Aníbal Villalba is Chief Strategy & Public Affairs Officer at PLD Space. He is also Associate Professor at IE University, where he teaches an advanced seminar on Space. A graduate of the Spanish General Military Academy, he holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Sociology from UNED, with a doctoral thesis on cybersecurity governance in Spain. He also holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy Analysis and Management from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. An Infantry Colonel and General Staff graduate, he completed the U.S. Army Infantry Officer Advanced Course at Fort Benning. His military career includes service in the Paratrooper Brigade and the Canary Islands Command, as well as NATO’s Joint Force Command Naples. He commanded a Mechanized Infantry Battalion and served as Defence, Military, Naval, and Air Attaché at the Spanish Embassies in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain. He also served as Defence Attaché at the Spanish Embassy in Beirut. He was Professor of Strategy and International Relations at the General Staff Course. He has participated in seven international missions under UN, EU, and NATO mandates in Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Lebanon. In the civilian sphere, he served as Adviser for International Policy and Security at the Office of the Spanish Prime Minister and held a position as EU Political Adviser. He has served in the National Intelligence community, including as Senior Adviser to the National Intelligence Director and as Director of the National Cybersecurity Plan. He later served as Director of Real Estate Strategy, Institutional Relations & Corporate Communications at the Spanish state-owned company SEGIPSA. He is the author of 21 publications on intelligence, international security, terrorism, and cybersecurity, and speaks Spanish, English, French, Italian, and Portuguese.