President: Dave Copeland

SilverSat’s founding President, Dave Copeland, is a space communications systems engineer with over 30 years’ experience in microwave systems and electronics design.  He is currently the telecommunications lead engineer for NASA’s mission to study the Sun, the Parker Solar Probe. He earned his Bachelors of Science from Virginia Tech and Masters of Science from the University of Maryland, both in Electrical Engineering. His career spans numerous different applications in microwave and fiber optics communications, and includes four patents.  This career began with building projects as a kid, and was shaped early on through the guidance of mentors who gave him a soldering iron and helped him on his way.

Treasurer: Chris Rutledge

Chris Rutledge is a founding member of SilverSat and serves as our Treasurer. Chris has 25 years of experience in nonprofit management experience. He has, as a volunteer leader, served 5 terms as a PTA President, and has served on the County PTA Board for three years. He has vast experience in community outreach and development.

 

Secretary: Sandra Amorim

 

Board of Directors

Jim Barr

Jim Barr is a founding member of SilverSat. Jim has been working in the Internet and Telecom industry for more than 20 years.  Jim has designed, built, and operated massive Internet networks for telecom carriers including AOL, Clearwire, Time Warner Cable, and others. Jim currently works for Ruckus Wireless, a business unit of Arris/Commscope, working with the Cable TV Industry to deploy the nationwide CableWiFi initiative of more than 500,000 WiFi hotspots across the United States. In 2019, Jim was awarded a patent for a method of WiFi troubleshooting. Jim is also working with customers to design and build a network with LTE CBRS, a new frequency being made available for shared-access LTE small cells. Outside of work, Jim is the advisor of a BSA Venture Crew and Assistant Scoutmaster for a BSA Troop. He leads coed groups of scouts on camping, backpacking, and boating adventures around the mid-Atlantic and the US.

Leticia Barr

Leticia Barr is a founding member of SilverSat and served as SilverSat’s Secretary. Leticia is a former elementary and middle school computer science & engineering teacher for Montgomery County Public Schools. She founded the award-winning Tech Savvy Mama blog in 2008. Her depth of knowledge about the technology, education, and social media space has enabled her to work as an educational consultant and social media strategist, educating brands about the social media space to help them develop meaningful and targeted messaging to reach parents.

Through the years she has worked with companies such as Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, Capital One, and Corning Gorilla Glass to amplify the importance of STEM education for kids. She uses her knowledge of social media and STEM education to further SilverSat’s educational mission.

Tom Conrad

Tom Conrad brings over 40 years of experience, developing complex hardware products and rapidly growing companies from startup through acquisition.  He is currently President of Arcane Ideas (AI).  AI is developing a network of solar-powered IoT devices for environmental monitoring applications.  He was also a co-founder and technical lead at Redwire, focused on high-reliability trusted hardware systems.

Prior to Redwire, he was the VP in charge of Advanced Hardware Systems for Parsons.  He joined Parsons through their acquisition of Fourth Dimension (4D) Engineering in 2018.  Tom was the co-founder and President of 4D, growing the company to over $36M in revenue in 2018.  As President of Fourth Dimension, he oversaw all business activities, and worked as a technical advisor for key company programs.

Prior to 4D, Tom was the President of EVI Technology.  He led the development and management of all business and engineering processes.  Under his leadership, the company grew from $10M revenues to over $27M. Tom was a lead contributor to the company sale to EDO Corporation in 2005.  While with EDO, he continued as General Manager for EVI where he was responsible for corporate integration, systems migration and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.  He also provided M&A support, including business and due diligence analysis.

Mr. Conrad holds a BA in Physics and an MS in Applied Physics from Johns Hopkins University.

Cheryl Copeland

Cheryl Guerin Copeland is a founding member of SilverSat. Cheryl is a registered architect, serving residential and institutional clients in the greater metropolitan Washington DC area for the past 25 years. She was recently named Principal at Susan Woodward Notkins Architects, PC in McLean, VA. She has been actively involved in neighborhood and school committees as well as professional organizations. Currently she is a Girl Scout troop leader and Service Unit manager.