Nascent interim satellite services company GapSat has appointed Mark Rigolle as its chief financial officer.
Rigolle was formerly the CFO of global satellite operator SES from 2004 to 2010. He then left SES to become chief executive of O3b Networks,…
Nascent interim satellite services company GapSat has appointed Mark Rigolle as its chief financial officer.
Rigolle was formerly the CFO of global satellite operator SES from 2004 to 2010. He then left SES to become chief executive of O3b Networks, where he played an integral role in the company securing the US$1.2bn debt and equity financing it required to launch commercial services.
Having left O3b in October 2011, Rigolle set up his own consulting business, MLR Holdings, and has since co-founded Kacific, a start-up planning to provide satellite broadband to Pacific nations.
Founded by three satellite industry veterans, David Gilmore, Richard Barnett and Gregg Daffner, GapSat intends to provide commercial geostationary satellites to satellite operators to fulfil their customers’ needs for interim satellite services at their own orbital slots.
These needs include as a replacement for launch or in-orbit failure, additional capacity collocated at an existing or new orbital location, or ITU slot filing protection.
Commenting on the move, Rigolle said: “GapSat is one of the most exciting new ventures around. I’m going to relish this new challenge to work on an innovative project with such a capable management team. Given my background in fund-raising and finance, these areas will be my main focus, but with my international board-level and commercial experience I aim to contribute to accelerating GapSat growth so we become a key player in this market”.
GapSat CEO Gregg Daffner added: “We’re an entrepreneurial team of satellite professionals so Mark is the perfect fit. He brings skills and depth of financial experience as we move forward with successive capital raisings for our satellite acquisition programmes. His arrival signals to the market our intention to be a major player.”
