Jerry Welsh. Photo: Iceye

Iceye announced Oct. 29 that COO and CFO Jerry Welsh will take on the role of CEO of it’s U.S. subsidiary Iceye US. Welsh joined the company in 2017 and recently oversaw the completion of its $87 million Series C financing round. Iceye said he will lead a team focused on deploying capital to scale operations and serve U.S. customers.

Iceye sells Earth Observation imagery and insights captured by small Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites. Welsh outlined Iceye’s next steps in the U.S. to expand teams on East and West coasts, create U.S. production facilities, and develop a U.S. satellite operations center. The company successfully launched two radar imaging satellites last month and plans to launch additional satellites by the end of the year, and eight more satellites in 2021, including spacecraft manufactured and launched in the United States.

According to a company spokesperson, Iceye is close to making a final site selection and will make an announcement in the near future. The company plans to “substantially increase” its U.S. headcount over the next year. The East coast team will focus on business development U.S. government customers, and the West coast team on manufacturing and operations.

Welsh takes over from Dr. Mark Matossian, who joined Iceye in February as CEO of the U.S. subsidiary to increase focus on the U.S. market. 

“Jerry has been an incredible asset to the Iceye team for several years and will build upon our solid foundation in the U.S.,” Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and co-founder commented in a release. “We are thankful to Dr. Mark Matossian for his prior leadership in helping Iceye accomplish our initial phase for US growth.”

Eric Jensen is also joining the subsidiary from Boeing’s satellite division. Jensen has more than a decade of experience in aerospace engineering, sales, and product strategy, and U.S. customers for Iceye. 

This article has been updated with information from a company spokesperson.