ST Engineering iDirect CEO and leadership

I am currently the CEO at iDirect, the market leading provider of global connectivity solutions in the satellite communications industry. Our solutions support the global telecommunication industry, service providers, and international government and defense organizations that leverage satellite connectivity.

As an entrepreneur, I have also worked at early stage startups that were later acquired by Fortune 100 companies and also held senior leadership roles at those companies.

While there are things that only experience can teach, I have proven my ability to be highly adaptable and a quick learner. I have been described as an ethical “street fighter”. I have been in a lot of tough situations throughout my life, and I have always risen to the occasion.

I am highly competitive. At a young age I became a competitive swimmer and continued through college where I earned All-American honors. Swimming taught me the importance of goal setting and that hard work and dedication are essential to success. Swimming also gave me a way to constructively channel my intense competitiveness and the value of motivation.

As an eternal optimist I thrive on motivating a team and rallying them behind a common goal.

Frederik Simoens obtained a Master degree in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. degree in digital communications, both from the University of Ghent. He is currently also pursuing an MBA degree at the Vlerick Business School. Frederik Simoens has been with Newtec for several years and has held various positions. In his previous role as Director Communication Technologies, he successfully introduced Newtec technology in the DVB-S2X standard. In the beginning of 2015, Frederik became VP Product Management at Newtec and in Q2 2015 he was appointed as CTO of Newtec. Frederik's key areas of expertise include physical layer technologies, satellite communications and digital modems. He is also guest lecturer at the University of Ghent and is author of 40+ publications.

Thomas Van den Driessche is a President & Chairman at Space & Satellite Professionals Int'l and President & Chief Commercial Officer at iDirect and is based in Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium. He has worked as CEO at Newtec and International Business Development Manager at Barco. Thomas studied at Universiteit Gent between 1995 and 2000.