Speedcast's federal arm details leadership transition

Speedcast's U.S. government subsidiary appoints a new president with the plan of him becoming the next CEO.

Speedcast’s U.S. government subsidiary has unveiled a leadership transition plan for the next phase of its strategy after two acquisitions to help create that business focused on providing satellite communications to federal agencies.

In a release Friday, Speedcast Government said it hired nearly two-decade industry veteran and former Peraton executive David Myers as president and presumptive CEO. Myers will officially join Speedcast Government on Monday to begin serving as president.

The plan is for Myers to become CEO at around the beginning of 2021 and succeed Moe Abutaleb, who has led the subsidiary since its launch in 2017 after Speedcast acquired Ultisat, the company Abutaleb founded and led since 2003 in Ultisat.

Speedcast is headquartered in Australia and acquired Ultisat as the foundation for a standalone division focused on the government sector.

Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Speedcast Government then was stood up in the wake of that combination with Ultisat, then acquired Globecomm Systems one year later.

Myers was most recently president of Peraton’s communications sector and is also a former CEO of Datapath. His career also includes leadership roles at ITC Global, plus the businesses formerly known as Harris CapRock and Spacenet.

Upon the transition’s completion, Abutaleb plans to retire after a four-decade career in aerospace and telecommunications.