New hires always make news, and certainly when it involves a new President and CEO there's even a bit more attention, and so it is for ...

XTAR, LLC has announced Jay Icard as its new President and CEO. Mr. Icard joins XTAR from Comtech Command & Control Technologies where he served as Senior Vice President of Strategic Sales. Mr. Icard spent the last 13 years in the satellite system integration space in a variety of roles with Comtech, including acquiring TeleCommunication Systems Inc. (TCS) in 2016.

Prior to his tenure at Comtech and TCS, Mr. Icard worked for Oracle, MCI and in the Department of Defense acquisition community. 

Jay Icard

Mr. Icard said that XTAR’s unique offering provides a number of substantial advantages for its customers and partners. These advantages can be a difference maker for military and government users in the challenging communications environments, and he is happy to be part of the XTAR organization and be a champion of their solutions.

Philip Harlow, outgoing President and COO said that XTAR is in good hands with Jay, and his industry experience, energy and dedication are a great fit for driving the company. Mr. Harlow led XTAR for eight years and will be working with the organization to ensure a smooth transition. 

XTAR provides satellite communications in the X-band frequency, which is the communications cornerstone of today's military, diplomatic, humanitarian and emergency disaster response operations. A privately-owned and operated company, XTAR is backed by majority shareholder Loral Space & Communications of New York. XTAR is the first commercial satellite operator to provide services in the X-band frequency and supports the critical satellite communications needs of governments around the world through its two X-band payloads.