Global Eagle today announced the addition of four new leaders to the company’s leadership team, including one internal promotion. The announcement follows the company’s Chapter 11 emergence, which was completed on March 23, 2021.
The company welcomes three new executives, Nancy Walker as Senior Vice President, Commercial –Inflight Connectivity, Kate Santoro as Vice President, Legal and General Counsel, and Hope Groves as Vice President, Content Technology. Additionally, Estibaliz Asiain has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Commercial – Media & Content.
Global Eagle Chief Executive Officer Josh Marks commented: “In this exciting time for our company, I’m pleased to welcome three talented new team members and make a well-deserved promotion, as we build our teams across Media & Content and Connectivity. We are refreshing our leadership team to support our customers and lead our global workforce.”
Nancy Walker, Senior Vice President, Commercial – Inflight Connectivity
Nancy Walker joins Global Eagle in a new role to the company, Senior Vice President of Inflight Connectivity, based in Melbourne, FL. Nancy will oversee Inflight Connectivity (IFC) commercial sales and account management. Nancy brings a wealth of experience in aviation connectivity, having led network strategy, sales, product management and key accounts across a variety of airline, private aviation and government vertical markets. She is an engineer by education and training, with deep program and product experience at a technical level.
Before joining Global Eagle, Nancy served as Chief Commercial Officer at SmartSky Networks, where she was responsible for sales, accounts, and product management. Prior to SmartSky, Nancy led launch and commercial account operations of IFC at LiveTV and Thales.
Kate Santoro, Vice President, Legal & General Counsel
Kate Santoro has been named Global Eagle’s General Counsel, based in Denver, CO. She will oversee all legal matters at Global Eagle. Kate joins Global Eagle from Janus Henderson, a major investment company, where she was Managing Counsel. She also served as Vice President of Curian Capital, a private wealth management company, and General Counsel of the US subsidiary of Old Mutual, the global investment company. She has also practiced commercial litigation and securities law, and was a Deputy District Attorney for the State of Colorado.
Hope Groves, Vice President, Content Technology
Hope Groves has been named Global Eagle’s Vice President, Content Technology, based in Santa Ana, CA. Hope joins from The Walt Disney Company, where she was Director, Studio Technology. Prior to Disney, she was Universal Music Group’s Senior Director, Digital Supply Chain Operations. Hope has spent more than 20 years directing complex technology programs related to content processing and new technology implementation, including licensing and workflow for digital content processing and delivery, as well as coordination with business teams and R&D programs related to IoT. Global Eagle’s Content Technology teams in London and Santa Ana will report to Hope.
Estibaliz Asiain, Senior Vice President, Commercial – Media & Content
Estibaliz (“Est”) Asiain has been promoted to SVP, Commercial – Media & Content, based in Madrid, Spain. Est manages all commercial and account management for Global Eagle’s Inflight Entertainment (IFE) business, including movies, television, audio, games and creative services for airline seatback and wireless IFE systems. She previously served as Global Eagle’s Vice President and Managing Director of Customer Success. Est has been in the IFE business since 1999 with Transvision, IFE Services, and Global Eagle from 2013. At Global Eagle, Est served in customer-facing Sales and Account Management roles. Through 2018, she managed GEE’s Latin American region, adding Europe and Africa in 2019.
About Global Eagle
Global Eagle is a leading provider of high-speed connectivity and media solutions for worldwide mobility including airlines, cruise lines, and mission-critical maritime, energy and government applications. The company connects and entertains consumers beyond the reach of telecommunications and terrestrial broadband providers, in the air and at sea. Global Eagle’s open-architecture and multi-platform satellite network provides unique scalability, global coverage, reliability and future compatibility. Global Eagle’s content solutions distribute, localize, and broadcast both traditional and native-digital content for airline and cruise markets with embedded customer advertising and analytics. Through its intelligent leadership and innovation, Global Eagle defines next-generation passenger experiences through integrated solutions tailored to our customers’ brands and service objectives.
Featured image credited to istock.com/JakeOlimb
