Satellite operator Eutelsat has appointed Jean-François Fallacher as its new CEO.

Announced this week, Eve Berneke will pass on responsibilities as CEO to Fallacher starting June 1st. Fallacher joins the company from Orange, where he served as executive vice president and chief executive officer, as well as R&D, sales, and operations positions at Wanadoo and Sofrecom.

The company said the board decided the appointment based on the recommendation of the nomination and governance committee as part of a “natural change that fully aligns Eutelsat to the telecom ecosystem."

“In today’s increasingly complex geopolitical context, satellite networks have become a key element in the Connectivity landscape,” Fallacher said in a statement. “I am convinced Eutelsat has the fundamentals to be a winner in this environment, and I look forward to building on Eva’s foundations, and working with its talented teams to ensure we achieve our goals.”

Berneke leaves her post after three years, being appointed in January 2022 and leading through some huge changes at the company, including the integration of OneWeb in 2023 and the company’s inclusion in the European Union’s landmark IRIS² multi-orbit constellation project.

“I warmly thank Eva Berneke for her dynamic and committed leadership through these significant milestones in Eutelsat’s development and for delivering on our telecoms pivot strategy, in a period that has seen significantly increased competitive and geopolitical pressure,” said Dominique D’Hinnin, chairman of the board of directors of Eutelsat, in a statement.

IRIS² intends to enhance communication capacity for government and business through high-speed broadband and digitization, rivaling the commercial offering of Starlink and Kuiper with a multilateral state alternative. The program expects its first launch via European rockets in 2029 with a budget of €10.6 billion ($12bn), €6.5bn ($7.38bn) of which is publicly funded, with the rest coming from industry.

Eutelsat took the news as an opportunity to confirm quarter performance was in line with expectations ahead of its Q3 revenues report to be published after market close on May 15th. It also confirmed that its four operating verticals' revenue objectives were the same level in full-year 2024-25 as the year before, with an adjusted EBITDA margin slightly below that of the year prior.

“The past few months have seen the alignment of several factors paving the way for Eutelsat’s LEO build-out strategy: First, the exercise of the put option for the partial disposal of our passive ground activity, with proceeds due H1 calendar 2026 and second, confirmation of the European Union’s IRIS² multi-orbit constellation representing a key step in Eutelsat’s LEO strategy, which in turn defines the road map for the interim LEO constellation extension,” Berneke said at the top of that report.