Geolocation Pioneers

Mariam Sorond is NextNav’s Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer. She has nearly three decades of experience leading transformational change across mobile, wireless, and satellite networks industries and has held leadership positions within start-ups and large companies. She brings extensive expertise in commercializing technologies that transform companies to increase monetization, with a proven track record of success. This experience is foundational to furthering NextNav’s leadership with 3D geolocation and GPS resiliency. Before joining NextNav as CEO in November 2023, she served as the Chief Technology Officer, SEBU at VMWare, CRDO at CableLabs and Chief Wireless Architect at DISH. She also served on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) and the Federal Communications Commission’s Technological Advisory Council. Mariam is proud to lead NextNav into a new chapter with the ultimate goal of solving a national security problem. NextNav’s innovative terrestrial PNT technology serves as a complement and backup to traditional GPS services.

Jim Black is NextNav’s General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, where he leads the company’s legal, compliance, and corporate governance functions. He oversees all legal operations, contracts management, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, and intellectual property strategy while delivering expert counsel on securities law, risk mitigation strategies, and complex corporate transactions. 

With 20 years of legal experience advising public company leadership teams and boards of directors, he is an experienced attorney with valuable in-house counsel expertise. Jim navigates complex legal landscapes while ensuring business decisions align with legal and regulatory requirements, providing clear guidance to executive leadership as NextNav evolves.  

Before joining NextNav, Jim served as the general counsel of Terran Orbital Corporation, where he managed legal operations for the NYSE-listed satellite manufacturer and led the company through its recent sale to Lockheed Martin. His distinguished career also includes serving as the chief legal officer of Nasdaq-listed Osiris Therapeutics and senior legal positions at Ultra Electronics, Osiris Therapeutics, and Northrop Grumman. 

Jim holds a Juris Doctor from the William and Mary School of Law, a Master of Arts in Anthropology from The George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology from James Madison University. 

As Chief Business Development Officer, Sidd Chenumolu spearheads our business development strategy, focusing on building high-impact partnerships and expanding our industry ecosystem. He brings together our client and partner teams to drive the adoption of our terrestrial complement and backup to GPS technology, playing a critical role in the integration of NextNav’s PNT solutions with 5G broadband infrastructure across multiple sectors.

With over 20 years of leadership experience in telecommunications and technology, Sidd has held executive roles at leading companies, including Broadcom, DISH Network, Sprint, and Clearwire. His career is marked by a consistent track record of securing multi-billion-dollar contracts, forging strategic alliances, and delivering transformative business value. He is known for his deep expertise in complex telecommunications negotiations and his ability to cultivate lasting industry relationships. His technical knowledge spans wireless, cloud, networks, and emerging technologies, uniquely positioning him to lead our business development efforts into the future.

He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communications from the University of Madras, India.

Christian Gates is NextNav’s Chief Financial Officer. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Development, leading the business development team, managing the company’s corporate partnerships, and contributing to its policy outreach efforts. Before joining NextNav, he was VP of Strategy at SkyTerra. Mr. Gates’ background includes a range of telecommunications and technology ventures, after starting his career in finance. Mr. Gates is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Renee Gregory serves as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, leading NextNav’s regulatory approval process and compliance work with a major focus on securing FCC approvals essential to NextNav’s mission to provide a robust terrestrial complement and backup to GPS. In this role, she drives a comprehensive regulatory strategy in close coordination with team members across the organization and key external partners and stakeholders.

Her federal experience includes serving as Senior Policy Advisor for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and key advisory roles at both the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Federal Communications Commission. In the private sector, she held leadership positions at Google and prominent international law firms, where she advised technology and telecommunications clients. Her expertise centers on navigating the complex interplay of business strategy, technology, regulatory and policy frameworks to deliver effective solutions.

Renee holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Yale University.

As Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Susan Insley oversees NextNav’s program management and operations, product and software, IT & security, and human resources.  

A seasoned leader with over 25 years of experience in people management, finance, and business operations, Susan has held key roles at renowned technology companies, including VMware, VeriSign, and Intel. She excels in aligning organizational strategy with business goals, driving transformative changes that enhance operational efficiency and elevate profitability. With a proven track record of optimizing processes and cultivating high-performing teams, Susan consistently delivers measurable, meaningful results on a global scale. 

Prior to her expanded role, Susan served as NextNav’s Chief People Officer, where she successfully transformed the company’s people strategy and enhanced employee engagement worldwide. Her talent for orchestrating enterprise-wide alignment across complex organizations enables her to identify strategic opportunities and implement effective solutions. 

