The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) today announced the SIA Board of Directors elected the following as officers for 2020: Stuart Daughtridge of Kratos as Chair, Audrey Allison of The Boeing Company as Vice Chair and Ross Vincenti of Intelsat as Treasurer.

Virgin Galactic Holdings has announced the appointment of Enrico Palermo as Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective immediately. In this newly created role, Palermo will be responsible for helping maintain efficiency and peak performance across the enterprise as it develops as a public company, and will lead the execution of specific company strategies and initiatives.

The Satcoms Innovation Group (SIG) has appointed Helen Weedon as Managing Director. The appointment marks significant restructuring of the innovation forum. Helen succeeds Martin Coleman who will commence as a member of the group’s advisory board.

RigNet today announced that effective immediately, Errol Olivier joins RigNet as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Reporting directly to President and Chief Executive Officer Steven Pickett, Mr. Olivier will be responsible for all customer-facing functions, including Sales, Sales Engineering, Service Delivery, Bids and Proposals, and the company’s Global Network Operations Centers.

Itzhak Shnaiberg has been appointed Acting CEO of Spacecom by the company’s Board of Directors, following the retirement of former CEO David Pollack on January 1, 2020. Shnaiberg, Spacecom’s Deputy CEO since 2008, was among the company’s founding management team.

Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) has announced the appointment of Khaled Al Qubaisi, CEO of Aerospace, Renewables & ICT at  Mubadala Investment Company as its new Chairman, and the appointment of Amal Al Ameri, Senior Vice President of Platform Finance in the Aerospace, Renewables & ICT Unit in Mubadala as a board member.

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) announces the appointment of Phil Brownnett as Managing Director, succeeding Sarah Parker who is stepping down from the role to pursue new challenges. Brownnett, who is currently Managing Director of Geo Intelligence (UK), Airbus Defence and Space, will take up his new position on February 1, 2020, after a period of handover during January. 

Telesat announced today that Andrew Brownehas been appointed the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Reporting to President and CEO, Dan Goldberg, Andrew will serve on Telesat’s Executive Management Team and be based in the company’s headquarters in Ottawa. 

BridgeComm, Inc., a profvider of optical wireless communications (OWC) solutions and services, today announced that Michael Abad-Santos has joined the company as senior vice president of business development and strategy. Abad-Santos’ 20-plus years of telecommunications and satellite experience will help BridgeComm grow its global market share of the commercial and government sector.

Vislink Technologies announced today that Stephen Rudd has joined Vislink as Vice President of Satcom sales and Business Development. In this role, Stephen will be responsible for driving worldwide revenues for the company’s satellite communications product offerings, by developing and implementing growth strategies, informing product development and establishing key client relationships in broadcast, military and government markets.