The senior employees of Orbital Research Ltd., a SATCOM components provider, have purchased the company.
Ian McEachern, Orbital’s current Vice President of Engineering, will assume the role of president and CEO and will become the majority shareholder. To ensure a smooth transition, Orbital’s current president and founder, Mike Stevens, will remain with the company to advise the senior management team during the transition.
The company also announced the appointment of Trevor Hiebert as vice-president of business development. Hiebert brings a wealth of experience in the SATCOM industry, starting with hands on experience installing and designing Earth stations as well as more than 15 years in senior sales positions working on some of the largest satellite communications projects ever, steering billion-dollar and multi-million dollar deals through to completion. He is uniquely positioned to understand customers’ challenges and help them devise the best solution.
Global demand for communications components is increasing due to the trend toward aircraft inflight connectivity as well as the boom for earth observation applications.
New president and CEO Ian McEachern explained that these are exciting days to be involved in satellite communications with the lower cost and wider availability of LEO smallsats fueling diverse applications including communications, agricultural and forestry surveillance, mineral exploration, natural resource management, and scientific research. Orbital Research has a proven track record in the military and inflight sectors, providing solutions for the most demanding conditions and the firm looks forward to bringing that engineering know-how to new markets.
