About
March 7, 2021News
March 8, 2021Mr. Francis Auricchio: Founder, President & CEO
Mr. Francis Auricchio has over 41 years of experience delivering satellite communications hardware. Prior to co-founding Mission Microwave, he served as Chief Executive Officer of amplifier provider Wavestream Corporation, where he grew the company to over $70M in revenue, leading to an acquisition. He was previously a Sr. Scientist at Boeing Satellite Systems (formerly Hughes Space and Communications Company) where he focused on design, development and production of solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) and low noise amplifiers (LNAs). He held several management positions with Boeing; responsible for the management of major external development efforts and internal research and development activities, including resource allocation, risk assessment, investigation and evaluation of new devices, and the development of microwave and millimeter wave amplifiers. In addition to his management status while at Boeing, Mr. Auricchio was key in developing MMIC devices for the Spaceway™ satellite program and microwave power FETs for the SSPA product line. He also led an integrated product team developing high-power optical amplifiers for space. Mr. Auricchio earned a Master’s degree in business administration from Loyola Marymount University and a Bachelor’s degree in engineering technology from DeVry Institute of Technology.
Dr. Michael DeLisio: Founder, CTO
Dr. Michael DeLisio has over 25 years of experience developing leading-edge solid state power amplifiers and is a co-founder of Mission Microwave Technologies. He was previously co-founder and CTO of Wavestream Corporation, the first company to successfully commercialize microwave and millimeter-wave spatial power-combining techniques. He has authored more than 65 publications and patents, and in 2014 was selected by the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society to become an IEEE Fellow, in recognition of his pioneering work commercializing high-power solid-state amplifier technologies. Prior to founding Wavestream, Dr. Delisio was a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and was a visiting associate at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering at Caltech.
Dr. Blythe (Chad) Deckman: Founder, VP Research & Development
Dr. Blythe (Chad) Deckman has over 20 years of experience developing RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave products, and is a co-founder of Mission Microwave Technologies. He was previously Vice President of Engineering and a Founder of Wavestream Corporation, where he advanced a new core spatial power combining technology from research concept to high-reliability, high-volume production. His 38 GHz, 5-watt single chip Grid Amplifier still holds the record for the highest output power from a single chip at that frequency. Prior to co-founding Wavestream, Dr. Deckman was an engineer at Agilent, developing leading-edge test equipment. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and the B.S. degree from the California State Polytechnic University.
Mr. James Lee: Founder, Chief Engineer
Mr. James Lee has over 35 years of experience developing high reliability power supplies. He has worked in the space industry for 18 years: at Boeing Satellite Systems and Northrop Grumman designing highly reliable power converters for solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) and Travelling Wave Tube Amplifiers (TWTAs). As a technical manager at Wavestream Corporation, he led an engineering staff and developed numerous high power Block Upconverters (BUCs) product lines. As a chief engineer, and co-founder of Mission Microwave, he is responsible for the design of world class BUCs, with optimized size, weight, efficiency and the highest reliability in the industry. He has received seven patents on switching converters and electronics circuits for SSPAs and TWTAs. He received a B.S.E.E. in electrical engineering from University of California, Los Angeles.
Mr. Carl Emery: Founder, VP Operations
Mr. Carl Emery has over 38 years of experience developing and delivering satellite communications hardware. Before co-founding Mission Microwave he served as Chief Operations Officer of Wavestream Corporation, where he managed the production operations. He was previously a Senior Engineer at Northrop Grumman Space and Technology NGST (formerly TRW Space and Technology) where he focused on new technologies, design and development of RF hardware, antennas and spacecraft payloads. During his time at NGST he held several management positions. Mr. Emery was also a Section Head at Boeing Satellite Systems (formerly Hughes Space and Communications Company) where he managed the mechanical design and development of solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs), low noise amplifiers (LNAs) and other satellite RF hardware. Mr. Emery earned a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from California State University, Long Beach.
Mr. Steve Richeson: VP Sales & Marketing
Mr. Steve Richeson joined Mission Microwave in 2017 and is responsible for our sales and marketing organization. He has over 30 years of Satellite and Radio Frequency (RF) experience in engineering and sales leadership roles at Advantech Wireless, Exelis Inc., Harris Corporation, EchoStar, Scientific-Atlanta, GTE Spacenet International, RSi SATCOM Technologies and Schlumberger. Mr. Richeson was the founding CEO of RF Solutions, Inc. a compound semiconductor design firm started by Georgia Tech faculty where he raised two rounds of venture investment. Mr. Richeson is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Registered Professional Engineer. Mr. Richeson earned his electrical engineering degree at Georgia Tech and an MBA at Georgia State University.
