[Satnews] OneWeb (“The Company”), which is building a new global communications system to create affordable broadband services for all, announces the appointment of Matthew M. O’Connell as the firm's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
 
The appointment follows the successful $500 million funding round from a group of leading international companies, and represents another important step towards OneWeb’s ultimate goal of making affordable internet available globally via its satellite constellation.
 

OneWeb's new CEO, Matthew M. O'Connell.

Mr. O’Connell has extensive industry experience as President and CEO of GeoEye and its predecessor, Orbimage. This leading global provider of satellite and aerial imagery and digital mapping information, founded by O’Connell in 2006 through the merger of Orbimage and Space Imaging, grew from an organization of 60 employees and $9 million revenue per year to one of 760 employees on track to report $350 million revenue in 2012. During that time, GeoEye’s enterprise value grew from $33 million to approximately $1.3 billion at the time of its successful sale to Digital Global.

Prior to joining GeoEye, Mr. O'Connell held executive positions Crest Advisors, a New York-based private merchant bank, Sony Worldwide Networks, and Cablevision Systems Corporation. He began his career as a mergers and acquisitions attorney on Wall Street. He was elected to the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation's Board of Directors in 2007 and has served on many Government and industry advisory panels.
 
At OneWeb, Mr. O’Connell will be responsible for steering and scaling OneWeb from where it is today through its subsequent phases of construction, launch and operation. In this role he will work closely with Brian Holz and the rest of the growing management team as well as the board. Greg Wyler, as Founder and Chairman, will continue to play a lead role in defining and articulating the OneWeb vision and strategy to key industry, regulatory and financial stakeholders.

Executive Comments
 
Commenting on the appointment, Greg Wyler, Founder and Chairman of OneWeb, said, “We have been searching for the right CEO to drive OneWeb’s daily continued growth. Matt has deep financial, legal and management experience in building both public and private businesses which makes him an ideal addition to the OneWeb team. As our partner ecosystem continues to grow there are now hundreds of people, moving to thousands as we work towards our deployment which will enable internet access for every community in the world. Together with our visionary and industry leading shareholders, we have the key elements in place: regulatory, technology, launches, satellites, as well as relations with commercial operators in over 50 countries and territories. Building out our senior management team is the next step in scaling the business and realizing this opportunity”.
 
Matthew O’Connell, CEO of OneWeb, said, “OneWeb has a terrific vision, a very creative founder, exceptionally strong partners and an impressive team. I’m excited to join them and look forward to bringing my experience to help the OneWeb team achieve its game-changing goal of providing global Internet access for everybody, everywhere”.