Hispasat names new president

Hispasat’s control centre (Source: Hispasat)

Spanish satellite operator Hispasat has appointed Pedro Duque as its new president following approval of the move by the company’s board.  

The appointment of Duque, who will replace Jordi Hereu at the helm of the operator, was confirmed in the role after an extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting in which the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), a shareholder of Hispasat with 7.41%, proposed him.

Duque is an aeronautical engineer who, as an astronaut for the European Space Agency (ESA), made two space flights in 1998 and 2003.

From then until 2018, he continued to be linked to space, performing different roles, at ESA and as executive president of the private satellite company Deimos Imaging.

Between 2012 and 2014 he was member of the board of AENA Aeropuertos, until its partial privatization. Between June 2018 and July 2021, he was Minister of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain.

The board of directors of Hispasat also approved the appointment of two new members: Therese Jamaa, proposed by Redeia, and Carlos de la Cruz, proposed by CDTI.

Jamaa is vice president of the Spanish Red Cross Foundation (since May 2022), a member of the Board of Directors of Aigües de Barcelona (since June 2023) and member of the Diversity Advisory Committee of Caixabank (since December 2022).

De la Cruz is an industrial engineer from the Polytechnic University of Madrid with an international MBA from the Escuela de Negocios.