Matthew J. Desch

Matthew J. Desch, Chief Executive Officer of Iridium Communications, Inc., has more than 33 years of experience in telecommunications management and more than 20 years in the global wireless industry. Joining Iridium in 2006, Mr. Desch has been responsible for leading Iridium’s innovation and growth, which includes taking the company public on Nasdaq and completing the financing for the launch of Iridium NEXT, Iridium’s next-generation constellation. With Mr. Desch at the helm, Iridium has more than doubled in subscribers and nearly tripled its operational earnings. Before joining Iridium, Mr. Desch served as the CEO of New Jersey-based Telcordia Technologies, Inc., a supplier of software and services to the telecommunications industry. Mr. Desch was instrumental in moving Telcordia into new wireless and international markets, and spinning off the company to private equity from SAIC, Inc. Prior to Telcordia, Mr. Desch worked for Nortel Networks as President of Nortel’s fast-growing Wireless Networks division from 1995 to 2000, having led its growth from $2 billion to more than $4.5 billion in annual revenue. In 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Mr. Desch as a member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. The committee provides recommendations to the President and other government leaders on matters of security that relate to the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure. An active pilot, he also serves on the board of trustees of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association — AOPA. Mr. Desch was named by Washingtonian magazine as a “Tech Titan” and received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year 2011 Greater Washington Area award. He began his career in software development with Bell Laboratories, which became Lucent Technologies. He has a Bachelor of Science in computer science from The Ohio State University and an MBA from University of Chicago.