Management Team

Brian E. O’Toole is chief executive officer of BlackSky and is responsible for the strategic direction and execution of the company’s business plan as well as product and technology strategy for BlackSky’s global monitoring service. He joined the company in 2016 when BlackSky acquired OpenWhere, a technology company he founded, which delivered on-demand location intelligence solutions to government and commercial customers.

Brian brings more than 30 years of executive experience building and growing high-performance technology businesses at startup, growth, and Fortune 100 companies. Prior to OpenWhere, he served as chief technology officer at GeoEye, with global responsibility for developing, managing, and expanding the company’s technology, products, and services in geospatial intelligence and location-based services. He left GeoEye after a successful $1.3 billion merger with DigitalGlobe. He’s also held senior product leadership roles at a number of companies, including Overwatch Textron Systems, which he joined when they acquired ITspatial, an early pioneer of interactive 3D mapping that he co-founded and served as president. Brian holds a Master of Science Degree in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from Clarkson University.

Henry Dubois is chief financial officer of BlackSky and oversees the financial planning and analysis, accounting, tax, audit, investor relations, corporate development, and treasury functions for the company. Henry brings proven experience in growth strategies, deal sourcing, and integration, as well as extensive domestic and international experience leading telecom and satellite imaging companies through periods of growth and M&A activity.

Henry most recently served as chief development officer for BlackSky and has been serving as a key advisor to BlackSky’s CEO and the Board since 2018. Prior to joining BlackSky, Henry was managing director at HED Consulting, where he advised companies on strategic initiatives, operating improvements, and financial activities. Henry brings over 30 years of experience in the commercial remote sensing industry having served in COO and CFO roles at GeoEye and DigitalGlobe. He served as chief financial officer and an executive advisor at GeoEye, where he helped grow revenues from $30 million to $350 million. At DigitalGlobe, he held several executive positions, including president, chief financial officer, and chief operating officer.

Henry received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mathematics from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., and a Master of Management Degree in Finance, Marketing, and Accounting from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Chris Lin brings nearly two decades of strategic leadership and legal experience working with business, government, and legal teams during growth and innovation cycles. She has served for five years with NextGen Venture Partners and most recently served as general counsel, chief privacy, and administrative officer for Rakuten Advertising. While there, Chris helped restructure legacy business lines to increase profitability and build the foundation for accelerating growth of emerging business lines.

During Chris’ 17-year tenure at Comscore, a pioneer in media measurement and analytics, she helped grow the company from an early-stage startup to a multibillion-dollar public market capitalization company with teams across Europe, the Asia Pacific, and the Americas. Chris also played a pivotal role in the partner-only “virtual” law firm, Outside GC, LLC, comprised of senior business attorneys assisting tech companies to accelerate growth in a complex, evolving regulatory landscape.

Chris earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science at Yale University and her Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree at Georgetown University Law Center.

Nick Merski is chief operations officer at BlackSky, where he leads the engineering and product operations unit responsible for executing the company’s vision for its constellation, platform, and analytic product suite. Previously, Nick played a pivotal role in overseeing the strategy, development, launch, and operations of the company’s constellation program as its director.

Prior to joining BlackSky, Nick served in the U.S. Air Force as an officer and civil servant. He held multiple program management and system engineering leadership roles for the Air Force’s operational and advanced technology programs, including the Operationally Responsive Space-1 program and the Department of Defense Space Test Program Standard Interface Vehicle.

Nick holds a Master of Science Degree in Systems Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Nick also serves on the Board of Managers for LeoStella, a joint venture between BlackSky and Thales Alenia Space.

Patrick O’Neil brings extensive academic and geospatial intelligence experience to his role as BlackSky’s chief innovation officer. Patrick is responsible for building and executing the BlackSky analytics corporate strategy, including the advancement of the company’s real-time monitoring platform leveraging industry-leading technologies in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

Patrick is a graduate of Virginia Tech, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics. He went on to earn both his Master of Science and Ph.D. in Mathematics at George Mason University. During an internship at OpenWhere, which was acquired by BlackSky, Patrick developed the core algorithms that would lead to foundational work in AI/ML and predictive analytics for the company.

Patrick is on the faculty at George Mason and works closely with the school’s Geography and Geospatial Sciences Department. He serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board and the diversity team for the College of Science. He also serves on the Virginia Department of Education’s Data Science Advisory Board, guiding mathematics curricula for state high schools.

Kevin Rioles is the chief information officer of BlackSky and responsible for managing and implementing system architecture and information technology systems across the company. He brings decades of leadership skills in systems engineering, integration, product infrastructure and program management. 

Prior to joining Black Sky in 2015, Kevin was the director of systems engineering at Thermopylae Sciences + Technology, deputy division manager at Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC). He also was the deputy program manager and systems engineer with United States Forces Korea (USFK J2). Kevin served in the United States Air Force for seven years as a computer programmer.  

Kevin earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems at Excelsior College in Albany, NY, and a Master of Science in Information Systems at Strayer University in Washington, D.C.