The finalists for WashingtonExec’s 2023 Pinnacle Awards were announced Sept. 25, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person Nov. 16.
Next is Mike DeMarco, chief commercial officer at Intelsat, who’s a Business Development Executive of the Year for Private Company with revenue greater than $250M finalist. Here, he shares 2023 key accomplishments and proud moments.
What key achievements did you have in 2023?
2023 was a year of many achievements for the Intelsat business development and sales teams that I lead, positively impacting a range of areas across the entire business. We implemented a new approach to support our development activities and to deliver value-added managed solutions more efficiently to our customers.
We grew the team significantly, adding the talent and expertise needed to pursue new market opportunities across multiple business sectors. We oversaw the launch of 8 geostationary satellites within 10 months and helped NASA launch its pollution monitoring payload. We secured new contracts with top-tier customers, including the intelligence community and the Department of Defense.
Perhaps most notably, we helped Intelsat realize billions of dollars in cost reimbursement payments from the FCC with the successful execution of an extensive and complex C-band clearing project. All these efforts led Intelsat to achieve its first year of revenue growth in a decade while markedly improving our balance sheet.
What are you most proud of having been a part of in your current organization?
The successful execution of our FCC C-band clearing project is certainly a point of pride. We established a dedicated internal team, identified world-class field service and equipment vendor partners, and deployed a rigorous, disciplined, and deadline-oriented project management approach to ensure work was completed on time, with minimal disruption to our customers.
By the time 2023 concludes, Intelsat will have realized $5 billion in reimbursements because of this project.
Our successful C-band clearing project in part will be used to help the company expand its satellite footprint and extend services into the growing government, global government, and mobility markets. The proceeds will allow us to develop upon our multi-orbit network capabilities which will be crucial in delivering the right level of uninterrupted bandwidth for specific applications and use cases, ensuring that government, military, and commercial customers have access to high-quality connectivity wherever their requirements take them.