Potomac Officers Club

Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, Inmarsat

Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch is senior vice president for government policy, strategy and outreach for Inmarsat‘s U.S. government services business unit.

Cowen-Hirsch shapes Inmarsat’s strategic direction and policy relating to government and leads the government outreach and advocacy program. She shapes the program’s execution and government focused capabilities.

Cowen-Hirsch, a 20-year veteran of the defense and aerospace industry, also has spent part of her career in the public sector as a member of the Senior Executive Service of the Defense Department.

At the Defense Information Systems Agency, she served as program executive officer for satellite communications, teleport and services. In this capacity, she was responsible for acquiring capabilities that included responsive, cost-effective, mission-oriented and customer-focused SATCOM services.

Additional SES positions Cowen-Hirsch has served in include vice component acquisition executive, where she held management responsibility for the acquisition oversight and horizontal integration of DISA’s products, services, and programs.

As director of the Defense Spectrum Office, her responsibilities included developing national security spectrum strategic plans and policy, and national and international negotiation of defense spectrum issues.

Cowen-Hirsch received an Exemplary Service Medal for her service with the Defense Department.

Cowen-Hirsch is a rated experimental flight test engineer and was the first female civilian mission commander for the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft mission.

Cowen-Hirsch received her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kentucky and completed post-graduate studies in engineering management at the University of Dayton. She is also a graduate of the University of Tennessee Space Institute Experimental Flight Test Program, the Defense Department’s Acquisition Management Program and the Cambridge Senior Executive Leadership Program.