SES Appoints Baughn to New CSO Position

Betzdorf, Luxembourg, Feb. 6, 2019 — SES is streamlining customer support and services by forming a global services delivery team under the leadership of a Chief Services Officer (CSO). John Baughn, formerly executive vice president global services at SES Networks, is appointed to this newly created position.

SES said this move underscores the company’s commitment to place customers at the heart of its business and deliver exceptional customer experience following the successful implementation of two market-facing business units in 2017, SES Video and SES Networks.

The newly created CSO position consolidates all customer support and operational delivery, logistics and services related resources across the video and data businesses. It unifies functions across the organisation into a single team charged with delivering exceptional services to its customers. 

SES also announced Ruy Pinto as the successor to Martin Halliwell as chief technology officer (CTO). Ruy Pinto, formerly deputy chief technology officer and chief information officer of SES will lead SES’s global technology organization including all technology functions currently within the business units and will also retain the leadership of SES’s IT and digital transformation activities. Martin Halliwell will remain part of the senior leadership team and serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO until his planned retirement in May 2019.

“I am delighted to bring together our engineering talent and responsibility for our customer services under such strong and experienced leaders. As the demands of our markets evolve, these two teams, configured to serve our customers across both business units, will ensure that we stay ahead”, says Steve Collar, president and CEO of SES. “Unifying the technical team and creating a consistent customer facing organisation will allow us to offer world class customer experiences around the world, strengthen our focus on successful end-to-end delivery and place business success for our customers at the centre of our focus.”

“I would also like to thank Martin for his enormous contribution to the success of SES for over 30 years. Martin is a true pioneer who was responsible for so many ‘firsts’ for SES, for so much that we have achieved in space and I cannot thank him enough for his leadership, dedication, innovation and achievement as our CTO. Martin’s new mission is retirement and we wish him every success in that endeavour!”

SES is the world’s leading satellite operator with over 70 satellites in two different orbits, Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). It provides a diverse range of customers with global video distribution and data connectivity services through two business units: SES Video and SES Networks. SES Video reaches over 351 million TV homes, through Direct-to-Home (DTH) platforms and cable, terrestrial, and IPTV networks globally. The SES Video portfolio includes MX1, a leading media service provider offering a full suite of innovative services for both linear and digital distribution, and the ASTRA satellite system, which has the largest DTH television reach in Europe.