Leo Mondale, 41, has been named president of Arianespace Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the European launch company, and hopes his hard-learned lessons at Iridium LLC will help him in assessing potential customers in his new role.

Mondale, who was a major launch customer during his previous role as a top executive with now-bankrupt Iridium, will attempt to make that unique perspective pay off in the leadership role he assumed July 1 at the helm of European-based launcher Arianespace’s U.S. unit.

Doug Heydon, 71, who has been a major factor in growing Arianespace’s U.S. customer base during his many years as its president, will remain with the subsidiary as chairman.

“A key lesson learned was that the huge capital outlay required to create a constellation makes it that much more difficult to get a business started,” Mondale said. “I think there are some applications where constellations still make sense, including the broadband data market and in cases where they offer advantages in terms of frequency management and reuse.”