertise areas include (and not limited to):
- Business growth and development—financial models, customer acquisitions, investments
- Access to federal dollars
- Technology transfer and supply chain
- IP and patent law
- Space law and federal regulations
- Engineering and manufacturing
- Domestic and international space agencies
Anilkumar Dave
Mr. Dave started his career on European Union co-funded R&D and technology transfer initiatives, representing public and private bodies and focusing on interaction between research and industry for sectors ranging from textiles, logistics, and Agro-food. After working for the Italian Ministry of Economic Development he led the “Research, Technology Transfer and Special Projects” department for the largest innovation agency in Italy. Recently, at the Italian Space Agency, Mr. Dave was asked to launch and direct the “Innovation and Technology Transfer” Department working on: start-ups, risk finance, intellectual property rights, and research results exploitation before being appointed Open Innovation Advisor to the President. Currently he is partner of the innovation hub Infinite Area and leads its space economy advisory unit, is a member of the advisory board of Global Entrepreneurship Network Space, is a member of the advisory board for the Polytechnic of Milan Space Economy Observatory, and serves as an advisor to ASTREAS (a US based start-up manufacturing food for Space).
Laura Forczyk
Laura Forczyk is the owner of space consulting firm Astralytical. She serves as an advisor for Cislunar Space Development Company and For All Moonkind. She is the VP of Research and Analytics for the Beyond Earth Institute. She serves as a mentor for the Brooke Owens Fellowship program. She is a NASA Subject Matter Expert for astrophysics and planetary science missions.
She published her first book, Rise of the Space Age Millennials, in 2020 and is currently working on the next edition. She published her second book, Becoming Off-Worldly, in January 2022.
Prior to forming her own company, she ran the Florida office of international startup working to establish parabolic and suborbital flight at Kennedy Space Center and globally. She has also worked as a scientific analyst for a nonprofit facilitating over 50 experiments on the International Space Station for the benefit of life on Earth.
Rochelle Lieberman
Rochelle Lieberman, also known as Rocky, is a founding member of the law firm Lieberman & Brandsdorfer, LLC. Rocky is a registered patent attorney with 30 years of experience in the field, including both private practice and as a patent examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Rocky’s practice is directed at patent searching, opinions, preparation, and prosecution, representing clients in the technical areas of mechanical, electrical, computer engineering, and computer science, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Rob Nicholson
Rob has over 20 years of military, government and civilian leadership experience in developing technology strategies and partnerships. He has led technology development, capability analysis and growth initiatives which have informed investment strategies and project prioritization for multi-million dollar research & development and science & technology portfolios. Rob currently sits on various advisory boards for key state and regional science & technology committees. He also has coached dozens of start-ups on commercialization, business development and funding strategies.
As a Navy Reserve Meteorology and Oceanography Officer, his scientific background is in ocean, atmosphere and space sciences and his technical background is in data analytics, wireless technologies and geospatial intelligence. Most of his career was in an operational capacity with additional assignments at the Office of Naval Research and currently 10th Fleet Cyber Command (C10F). At C10F, he supports Naval Space Command on operational integration with USSPACECOM, global exercises, and has contributed to various DoD and NATO training and policy initiatives. He is a dedicated educator and has provided thousands of hours of highly technical instruction in the areas of oceanography, meteorology and space to hundreds of DoD and Intelligence Community members.
Courtney Stadd
Courtney Stadd is Founder and President of Capitol Alliance Solutions, LLC, a Washington DC based management consulting firm whose clients include a wide range of pioneering commercial space actors. For nearly 40 years, Stadd’s career path has been a mix of senior government leadership and corporate executive jobs – primarily focused on encouraging the removal of policy and regulatory barriers to the emergence of a competitive American-led commercial space marketplace, as well as business development strategies to generate revenue for early-stage space ventures. He has held multiple senior positions at the US Department of Commerce, the US Department of Transportation, the White House, and worked directly for three NASA Administrators, including as Chief of Staff/White House Liaison.
As Senior Director, White House National Space Council, he helped draft numerous Presidential directives encouraging a competitive commercial space industry, including commercial space guidelines which have governed executive agency use of commercial space products and services for over 30 years.
Stadd is a member of the Washington Space Business Roundtable Board of Directors and Chair, Programs, 2020-2022. He was appointed Chair, Aerospace Industries Association Civil Space Committee, 2022. He is also Vice President of the Beyond Earth Institute. He is a long-time adviser to the UN NGO, Space Week Association. Mr. Stadd was selected to participate in NASA’s Oral History series.
Oliver Schlake, Ph.D.
Dr. Oliver Schlake is a Clinical Professor and Senior Executive Teaching Fellow at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park; a senior business consultant, entrepreneur and researcher. Dr. Schlake is a multi-award winning professor, teaching classes at the Undergraduate and Graduate level as well as for the Executive MBA program in Innovation Management, Industry and Competitor Analysis, Business Strategy, Corporate Venturing, Entrepreneurship and Creativity for Business Leaders.
He earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Paderborn’s “Heinz Nixdorf Institute”, Germany. His Master’s Degree is in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration from the same institution.
Dr. Schlake has authored and co-authored four books and 60 journal publications on long-term strategic planning, technology management and business intelligence. His current research interest is in the field of innovation strategy, scenario planning, business foresight, and corporate entrepreneurship. His work on collaborative scenario-planning is known worldwide and applied by several large organizations as their core strategic planning tool.
As a strategic advisor and management consultant, he specializes in business foresight, scenario planning and innovation strategy design. For over 20 years Dr. Schlake has helped organizations and individuals to better respond to uncertainty, change and complexity with innovative, flexible and future robust strategies. His expertise from more than 80 major strategy projects along with the unique processes he developed, have enabled organizations to more effectively anticipate and successfully respond to upcoming challenges.
He has worked as a consultant in more than fifteen different industries in North America, Europe, and Africa for over forty different industry leaders, not-for-profit organizations and government agencies. Over the past fifteen years, he was also strategic advisor for several start-up companies. In 1999, he co-founded Scenario Management International (ScMI AG) in Germany where he served three years as CEO.
Dr. Schlake is an award-winning keynote speaker, executive trainer, strategy facilitator and speaker. His thought-after executive workshops are highly experiential and experimental. Recently, he has been awarded a development grant for a product development class that takes students and executives “out in the wild” to test prototypes of outdoor gear. Another class helps students develop new business models using drones (UAV’s). He speaks frequently to executive groups around the world on topics such as "The Future of Innovation", "Managing Change", "Testing your Business Strategy", “Planning under Uncertainty”, “Creativity for Business Leaders” and “Reading the Future”.
Dr. Schlake is frequently asked to coach executive groups in both commercial (most recently with Under Armour, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, University of Maryland Medical System) and government entities (IRS, Customs and Border Protection, Dept. of Veteran Affairs, US Navy and NSA), how to infuse innovative thinking into their business processes and to use creative problem solving to create sustainable advantage.
As a futurist and former product developer, he continuously tracks emerging technologies, business and social trends throughout the world to spot new business opportunities for entrepreneurs and gauge the strategic impact of them for established organizations.
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