MARK J. VANDERAAR, President, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Member of the Board of Directors

Mr. Vanderaar is President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Efficient Channel Coding (ECC). He has over fifteen years business and management experience in the advanced communications industry. As ECC’s CEO, he has stewarded ECC from a start-up company through its sale to Viasat, Inc. in December 2005. He continues to lead ECC as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Viasat, Inc. 

Prior to founding ECC, Mr. Vanderaar worked over eight years at NASA where he was a manager for several NASA contractors developing advanced satellite communications technologies. Additionally, Mr. Vanderaar has made significant technical contributions in satellite communications, optical networking, forward error correction and broadband terrestrial applications. He has multiple patents, several patents pending and has contributed to numerous technical publications. He holds an MSEE from the University of Toledo and a BSEE from Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Thesling is a Co-Founder and is the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of ECC, a position he has held since 1998. As CTO, Dr. Thesling is responsible for all research and development along with providing key business development support activities. Dr. Thesling has over thirteen years experience in the fields of digital signal processing, communications systems design and forward error correction. Among his many technical innovations is ECC’s original patent for Turbo Product Code (TPC) decoding algorithms, which resulted in the first commercially available turbo coding forward error correction chip. His technical contributions in satellite communications include the design of many key aspects of adaptive satellite networks. Dr. Thesling has multiple patents, several patents pending, numerous technical publications. He holds a Doctor of Engineering, MSEE, and BSEE, all from Cleveland State University. He is a member of the IEEE Tau Beta Pi, and Eta Kappa Nu.

Mr. Schossler joined ECC in 1998 as Chief Operating Officer (COO). As COO he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of ECC and financial matters of the company. As a Member of the Board of Directors his business expertise has been instrumental in providing key strategic direction for the company as well as defining corporate policies. Prior to joining ECC, Mr. Schossler started Innovative Computer Engineering, a software consulting company. He also co-founded TS Engineering, a digital signal processing company that was subsequently sold. Mr. Schossler holds three patents he is a graduate MSME from University of Cincinnati and a BSME from Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Gedney joined ECC as a Member of the Board in July 2000 and was hired as a full time consultant in March 2002. His primary responsibilities include business development activities with special emphasis on the satellite communications marketplace. His extensive knowledge of the satellite communications business has allowed ECC to identify and pursue key opportunities. As a member of the Board of Director, Dr. Gedney’s extensive professional experience has been essential to running a fiscally sound, high growth company. Prior to ECC, he worked at the NASA Glenn Research Facility were he was program manager for the first Ka-band, switching and processing communications satellite, the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS). Dr. Gedney has continued to provide leadership in the area of advanced satellite systems for seamless satellite/terrestrial digital networks. He has worked closely with advanced technology companies such as Motorola, Sprint, WildBlue, Intelsat, Tele-TV, LNR Communications, Societe Europeenne des Satellites (SES), Orbital Science Corporation (OSC), and Lockheed Martin. Dr. Gedney holds a Doctor of Engineering from Case Western University, a MSME from Columbia University, and a BSME from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.