British satellite company Earth-i today announced a range of new senior appointments to help with the company’s rapid growth as it cements its position at the forefront of the commercialisation of space and the rapid evolution of the New Space market.
In May, Earth-i announced that it will launch Europe’s first large-scale commercial satellite constellation for Earth Observation– and the first in the world to provide full colour video footage as well as still imagery.
Owning and operating its own constellation is a natural evolution of Earth-i’s existing and well-regarded image and Earth Observation (EO) analytics business. The new constellation will enable Earth-i to meet the rapidly growing demand for insights derived from high-resolution EO data from commercial organisations that want to improve investment and trading decisions, monitor and track their assets more cost effectively, track change or activity in critical locations – and predict future events with more certainty.
The new recruits bring years of experience and expertise across the EO and technology industry:
- John Linwood – Chief Technology Officer
John is now responsible for the data, analytics and insights platforms that transform Earth-i’s satellite imagery into meaningful analysis and actionable insights for use by a wide range of customers across multiple markets.
Prior to Earth-i, John held a number of interesting and influential positions. Most recently, he was CTO of Wood Mackenzie, the leading Data Analytics provider to the Energy, Mining and Metals industries, where he led a digital transformation of the company’s global business including eCommerce, Digital Marketing, Data Science and digital distribution of data, analytics and reporting.
He also served as CTO of the BBC, Senior Vice President of International Engineering for Yahoo for five years and General Manager for Microsoft’s MSN International Engineering team
- Chetan Pradhan – Head of Institutional Engagement
Chetan Pradhan is responsible for Earth-i’s relationships with national, European and global institutions that want to improve their operations by using unique and timely insights obtained from geospatial information.
With 14 years experience in the EO industry, Chetan holds a number of high-profile industry positions and ensures that the EO and Space industries’ views and concerns are raised and progressed at appropriate levels in Governmental and institutional circles.
He is currently Chair of the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC), which represents the EO service industry in Europe. He is also Chair of the EO Committee (EOC) of UKspace, the trade association of the UK’s space industry, and previously served as Chairman of the British Association of Remote Sensing Companies (BARSC).
- Nico V. Spyropoulos– Strategic Engagement, EMEA
Nico is responsible for growing Earth-i’s business across the EMEA region.
He has over 25 years of Earth Observation (EO) and Satcom industry experience, most recently serving as the Vice President of European Sales of the UrtheCast Corp., from 2013 to 2017. During his tenure at UrtheCast, he led efforts to establish the business in space-based full motion video (FMV).
Nico also served as senior executive of IIS-EOSAT, Space Imaging, Definiens Imaging, Cosmotelco, KBI Impuls and 5CI. His business portfolio includes exploitation of various EO missions, special object-oriented software tools and coordination of several European Commission projects funded under TELEMATICS, ACTS, ESPRIT, IST, H2020 covering environmental liability and security, geospatial intelligence and advanced information systems. Nico was also a Eurocourses lecturer at Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra.
- Gary Crowley – Satellite Operations Manager
Drawing on almost 15 years in the industry, Gary is responsible for developing Earth-i’s ground segment for satellite operations and data processing – and providing technical support for the company’s new missions and data products.
Prior to Earth-i, Gary held a variety of entrepreneurial, product development and problem-solving engineering positions at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, DMC International Imaging Ltd, and Airbus Defence and Space where he worked on DMC operations and the Mission Operations Centre (MOC) as well as new product development to enhance and optimise DMC operations, capabilities and services.
- Natasha Hyde – Digital Marketing Manager
Natasha joins Earth-i as it increases its marketing activity prior to the launch of its demonstrator satellite EiX2. She manages Earth-i’s online presence, including website, social media and digital content.
Natasha joined from Satellite Applications Catapult, a technology and innovation company, set up by the UK government’s innovation agency Innovate UK to foster growth across the economy through the exploitation of space data and technology.
Richard Blain, CEO of Earth-i, said: “We welcome John, Chetan, Nico, Gary and Natasha to the team at this exciting time for both Earth-i and the space industry in general. Our existing EO data business is growing rapidly and the development of our new constellation is progressing as planned.”
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We’ve got a number of vacancies open at the moment, take a look at our careers page for a full list of roles.
For more information on this release, please contact us.
