Neel Mehta
Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch is senior vice president for government policy, strategy and outreach for Inmarsat‘s U.S. government services business unit.
Cowen-Hirsch shapes Inmarsat’s strategic direction and policy regarding government and leads the company’s government outreach and advocacy program. She shapes the program’s execution and government focused capabilities.
Cowen-Hirsch, a 20-year veteran of the defense and aerospace industry, also has spent part of her career in the public sector, serving in the Senior Executive Service within the Defense Department.
At the Defense Information Systems Agency, she served as program executive officer for satellite communications, teleport and services. She was responsible for acquiring capabilities that provided critical access to deployed warfighters, including responsive and cost-effective satellite communications services.
Cowen-Hirsch has also served as a vice component acquisition executive, where she held responsibility for acquisition oversight and horizontal integration of DISA’s products, services, and programs.
As director of the Defense Spectrum Office, she developed national security spectrum strategic plans and policy, and was responsible for national and international negotiation of defense spectrum issues.
Cowen-Hirsch holds an Exemplary Service Medal for her service with the Defense Department. She is also rated experimental flight test engineer and Inmarsat says she was the first female civilian mission commander for the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft mission.
Cowen-Hirsch received her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kentucky and completed post-graduate studies in engineering management at the University of Dayton. She is also a graduate of the University of Tennessee‘s Space Institute Experimental Flight Test Program, the Defense Department’s Acquisition Management Program and the Cambridge Senior Executive Leadership Program.
