Intelsat picks David Wajsgras as next CEO

TAMPA, Fla. — Intelsat has picked former Raytheon executive David Wajsgras as CEO to lead the satellite operator post-bankruptcy.

Wajsgras will take the helm April 4 to replace Stephen Spengler, who announced plans to retire in October after more than 18 years at Intelsat.

Spengler has been CEO of Intelsat for nearly seven years. His departure comes after the company said Feb. 23 it had successfully emerged from financial restructuring after securing $7 billion in fresh financing.

Wajsgras is currently a partner at private equity firm Pine Island Capital Partners, which seeks to invest in the U.S. and Canada in markets including aerospace and defense, cybersecurity and infrastructure.

Intelsat said he has two decades of experience at the senior executive management level in commercial and defense industries. 

Most recently, he was president of the Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS) business at former defense contractor Raytheon Company, which is now a part of Raytheon Technologies.

Wajsgras joined Raytheon Company as president and chief financial officer in 2006 and left the group in 2020, after it merged with United Technologies (UTC) to create Raytheon Technologies, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Before joining Raytheon Company, he was vice president and chief financial officer at Lear Corporation, the U.S.-based automotive seating and electrical systems manufacturer.

“While the company has made history over nearly 60 years, it’s Intelsat’s future that excites me most,” Wajsgras said in a statement.

Intelsat’s restructuring deal cut its debt from about $16 billion to $7 billion, freeing the operator up to invest in a multi-orbit growth strategy that could also include its own low Earth orbit broadband constellation.

In January, Intelsat ordered two software-defined satellites from Thales Alenia Space as part of this plan. 

The order came after Intelsat received a milestone payment from the Federal Communications Commission, worth $1.2 billion, for clearing part of its C-band spectrum for terrestrial cellular operators.

Intelsat expects to receive nearly $5 billion in total from clearing C-band spectrum, however, it remains locked in a legal dispute with satellite operator SES over its share of the proceeds.