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Karen D. Dacres

Chief Legal Officer
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Karen D. Dacres is the Chief Legal Officer at Rebellion Defense. In this capacity, Karen oversees the company’s legal and compliance matters worldwide. She is a seasoned and mission-focused leader with more than 25 years of deep legal and business experience – bringing to the role a strong combination of government and private sector acumen that spans government and early-stage startups to later-stage companies. She provides critical and strategic legal, regulatory, acquisition, and policy thought leadership and has a proven track record of building and leading scalable legal and regulatory compliance operations. Formally recognized by the National Security Council, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and the Intelligence Community for her leadership of space and technology legal and policy initiatives, Karen is passionate about developing and strongly executing strategic acquisition and business initiatives that accelerate sales and promote corporate business growth.

Previously, Karen served as SAILDRONE Inc.'s first Chief Legal Officer, an advanced technology and data disruptor, which designs, manufactures, and operates innovative, autonomous wind and solar-powered Uncrewed Surface Vehicles for persistent atmospheric, surface and subsurface ocean data collection. Prior to that role, she was a Founding Partner of SLG | The Space Law Group, in which she served as the external legal advisor to SAILDRONE, and was the General Counsel and Director of Government Relations for PlanetiQ. Karen has also served as a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), where she led and executed legal and policy initiatives for advanced technology and commercial remote sensing to support the warfighter and the Intelligence Community. Finally, she has served as the Satellite Programs General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Senior Intellectual Property Attorney for the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Karen holds a BA from Northwestern University in French Studies and Chemistry, and a JD from The George Washington University’s National Law Center, with a focus on intellectual property.

Karen D. Dacres is the Chief Legal Officer at Rebellion Defense. In this capacity, Karen oversees the company’s legal and compliance matters worldwide. She is a seasoned and mission-focused leader with more than 25 years of deep legal and business experience – bringing to the role a strong combination of government and private sector acumen that spans government and early-stage startups to later-stage companies. She provides critical and strategic legal, regulatory, acquisition, and policy thought leadership and has a proven track record of building and leading scalable legal and regulatory compliance operations. Formally recognized by the National Security Council, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and the Intelligence Community for her leadership of space and technology legal and policy initiatives, Karen is passionate about developing and strongly executing strategic acquisition and business initiatives that accelerate sales and promote corporate business growth.

Previously, Karen served as SAILDRONE Inc.'s first Chief Legal Officer, an advanced technology and data disruptor, which designs, manufactures, and operates innovative, autonomous wind and solar-powered Uncrewed Surface Vehicles for persistent atmospheric, surface and subsurface ocean data collection. Prior to that role, she was a Founding Partner of SLG | The Space Law Group, in which she served as the external legal advisor to SAILDRONE, and was the General Counsel and Director of Government Relations for PlanetiQ. Karen has also served as a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), where she led and executed legal and policy initiatives for advanced technology and commercial remote sensing to support the warfighter and the Intelligence Community. Finally, she has served as the Satellite Programs General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Senior Intellectual Property Attorney for the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Karen holds a BA from Northwestern University in French Studies and Chemistry, and a JD from The George Washington University’s National Law Center, with a focus on intellectual property.