Pole Star Announces Robert Skea as New CEO

Skea set to drive expansion and accelerate growth for maritime market leader

LONDON, Dec. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pole Star Space Applications, the global leader in maritime intelligence and technology, today announced the appointment of Robert Skea as its new Chief Executive Officer. In his role, Skea will spearhead the Company's global expansion following last year's successful growth investment.

Skea brings to Pole Star a proven track record of translating market insights into executable strategies and building profitable businesses within the analytics, fintech, and software industries. He specializes in turning complex technology and data into marketable products and driving Go-to-Market acceleration and growth. Prior to joining Pole Star, Skea was most recently Chief Executive Officer at Discovery Data, which was sold to ISS Governance in 2021. Prior to Discovery Data, Skea ran North America for Dun & Bradstreet from 2014 to 2019. Skea brings a wealth of experience at a pivotal point in the company's development.

Skea succeeds Julian Longson, who was instrumental in building Pole Star's business through the last phase to scale. Longson will move into a new role as an advisor focused on key corporate growth initiatives. 

Commenting on Skea's addition to the management team, Deepak Sindwani, Managing Partner at Wavecrest Growth Partners, which co-led the Company's growth financing in 2021, said: "The maritime industry is ripe for change and disruption, and we're excited to have Bob join Pole Star at a very exciting time for the business to help us drive accelerated growth and to extend our market leadership. Bob is a leader in bringing data and analytics products to market in simple, customer-centric approaches."

Skea says: "I'm very excited to be brought into Pole Star at this time. The organization has been a well-established market leader since 1998, and yet the opportunity to grow even further is tremendous. The critical impact that maritime channels have on the global supply chain has never been more important. I'm looking forward to collaborating with our senior management and global teams on how to advance our product offering and increase our presence in the global market. I'd like to thank Julian Longson, for his 7-year contribution as CEO and his 24 years with the company. "

Chairman of the Board Michael Jankowski says: "We are pleased to welcome Bob to Pole Star and have him in the CEO role. He is a proven leader with a clear vision to expand the company's success and take us into our next phase of growth and innovation."

About Pole Star

Pole Star is the global leader in maritime intelligence and technology. Pole Star has been developing solutions to protect our customers' vessels, people, reputation, and financial investments since 1998. It has pushed the limits of innovation, working with governments and businesses across the supply chain to mitigate the growing threats to ships, supply chains, cargo, territorial waters, and lives within the maritime infrastructure and beyond. Pole Star's wide range of solutions are designed specifically to enable time-critical decisions and mitigate risk across all facets of maritime activity - from cross-border trade, to sustainability risk, to the monitoring of territorial waters, and everything in-between. For more information, please visit www.polestarglobal.com.

About Abry Partners

Abry is one of the most experienced and successful sector-focused private equity investment firms in North America. Since its founding in 1989, the firm has completed over $90 billion of leveraged transactions and other private equity or preferred equity placements. Currently, the firm manages over $5 billion of capital across its active funds. For more information on Abry, please visit www.abry.com.

About Wavecrest Growth Partners

Wavecrest Growth Partners is a growth equity firm focused on investing in and partnering with leading B2B software and technology-enabled services companies based in both North America and Western Europe. Wavecrest targets investments in high-growth companies with proven products and business models and brings to bear a differentiated combination of investing and operating experience and networks to help accelerate growth and profitability. Wavecrest's team has over five decades of collective investing and operating experience in growth-stage B2B technology companies, including numerous successful outcomes. For more information, visit www.wavecrestgrowth.com.

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SOURCE Pole Star