Craig Miller
Craig Miller serves as President, Government Systems at Viasat, Inc. In this role, he is responsible for leading the Company’s global defense business, which exceeds $1 billion in annual revenues by delivering cost-effective, innovative solutions to challenging defense requirements in satellite networks, tactical data links, information assurance, and cyber security.
Craig joined Viasat in 1995, and has held numerous technology, business and strategic leadership roles. Prior to serving as President of Government Systems, he was the segment’s Chief Technology Officer where he was responsible for establishing and communicating the technical strategy and roadmaps for a diverse portfolio of defense products and services: including satellite communications, tactical networks, information assurance, cyber/network security and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance.
Craig also launched the Viasat Government Systems Space Business, which created XVI, the first Link 16-enabled LEO satellite; Viasat’s mobile satellite communications gateway systems; and Viasat’s Hybrid Adaptive Network capabilities. In addition to his role within Viasat’s Government Systems business, Craig also worked with the design team of Viasat’s Space and Commercial Networks group, which developed the ViaSat-3 satellite constellation. In this role, he contributed to the design of Viasat’s next-generation satellite communications constellation and served as a liaison between Viasat’s commercial and government business segments.
Prior to Viasat, Craig worked at Hughes Missile Systems Group in Tucson, Arizona, where he was responsible for implementation of Electronic Counter Measures for the AAMRAM Missile System.
Craig holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, with emphasis on Communications and Signal Processing from the University of Arizona.
Brig. Gen. Steven J. Butow
Steve “Bucky” Butow is the Director of the Space Portfolio at the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). He joined the team in 2015 as an early plank owner when DIU was known as the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) and helped establish the organization’s operating locations in Silicon Valley; Boston, Massachusetts; and Austin, Texas.
Prior to joining DIU, Butow was the Vice Chief of the Joint Staff, California Military Department with responsibilities including cybersecurity, incident awareness and innovation. He is a former Commander of the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Airfield, CA, where his responsibilities included organizing, training, equipping, and maintaining 970 combat-ready forces and $1 Billion dollars of MC-130P aircraft, HH-60G
helicopters and special mission equipment supporting the U.S. Air Force’s combat rescue and personnel recovery missions. He has additionally served as the Deputy Director of the Joint Search and Rescue Center for U.S. Central Command in 2005, and as Chief of Personnel Recovery for U.S. Air Forces Central in 2007 supporting Operations IRAQI and ENDURING FREEDOM. He has more than 3,500 flying hours in T-37, T-38, C-130, HC-130 and MC-130P aircraft. In his reserve capacity, Butow is a Brigadier General serving part time as a Special Assistant to the Director, Air National Guard in a federal status.
As a researcher with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, Butow worked on instrument concepts for Mars surface soil analysis at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. He later served as co-principal investigator for a series of airborne science missions for which he was recognized for outstanding achievement and contributions to the Space Science Division in 1999 and received an Ames Honor Award as a member of an Astrobiology Mission Project Team in 2000.
Butow graduated from San Jose State University with a B.A. in Physics & Astronomy and earned a M.S. in Management with specialization in Air and Space Strategic Studies from the University of Maryland. He has also completed executive courses at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and was a member of the National Leadership Preparedness Initiative (NPLI) Cohort 16. Butow is a lifetime member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi for academic achievement.