Susan earned her bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Georgia and received certifications in Internal Audit and Risk Management Assurance. Beyond her professional achievements, she serves on the board of Team Telomere, a non-profit organization supporting individuals affected by Telomere Biology Disorders.

John Kim leads NextNav’s technical strategy on the company’s vision to deliver a terrestrial complement and backup to GPS over 5G networks. The forward-thinking leadership he has established has helped to position the company as a pioneer in this mission-critical technology domain. 

A dynamic executive with over 20 years of expertise across wired, wireless, and cable industries, John brings valuable experience from both innovative startups and Fortune 200 corporations. His career spans technology leadership roles across the telecommunications ecosystem, including positions at VMWare, CableLabs, DISH Network, and Time Warner Cable. 

John holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, a Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Melon University. 

Ed Mortimer serves as Vice President of Government Affairs at NextNav, where he leads engagement with government officials, agencies, and industry associations. As a principal advocate for developing terrestrial complement and backup systems to GPS, Ed educates policymakers—particularly on Capitol Hill—about the critical importance of resilient positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) technologies using 5G Broadband Spectrum.

With over 30 years of experience, Ed has built a distinguished career at the intersection of public and private sectors, demonstrating expertise in government affairs on the Hill within the technology and infrastructure domains. Ed’s advocacy and influence have earned him recognition as a “Top Lobbyist” by The Hill for three consecutive years (2022-2024).

His career includes more than 11 years with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, most recently as Vice President of Transportation and Infrastructure. After initially joining as Director, Ed transitioned to AECOM, a global infrastructure leader, where he directed government affairs. Upon his return to the Chamber, he was instrumental in securing passage of the 2021 landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation (BIL).

Ed holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from The American University and completed executive education at Georgetown University.

As Co-Founder and CTO of NextNav, Arun Raghupathy leads the company’s direction in technology innovation and engineering development. Currently he’s guiding the development of NextNav’s next-generation Positioning, Navigation & Timing (PNT) technology, which leverages more than a decade of innovation and incorporates 5G broadband radio access technology and advanced positioning reference signals – designed to meet the demands of an increasingly PNT-reliant world. Arun played a pivotal role in architecting NextNav’s 3-D PNT solutions and services, contributing to foundational IP and driving system, hardware, and software design. He holds more than 50 patents.

Before co-founding NextNav, Arun spent over a decade at Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. At Qualcomm, he contributed to transmitter design and helped develop the first CDMA direct-conversion chipset for mobile handsets. At Texas Instruments, he led the GPS systems team in the development and implementation of advanced GPS signal processing techniques used in smartphone multi-radio chipsets.

Arun received the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Maryland’s Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from UMD and a B.Tech. from IIT Madras.

Heather Ritchie is a senior marketing executive with over 25 years of experience driving growth and brand transformation in technology, telecom, and infrastructure sectors. As Chief Marketing Officer at NextNav, she leads integrated marketing and communications strategies that support the company’s mission to provide a much-needed terrestrial complement and backup to GPS.

Previously, she served as CMO at Ubicquia, supporting over 4x revenue growth and expanding market presence across smart cities and utilities. She also led marketing for Nokia’s $3.6B Cloud and Network Services division and managed global marketing operations for Alcatel-Lucent’s $20B business. Her experience spans global and regional roles, corporate strategy, and end-to-end marketing leadership for one of the world’s most recognized technology brands.

Heather holds a degree in Rhetoric and Professional Writing from the University of Waterloo and is committed to lifelong learning and leadership development. She has guest lectured at the University of Toronto and led the communications track for Nokia’s Women in Leadership program for a decade.

Serving as Chief Innovation Officer at NextNav, Sanyogita Shamsunder is a leading voice in wireless technology development and advancement. As a distinguished thought leader, she articulates NextNav’s pioneering innovations and future-focused initiatives, engaging diverse global audiences to strengthen NextNav’s market presence and technical advantage. Through her work, the company’s innovations and long-term vision gain recognition and impact within the broader marketplace. 

Previously, Sanyogita led Edge Network Infrastructure at Google, managing their multi-vendor Global Edge Network. At Verizon, as Vice President of Product Strategy and Operations, she pioneered early 5G network technology development. 

Sanyogita  is regularly invited to deliver plenary, keynote addresses and panel discussions at premier technology conferences, including the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and Mobile World Congress (MWC). She contributes her expertise through board service with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC), and as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at New York Institute of Technology. 

Sanyogita holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and mathematics from the University of Virginia, an MBA from the Wharton School, and a B.E. from Osmania University, India.