Our Board

Cynda Collins Arsenault is the co-founder, board chair, and president. She also co-founded and serves on the Boards of the Arsenault Family Foundation and One Earth Future, an operating foundation working to catalyze systems that eliminate the root causes of war. She has 45+ years of experience in non-profit work, including peace and justice, criminal justice, mental health, disability rights, and environmental issues.

In her personal philanthropy, she focuses on bringing women’s critical skills to the table for solving the difficult problems we face, with a focus on women, peace, and security. She helped establish and works with One Earth Future’s initiative Our Secure Future - Women Make the Difference. She is a member of the Women's Donor Network, Women Moving Millions, and The International Women’s Forum. She is the founder of Women Powering Change, an annual gathering of women working to create a better world.

Ms. Collins Arsenault received her BA in Sociology and Psychology at University of California Berkeley and her MA in Education from Colorado State University.

Marcel Arsenault, with his wife Cynda Collins Arsenault, is co-founder of One Earth Future, as well as the Arsenault Family Foundation and the Secure World Foundation. Through these foundations, Marcel pursues his passion of promoting systems of governance which prevent war.

Marcel served as a board member for MARC for 5 years (currently Arc Thrift-funding advocacy and inclusion for people with developmental disabilities).  His achievements have won him numerous awards including the “Conservationist Award” for his participation in Open Space projects in Boulder, Colorado and the distinguished “Steven B. Hart” award from the Colorado Historical Society for restoring the Tabor residence and the Tabor Grand Hotel in Leadville.  He was also Vice Chair of Eco-Cycle Boulder, one of the earliest and largest non-profit recycling organizations in the United States.

As founder of Real Capital Solutions, Marcel oversees a portfolio exceeding $1.5 billion in real estate assets.  He has delivered numerous presentations to various universities and real estate organizations.  He has authored several articles on real estate, including one academic publication, and is a contributing author of How to Build a Real Estate Empire.

He earned a B.S. degree from McGill University and was working toward a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Colorado when he started his career as an entrepreneur.

William Van Rensalier Parker, Vice-President, is the Principal of Global Engagement Solutions, LLC and the Director of International and Domestic Operations for Strategic Solutions Integrated, Inc.  His primary focus area is in finding disruptive technologies and assisting the client in bringing it to market.

Bill retired after 31 years of foreign service with the Department of State with the rank of Minister-Counselor, which is the diplomatic equivalent of Major General.  He has accumulated a vast array of contacts critical to national security interests at the highest levels of government and the private sector.  His foreign service and other postings include: Foreign Policy Advisor (POLAD), United States Strategic Command; New Delhi, India; the U.S. Mission to NATO, Brussels, Belgium; Davao, Philippines; Paramaribo, Suriname; Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; and numerous temporary duty assignments in Qatar, West Africa and numerous others.

He serves as an International Advisor to the Space Foundation and he previously supported Virginia Tech’s Applied Research Corporation and Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics lab as an Adjunct Fellow.

Bill holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Thiel College.  He has trained at the National Security Space Institute (NSSI) and has taken numerous senior level courses at the U.S. Department of State’s National Foreign Affairs Training Center.  He speaks French, survivor Spanish and Dutch as well as a few unique dialects learned on-the-ground.  He currently resides in Rockville, Maryland with his wife Carol and they have a daughter and son.

Ms. Marcia S. Smith, Secretary, is the founder and editor of SpacePolicyOnline.com and president of the Space and Technology Policy Group, LLC. Ms. Smith has more than four decades of experience in space policy. Before starting her own company and website in 2009, she was Director of the Space Studies Board (2006-2009) and additionally Director of the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (2007-2009) at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Previously, Ms. Smith was a specialist in U.S. and foreign military and civilian space activities and other science and technology policy issues at the Congressional Research Service (1975-2006), which provides objective, non-partisan research and analysis exclusively for the Members and committees of the U.S. Congress. During a leave of absence from 1985-1986, she served as Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission on Space, created by Congress and its members appointed by President Reagan to develop long term goals for the civilian space program. Before joining CRS (1973-1975), she worked in the Washington Office of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), then headquartered in New York.

Ms. Smith is a Fellow of AIAA and of the American Astronautical Society (AAS) and has served as an officer or committee member for both many times. She was a founder and President (1987) of Women in Aerospace and was awarded its Lifetime Achievement Award (2003). She is a member and former Vice President of the International Institute of Space Law and was awarded its Lifetime Achievement Award (2015). Among her many other professional activities, she is the North American editor of the journal Space Policy and on the Board of Editors of the journal New Space.

Ruth Pritchard-Kelly, Community Member, is a global expert on satellite regulatory policy with over 30 years of experience. She is the Principal at RPK Advisors, where she provides strategic guidance on global satellite regulatory frameworks. Previously, she served as Senior Advisor for Regulatory and Space Policy at OneWeb and as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at SES Networks. Her career has focused on advocating for innovative satellite technologies to improve global connectivity and sustainability.

At OneWeb, Pritchard-Kelly led international teams in securing market access, landing rights, and spectrum allocations for the company’s non-geostationary satellite constellation. She has also represented industry interests in key international forums, including ITU-R, ITU-D, and regional policy groups.

Pritchard-Kelly holds a master’s degree in space and telecommunications policy from George Washington University and a J.D. from the University of Maryland. She previously served on Secure World Foundation’s Advisory Committee.

Jay G. Santee, Community Member, is a general manager at The Aerospace Corporation where he currently serves as the strategic advisor to the Commander, US Space Command. Prior to joining Aerospace, Santee was outcome leader for Resilient Affordable Space at MITRE, where he was responsible for directing and shaping MITRE’s contributions to the national security space enterprise’s fielding of a resilient, affordable space force.

Santee served 33 years in the United States Air Force, retiring as a major general in 2014. Santee’s last assignment was as deputy director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. In this capacity, he played a key leadership role in the removal and destruction of declared Syrian chemical weapons materials aboard the MV Cape Ray. Santee’s other assignments in the Air Force included: acting deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, vice commander of the 14th Air Force, Director of the Space Operations Center (now the Combined Space Operations Center), commander of the 21st Space Wing, and operations division chief at U.S. Space Command.

Santee earned a bachelor’s degree in geography from the U.S. Air Force Academy, an MBA from Golden Gate University, and a master’s degree in national security strategy from the National War College. Santee also completed the Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Santee was awarded the 2014 Ellis Island Medal of Honor and was invested as a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honor), France’s highest honor, in 2012.

Santee is an associate fellow with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Dr. Michael K. Simpson, Community Member, is the former Executive Director of Secure World Foundation and was elected to the SWF board in 2020. Dr. Simpson joined SWF as the Senior Program Officer in September 2011 following seven and a half years as President of the International Space University (ISU). Dr. Simpson holds a post as Professor of Space Policy and International Law at ISU. He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and the International Institute of Space Law and is a Senior Fellow of the International Institute of Space Commerce. After 23 years of service, Dr. Simpson retired from the Naval Reserve in 1993 with the rank of Commander.

Dr. Simpson's practical experience includes service as a Political Military Action Officer, observer representative to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, participating organization representative to the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and member of the Association of Space Explorers International Panel on Asteroid Threat Mitigation. He currently serves on the Commercial Spaceflight Safety and Space Security Committees of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and is a Vice Chair of the Hague Space Resources Governance Working Group. He sits on the governing board of the World Space Week Association and is a governor of the National Space Society in the United States.