Press Release: Nancy Walker joins SmartSky Networks in new CCO role

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SmartSky Networks, a next-generation airborne communications provider, today announced that Nancy Walker has joined the company in the newly created role of Chief Commercial Officer.

Walker’s vast knowledge of the inflight connectivity (IFC) industry, coupled with her wealth of aerospace business development and avionics engineering experience, will position her to make an immediate and valuable contribution to SmartSky.

With the company’s 4G LTE air-to-ground network well into its national roll-out phase, Walker will lead SmartSky’s network-related sales and marketing efforts across various verticals, including business and commercial aviation.

“Nancy’s experiences and skills are a perfect complement to the existing SmartSky executive team. Her unique background enables her to understand the intricate details and interdependencies of IFC system engineering, program management, contracts, customer service, and customer support,” said Ryan Stone, president of SmartSky Networks. “Our partners and customers alike will appreciate her ability to distill this complexity into an easy to understand form, to improve our communications with them, to better understand and address their pain points, and most importantly, to help them succeed.”

Walker is an aviation industry veteran with more than 30 years of aerospace technology and IFC experience. She most recently served as a senior portfolio manager for Leonardo DRS, where she was responsible for acquisition and execution of a large $100M+ assortment of programs in support of ruggedized network computing systems for U.S. defense and international military customers. Previously, Walker held various positions of increasing responsibility in technical, programmatic, leadership, and business development areas at NASA, Harris, LiveTV, and Thales.

“I am very excited to help shape the future of aviation by joining the innovative team at SmartSky,” said Walker. “My experience in launching new IFC products and services, obtaining STCs and linefit, and establishing appropriate customer care will allow me to support and fulfill the unique connectivity requirements of SmartSky’s partners and customers.”

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Walker holds a Master of Science in engineering management and Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Florida Institute of Technology. She resides in Melbourne, FL.

ABOUT SMARTSKY NETWORKS

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, SmartSky Networks was formed in 2011 by senior aviation and telecommunications executives seeking to transform aviation through the use of disruptive communications technologies and related tools. Working with leading aerospace and technology partners, SmartSky has begun the rollout of its innovative, air-to-ground network, SmartSky 4G LTE. The network takes advantage of patented spectrum reuse, advanced beamforming technologies and 60 MHz of spectrum for significantly enhanced connectivity. SmartSky 4G LTE delivers data to the aircraft at rates comparable with next generation satellite solutions and provides unmatched capacity for data transmissions from the aircraft to the ground. This real-time, low latency, bidirectional data link makes SmartSky 4G LTE a key enabler for the new and enhanced apps, services, and hardware that will usher in the digitization of the aviation industry. Learn more at www.smartskynetworks.com.