Akshay Patel is Vice President, Strategy and Business Developmentat Planetary Resources.

Akshay Patel was previously a Vice President in Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley advising companies across the space and satellite industry value chain. He has advised on the two largest transactions in the Earth Observation industry ­ the $500MM sale of Skybox Imaging to Google and the $900MM merger of DigitalGlobe and GeoEye.

In addition, Akshay published one of the first small satellite market studies in the industry and is regarded as a thought leader in the New Space industry. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Akshay worked at Lockheed Martin in satellite systems engineer. Akshay has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS and M.Eng in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.

At Planetary Resources, Akshay leads the company’s Earth Observation business and overall business and financial strategy.