Availability of Current and Planned Launch Capabilities

A corporate partner and satellite practice co-head, Steve Kaufman uses industry knowledge and versatility to negotiate and close many types of deals globally.

For 18 of his 30 years at the firm, Steve served as outside general counsel for satellite clients, leading strategic joint ventures, “bet-the-company” contracts, financings, and M&A.

What Steve does best: understanding complex business issues and translating them into legal documents. If a client can describe something, Steve can draft it. Working from complicated to simple, he has many times reduced a lengthy contract into a few pages of bullet points, showing the client what it needs and how to obtain it. He has even written a business and financing model for parties in the form of an agreement. Many clients comment that the business guidance from Steve is as valuable as the legal advice.

Steve relies on his familiarity with issues common to satellite and communications companies to give him an edge in negotiations. This experience produces extra benefits when Steve deals with specialized satellite contract terms, targeted warranties, creative covenants, use of insurance to close gaps, license and spectrum issues, and even finance and accounting matters. According to Chambers Steve Kaufman is “a real authority and somebody who will always know the answer.”

In advising clients, Steve emphasizes practicality, striving to achieve the client’s business objectives for the transaction, whether economic, risk reduction, regulatory/compliance, or transaction speed. This carries over into deal management as well as negotiations, where he willingly takes the lead. Steve and satellite practice co-head Randy Segal are regulars at the satellite conferences, making connections among clients and even adverse parties. He is listed in Chambers, Super Lawyers, and Legal 500.

Jeanne serves as the Chief Commercial Officer at Exolaunch, the global leader in launch services, mission management, integration services, and deployment technologies for small satellites. With over a decade of experience in the commercial launch segment, Jeanne spearheads the company’s business development and sales strategy, driving growth and solidifying the Exolaunch’s leading position in the New Space launch sector. Jeanne has played a pivotal role in launching over 600 customer satellites across 33 missions (as of February, 2025) to LEO/SSO/GEO/deep space of global launch vehicles for space agencies, universities, scientific institutions, and commercial companies. Under her leadership, Exolaunch has seen exceptional growth, establishing flight heritage across major international launch vehicles and introducing industry-leading launch and deployment technologies to the market. Her efforts have expanded Exolaunch’s customer base, facilitated partnerships with industry giants, and enabled the company to support large constellation deployments, unlocking valuable data from space.

Marino Fragnito has joined AVIO in September 2024 as Chief Commercial Officer, he also manages the new Launch Service division of the company, taking over responsibility from Arianespace for the exploitation of the Vega family launchers.
Between March 2016 and September 2024, he was Senior Vice President at Arianespace and member of the Executive Committee. As head of Vega Business Unit he managed the overall Vega activities and controlled its associated Profit & Loss.
From January 2009 until March 2016 he served at the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites EUMETSAT as Launch Services Manager. He previously covered different positions in industry, he began his career in Cannes, at Alcatel Space Industries, as mechanical engineer on telecom satellite projects and then joined ELV, European Launch Vehicle, an AVIO and Italian Space Agency company, in 2003 where he was later appointed Head of Mechanical Systems Development in the frame of the Vega development program. Before joining EUMETSAT he was also Head of the launcher design department at AVIO.
Marino Fragnito is an Aeronautical Engineer and holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Science and Technology.

Pablo Gallego Sanmiguel – Senior Vice President of PLD Space

Pablo Gallego Sanmiguel is PLD Space Senior Vice President, Sales & Customers. Pablo brings extensive knowledge and experience in the aerospace market, specifically in the sector of Commercial Launch Services. Since September 2019, the former SpaceX employee has been working in the commercial and customer management of the Spanish company, representing PLD Space.
Before joining PLD Space, Pablo developed his professional career from California (United States) working as Mission Manager of Launching Services with SpaceX as well as providing aerospace consulting services.
Previously, Pablo had participated actively in several other rocket launch operations, such as Ariane 4, Ariane 5, Soyuz, Dnepr, Vega, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.
Pablo has participated in more than forty launch campaigns with different clients and launch bases such as Kourou (French Guiana), Yasny (Russia), Vandenberg (California) and Cape Canaveral (Florida).
Pablo has worked as a Launcher and Satellite Design Engineer at Airbus Defense and Space (CASA Espacio). Also, as Launch Mission Manager and Launcher Integration Engineer at Arianespace. Next, Pablo transition his career to the United States as a customer representative with Hisdesat (in Palo Alto), for the launching of the SPAINSAT and XTAR satellites with Ariane 5. After that, worked as Business Development Manager at INSA (ISDEFE), and also participated in the development and execution of the first mission of the Vega launcher with the European Space Agency. He was responsible for Business Development and Integration, putting into service the Earth observation satellite DEIMOS-2 with Elecnor-Deimos.
Pablo successfully participated in the MIURA 1 maiden launch, marking a significant milestone and representing the culmination of years of hard work, innovation, and dedication at PLD Space. Currently, he travels all over the world to stay close to current and new international customers, constantly seeking new opportunities and complementary spaceports to the Diamant site at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana to meet the increasing needs of the MIURA launch vehicle family. PLD Space has recently expanded its global launch capacity with its second spaceport, Etlaq in Oman. Pablo coordinates his activities between the U.S. and Europe, focusing on customer needs, the integration process, and preparing for PLD Space’s upcoming missions.
In addition, Pablo is registered with the U.S Department of State Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), to be able to interact with different types of customers and suppliers, both in the commercial field and in other more restrictive areas, such as defense whose activities may be subject to ITAR regulation.

As the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Isar Aerospace, Stella Guillen is responsible for all Strategy, Business Development, Sales, and Marketing activities. Stella’s background spans the satellite industry, from telecommunications to launch services.
From 2010 to 2016, Stella built up and oversaw sales efforts and client relationships for SpaceX. She joined the company at an early stage of the Falcon 9 / Falcon Heavy program, signing SpaceX’s first European customers such as SES, Inmarsat, Eutelsat, Hispasat, and others, winning more than $1B in sales. Stella worked in different Business Development and Sales positions: for Arianespace, Inc. and Spaceflight Industries, she managed all aspects of the launch services sales and marketing activities for customers and some of the largest satellite fleet operators such as SES, Intelsat, and satellite service providers such as Spacenet and Verestar, she opened new markets worldwide extending their customer base and raising company valuation.
She holds an MBA from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University.

Jörn Spurmann is the Chief Commercial Officer of Rocket Factory Augsburg AG and managing director of RFA Azores. As Rocket Factory’s co-founder he operationalized the company mid of 2018. Mr. Spurmann has a proven track record as head of sales, program and business unit manager in the space domain. Throughout his senior leadership roles, he has gained excellent knowledge of the institutional and commercial space business.