Digital rendering of OneWeb satellites. Photo: OneWeb

[Via Satellite 10-15-2015] OneWeb has appointed Matthew M. O’Connell, the former president and CEO of GeoEye, as it’s CEO. 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 company vision and strategy to key industry, regulatory and financial stakeholders.

O’Connell founded GeoEye through the merger of its predecessor Orbimage and Space Imaging in 2006, growing the organization from 60 employees and $9 million in revenue to 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 when DigitalGlobe purchased the company.

“As our partner ecosystem continues to grow, there are now hundreds of people — moving to thousands — as we work toward our deployment which will enable Internet access for every community in the world,” said Wyler. “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.”