ICEYE

Rafal Modrzewski is a Polish engineer who graduated from the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology at Warsaw University of Technology and pursued master's studies in radio engineering at Aalto University in Finland, where he led the on-board data-handling team for Aalto-1, Finland's first nanosatellite. He earlier worked as a researcher at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in its RFID and wireless-sensing group. He co-founded ICEYE as a project in 2012 with Pekka Laurila, incorporating the company in 2014 to build and operate the world's largest constellation of small synthetic-aperture radar satellites. He serves as CEO and chairman, and was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 in technology in 2018.

Pekka Laurila is a Finnish co-founder of ICEYE who, like CEO Rafal Modrzewski, came out of Aalto University's nanosatellite program, where he worked on the Aalto-1 mission while studying engineering and geoinformation systems. He co-founded ICEYE with Modrzewski in 2012, and as the company's early chief financial officer raised its initial $20 million in funding. He now serves as chief strategy officer, directing ICEYE's corporate strategy as it scales its SAR satellite fleet and expands into natural-catastrophe insurance and defense intelligence markets.