Viasat’s New CFO Gary Chase (photo by Delta Air Lines)

Global satellite operator Viasat announced Wednesday that it has hired Delta Air Lines‘ Senior Vice President of Operational Finance Gary Chase as its new CFO. Chase will start with Viasat on September 16. Viasat’s current CFO Shawn Duffy will remain with the company as its chief accounting officer.

Chase spent more than 12 years at Delta and spent some time as the airline’s chief strategy officer. As a member of Delta’s leadership committee, Chase reported directly to Delta CEO Ed Bastian. Prior to joining Delta, Chase worked on Wall Street as an investor analyst and equity research director specializing in airline and transportation markets at Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers.

“We are thrilled to welcome Gary to Viasat and look forward to adding his expertise in scaled operational financial systems to support our growth objectives,” said Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO of Viasat. “Gary’s extensive operational experience, and his perspective as a Viasat customer, make him well positioned to increase financial and operational automation and rigor, and sharpen our focus on cash generation and Inmarsat integration. He will play a pivotal financial and business oversight role for Viasat, with emphasis on data systems architecture and linking operational and financial metrics, delivering efficiencies, and optimizing our capital structure to create value for our employees, customers, and shareholders.”

Dankberg also praised his former CFO, Shawn Duffy, and explained her newly created role as chief accounting officer. “Since becoming CFO in 2014, Viasat’s revenues have more than tripled to $4.5 billion. Her deep understanding of the industry, as well as our company, make her a valued member of our executive team, and she’ll continue to provide financial advisory, accounting and reporting, tax strategy and governance oversight,” said Dankberg.