Sidney M. Skjei, P.E.

Co-Founder of Skjei Telecom, Sidney Skjei has over 35 years experience in engineering and development of a wide range of hardware and software telecommunications and broadcasting products, systems and services, and in providing engineering support to the procurement, operation and marketing of geosynchronous communications satellites. He is highly knowledgeable in all major satellite communications market areas: global, U.S. domestic and military. His engineering responsibilities have included spacecraft payload design, telemetry tracking, control and monitoring systems, earth station engineering, network design and transponder operations.

His experience includes highly complex and technical system analysis, tradeoff evaluation and management recommendation to a wide variety of networks and system implementations, most frequently involving RF systems, digital video, two-way data, and voice distribution networks. Sidney has supported multiple-user application areas, including audio and video broadcast systems, Internet access and trunking, thin route network extension, and satellite transponder sales and management. As the President and Principal Consulting Engineer for Skjei Telecom, Sidney has been entrusted by clients to perform technical due diligence and advisement on multi-million dollar acquisitions. He is also expert in all aspects of planning, developing and procurement of digital television broadcast systems, as well as transmission of these systems via fiber optic, cable and satellite media.

Business Continuity Services he has provided include Disaster Recovery Planning for backup sites and emergency restoration and transmission of television and radio broadcast channels. Sidney has developed Disaster Recovery Plans for more than 10 broadcast organizations, three of which have been used in actual disasters, including the September 11 bombings.

Sidney holds an MSEE With Distinction from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and a BS With Merit from the US Naval Academy. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia and a Certified Business Continuity Professional by the International Disaster Recovery Institute. He has taught numerous satellite and digital video courses for both private industry and government students. He is author or co-author of numerous articles and two textbooks involving satellite telecommunications. He has testified as Litigative Consultant and Expert Witness in broadcast industry legal proceedings.

Carmel Ortiz
A co-founder of Skjei Telecom, Carmel Ortiz has been extensively involved in satellite communications and broadcast technologies for the majority of her career. Her engineering expertise is coupled with in-depth product development experience with numerous telecommunications products and services. As the firm's primary consultant on projects requiring in-depth analytical and design capabilities, she has provided technical requirements analysis, design specifications, and procurement support to numerous commercial and government clients. Carmel has been actively involved in broadcast system workflow analysis, and provided key support to a broadcasting client in the planning, testing and cutover of a real-time, tape-based origination system to a file-based, non-real time distribution infrastructure. She has also been involved in the design and deployment of custom systems and networks for emergency alerting infrastructures, which resulted in a more robust warning infrastructure for the nation. Carmel has extensive project management expertise and specific capabilities in the area of broadcasting technology, network management, and operations and maintenance of large distributed networks.

Carmel is a graduate of The Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering. She is a recipient of GTE's distinguished Leslie Warner Award for technical achievement and is published in the IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications.

Michael Asmussen
Mr. Asmussen has over two decades of experience in the field of communications. He is skilled in Satellite Communications, Digital Audio Technologies, Cable and Broadcast TV Network Engineering and Operations, Conditional Access Systems Management, Project and Vendor Management, Strategic Technology Evaluations, and Marketing and Business Development. His engineering and management expertise has ensured the successful deployment and launch of numerous digital video and audio broadcast services, including DARS and SDTV / HDTV video services. He has proven himself well qualified to lead complex technology projects through all stages of requirements analysis, specification, procurement, design, development, and implementation. His strong organization / communications skills and keen judgment under pressure have allowed him to excel in his previous roles in the training for, and process planning and operations of various high visibility on-air broadcast systems. His marketing and business analysis acumen serves him well in strategic technology planning and patent valuation / monetization efforts in which he is involved.

Mr. Asmussen earned a BSEE from the University of Maryland, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude, and has an MBA from Virginia Tech. He is the co-inventor of numerous published and pending patents in the area of digital broadcast technologies, targeted advertising, and electronic books. Mr. Asmussen has also been published in several technical publications including the National Association of Broadcasters Technical Proceedings.

Ken Ryan, P.E.
Mr. Ryan has over twenty years experience in RF communication systems design and regulatory consulting, as well as satellite system engineering expertise. He is an industry leader actively involved with commercial spectrum management services. He has held senior level management positions at Comsearch and has been active in development of new services involving emerging technologies. Ken provides technical and business development leadership for all satellite and wireless engineering services, frequency planning services, and earth station RFI services. His areas of expertise include Fixed, Satellite, and Emerging Wireless Technologies engineering, intersystem interference assessment, and spectrum management. Ken also brings considerable experience in commercial and federal government wireless initiatives, domestic and international specialized spectrum management services, emerging wireless services, and satellite Ka-band systems.

Ken holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University and a Masters of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He is a Professional Engineer registered in the state of Virginia. Ken has been active in the TIA and is currently the Vice-President of the National Spectrum Managers Association.

Bill Swart
Bill has a wide range of experience in systems engineering and project management on numerous telecommunications projects. With almost two decades of industry experience, Bill is skilled in satellite and terrestrial communications systems, functional requirements definition, technical specification definition, system architecture and design, vendor selection and oversight, system integration and testing, and acquisition documentation development. As a key member of Skjei Telecom’s consulting team, Bill is experienced in performing traffic and bandwidth analysis and developing potential system architectures based on state-of-the-art technologies in both terrestrial and satellite transmission systems. He has developed implementation strategies for distribution systems using DVB, ATSC, and IP standards for transfer via satellites, taking advantage of advanced coding and modulation techniques.

Bill has a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and has received several awards and letters of commendation for his contributions in the areas of system testing and implementation.

Nick Kotanchik
Nick has a wide range of experience in systems engineering and operations support, developed over the last 19 years working in the telecommunications and satellite industries. Nick is Skjei Telecom’s primary consultant on hands-on RF engineering, earth station implementation, and site/field engineering projects.  Nick is skilled in satellite and terrestrial communications systems with emphasis on earth station and terrestrial repeater implementation, operations support, quality assurance and documentation.  While at Skjei Telecom Nick has been involved with earth station engineering support projects at Mobile Satellite Ventures and XM Satellite Radio, has performed terrestrial RFI and satellite downlink EIRP measurements for a number of customers and heads up a technical support team that maintains XM Satellite Radio’s terrestrial repeaters.

Nick has a B.S. degree in Electronic Engineering Technology from Capitol College in Laurel, MD and an Associate Degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from the Pennsylvania State University.  Nick received several awards and letters of commendation for his contributions in technical operations including an Outstanding Achievement Award while at GTE Spacenet for his assistance in restoring service to the United States Secret Service earth station.