SES CEO Steve Collar announces sudden resignation
The unexpected end of Steve Collar’s 20-year run with SES on June 12 shook up the satcom industry, triggering a wave of speculation and sending SES stocks plunging 16.4%.
With no replacement teed up and SES CTO Ruy Pinto grabbing the wheel, we can’t help but ponder the timing of his resignation.
Why, as the second pair of its 03b mPower satellites just launched in April climb to MEO, and with the company just one launch away from bringing its next-gen broadband constellation into service, would an industry leader in his executive prime decide to pull the chute and “…pursue other professional and personal endeavours”?
While we have zero insider intel and can only water cooler speculate with the rest of the industry, we might take the over on an unsettled dispute from the tie-up with Intelsat that SES confirmed in an aggressively brief press release March 29. More of a longshot bet would be that the two satcom titans already closed the merger and wrote Collar’s name in invisible ink.
As our own Director of Research Caleb Henry is quick to remind us though, satcom CEOs moving through the industry is par. Of the historical “big four” operators, two (Eutelsat and Intelsat) saw CEO transitions within the last two years, and one (Telesat) has languished under the weight of a stalled LEO constellation. Collar stood out from this group as an experienced and well-respected leader who could navigate an industry flummoxed by new orbits and challenged by Silicon Valley heavyweights. His success with O3b Gen 1 and unwavering conviction in the second-gen O3b mPower network showed a way forward for an industry that had cut way back on new satellite programs. So, Collar’s departure almost seems indicative of a deeper industry concern: who will be the bellwether in these turbulent times?
On his Twitter feed the day of the announcement, Collar quipped that he will be assuming a new role as SES “cheerleader.” We are thinking more golf clap than pep rally, but time will tell.
SOURCE: https://spacenews.com/ses-ceo-steve-collar-announces-sudden-resignation/