Key Staff

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.

Sidney holds an MSEE With Distinction from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, a BS With Merit from the US Naval Academy, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 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.

Sidney M. Skjei, P.E.

President

Michael 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.

Michael 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. Michael Asmussen has also been published in several technical publications including the National Association of Broadcasters Technical Proceedings.

Michael Asmussen

Vice President

Ken 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.

Ken Ryan, P.E.

Vice President

Bill Swart has a wide range of experience in systems engineering and project management on a variety of telecommunications projects in both terrestrial and satellite transmission systems. With over twenty years of industry experience, he is skilled in program management and systems engineering of IT and communications systems including system architecture and design, program management, functional and technical requirements definition, traffic and bandwidth analysis, technology evaluation, vendor selection and oversight, system integration and testing, and acquisition documentation development based on state-of-the-art technologies. He has developed implementation strategies for digital content distribution systems using DVB, ATSC, and IP standards for transport over various network topologies. Bill has extensive experience working with a broad range of commercial and government clients.

Bill holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and has received several awards and letters of commendation for his contributions in the areas of system specification, testing, and implementation.