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Making Leaders: When Space Veterans Lead New Space Companies

In this Making Leaders podcast series, we hear from long-time industry members who moved from positions at established companies and their own entrepreneurial pursuits to leadership roles at new space companies. What lessons did they bring from their time at established companies? And what do they have to offer their new space companies that less experienced officers may not?

Episode 1: Kevin Steen, CEO of OneWeb Technologies

Kevin Steen joined OneWeb Technologies as CEO in 2022, after serving as CEO of ST Engineering iDirect for 12 years. Before ST Engineering iDirect, he served in other leadership positions, including as Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions at SAP and as Senior Director of World Wide Business Operations for Aspen Technology. Kevin is an entrepreneur who has co-founded and worked in senior leadership roles at multiple early-stage startups that were later acquired by Fortune 100 companies. He received his MBA from Northeastern University after completing a BSBA at the University of Denver.

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Episode 2: Ronald van der Breggen, CCO of Rivada Space Networks

Ronald van der Breggen is Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Rivada Space Networks, a position he has held for just over 1 year. As CCO at Rivada, he is responsible for setting and executing the commercial strategy for the company. In addition to serving at Rivada, Ronald is the CEO and owner of Route206 b.v., a consultancy business he founded nearly 10 years ago to help turn tech companies into business successes. He puts his consulting skills to use on multiple boards, serving as Advisory Board Member for both Via Satellite Magazine and Xenesis and also briefly served as the Advisor to the CEO of KebNi. Ronald's other past postions include Chief Commercial Officer at LeoSat Interprises, Inc., Vice President of Customer Account Managment for SES Satellites, Vice President of Business Development at KPNQwest and Senior Director of IP Network Development at KPN.

Episode 3: James Hinds, CEO of Airbus OneWeb Satellites

James Hinds is the CEO of Airbus OneWeb Satellites, a position he was appointed to in January 2021. He has over 35 years of leadership and engineering experience in the space and satellite industries. Prior to his previous role as COO of Airbus OneWeb Satellites at the end of 2019, he spent four years with Airbus Defence and Space in Toulouse, France, where he was responsible for strategic planning of its Space Systems business. Before that, he worked with Airbus and Boeing (and predecessor companies) in satellite engineering, production and project management. Notable achievements include his responsibilities as Airbus program manager for the Hylas 1 satellite (a joint Airbus/India Space Research Organisation programme); director responsible for payload research and development at Airbus including digital processors, active antennas and amplifier development; and as the lead verification engineer of Boeing’s 601HP satellite series.