WASHINGTON -- The president of one of the leading commercial satellite imaging companies, Space Imaging, has stepped down.
Space Imaging, the frontrunner in the 1-meter imaging race, confirmed Monday that president Jeffrey K. Harris was no longer with the company.
Harris, who joined the Thornton, Colorado-based company in 1996, will become president of special programs for Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems in Fairfax, Virginia, Space Imaging spokesman Mark Brender said. Lockheed Martin owns a large stake in Space Imaging.
Industry insiders claim that the news is no big surprise, since the company has been unable to expand its market significantly beyond its largest customer -- the Pentagon. They also claim that Space Imaging CEO John Copple and Harris were not in agreement over the direction the company should take.
Tony Palizzi, a former Space Imaging employee who left the company a few years ago, said that the firm has had its share of problems.
"There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed, such as who is in charge and how are they going to move forward," said Palizzi, who ran the company's distribution and strategic alliances division between 1995 and 1998.
John Pike of the Federation of American Scientist agrees that Space Imaging is going through some growing pains.
"They are going through a major transitioning from running a spy-satellite company to selling their product," Pike said.
Harris is a former National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) director who shed light on the agency's covert operations. He was later fired when the NRO couldn't account for some $3.8 billion in funds.
Brender defends Harris’ move to Lockheed, downplaying any division in management over the company’s future plans. "This was an opportunity for Jeff to work with an industry giant," he said.
Industry sources say that the company is also having problems processing the volume of images that come into their Colorado office, making it a customer service nightmare.
"It takes a long time to turn around an order," Pike said.
Brender countered that customers are satisfied with service. "We are delivering products to our customers," he said.
Others are also questioning the health of the 1-meter imaging IKONOS satellite. Since its launch in September 1999, the satellite has been worked on by engineers and has yet to be handed over to Space Imaging’s sales force.
"The imagery is quite adequate," said Pike. "But looking at what is available, two-thirds of the images are cloudy."
Brender said that the testing and calibrating the satellite is just part of doing business.
"We finished testing the satellite last month and it’s working better than we anticipated," said Brender. "We are trying to create a whole new industry with technology never available to the public before."
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