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CEO, IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS, McLEAN
CEO, IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS, McLEAN
Virginia Business// August 30, 2023//
Iridium launched five spare satellites in May, completing its plans to upgrade the resilience of its constellation of communication satellites. It now has 66 operational crosslinked satellites and 14 spares.
Iridium’s mobile voice and data satellite communications network is used in ships, planes and land vehicles and for Internet of Things systems.
For fiscal year 2022, Iridium reported net income of $8.7 million on total revenue of $721 million, an improvement from 2021, when the company reported a net loss of $9.3 million. Iridium had nearly two million subscribers in 2022’s fourth quarter, a 16% year-over-year increase.
Desch has been CEO of the company since 2009 and was CEO of its predecessor, Iridium Holdings, from 2006 to 2009. Prior to that, he was CEO of Telcordia Technologies, which was acquired by Ericsson. He has served on the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee since 2011 and on the Unisys board since 2019. In January, he was named to Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list for the ninth year in a row.
He is a graduate of Ohio State University and has an MBA from the University of Chicago.
