Inmarsat Announces Appointment of Rupert Pearce as CEO From 1 January 2012

LONDON, July 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Inmarsat plc (LSE:Isat L), the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, reports that with effect from 1 January 2012 Andrew Sukawaty will become Executive Chairman and Rupert Pearce will become Chief Executive Officer.  Rupert will join the Inmarsat plc board as an executive director effective 6 July 2011.  With this appointment Inmarsat has implemented a previously announced plan to separate the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Rupert Pearce, who currently serves as Senior Vice President of Inmarsat Enterprises and Inmarsat's Group General Counsel, has been with the company for six years.  In this time he has been instrumental in shaping the strategic direction of the company, including the acquisition of Inmarsat's largest distributor, Stratos; formulating and executing the business plan for the Global Xpress^[TM] Inmarsat-5 satellite constellation; as well as the creation and negotiation of the Co-operation Agreement with LightSquared on use of Inmarsat's spectrum over North America.

The Board of Inmarsat is pleased to confirm that Andrew Sukawaty has agreed to continue to be involved in the business as Executive Chairman for not less than two years.  He will continue in the joint role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until 31 December 2011. Commenting on Mr Pearce's appointment, Mr Sukawaty said, "Rupert has led many of our major programmes since he joined Inmarsat six years ago.  He is extremely well prepared to head our experienced management team and drive the company forward into its next stage of growth."

About Inmarsat

Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT) is the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services.  Since 1979, Inmarsat has been providing reliable voice and high-speed data communications to governments, enterprises and other organizations, with a range of services that can be used on land, at sea or in the air.  The company's services are delivered through a global network of more than 400 distribution partners and service providers operating in 100 countries.  For the year ended 31 December 2010, Inmarsat plc had total revenue of US$1,171.6 million (2009: US$1,038.1 million) with an EBITDA of US$696.1 million (2009: US$594.2 million).  For more information, please visit http://www.inmarsat.com.

Notes to Editors:

Rupert Pearce joined Inmarsat in January 2005 as Group General Counsel and, since January 2009, has additionally held the position of Senior Vice President, Inmarsat Enterprises. Inmarsat Enterprises is a division of Inmarsat that comprises strategy & business development, legal & regulatory affairs, as well as certain operating assets and investments, including Inmarsat's recently launched Global Xpress^[TM] initiative comprising the Inmarsat-5 generation of revolutionary Ka-band satellites.  

Previously, Rupert worked for Atlas Venture, a transatlantic venture capital company, where he was a partner working with the firm's European and U.S. investment teams on investment, divestment, M&A and corporate finance transactions and was a member of the firm's investment and exit committees. He was previously also a partner at the international law firm Linklaters, where he spent 13 years specialising in corporate finance, M&A and private equity transactions.

Rupert received an MA (First Class) in Modern History from Oxford University and won the 1995 Fullbright Fellowship in U.S. securities law, studying at the Georgetown Law Center. He has been a visiting fellow of the Imperial College Business School, London lecturing on the school's Entrepreneurship programme, and is the co-author of 'Raising Venture Capital' (Wiley).

Pictures available upon request.

SOURCE Inmarsat plc