35 years of experience in space missions in a variety of senior management positions
A wide spectrum of first-hand experience can be made available, all of which was gained by direct responsibility for the activity. This provided me a with deep understanding of technical and scientific aspects and a variety of management responsibilities. These responsibilities grew from overall system responsibilities for development and transfer into operations to finally becoming a member of the organisation´s board of directors.
During the 9 years as a Director with EUMETSAT (Technical and Scientific Department), I was developing the scientific and technical teams and their skill base to make the organisation ready for growth. Beyond this, I strongly contributed to define and implement the organisation´s data and services strategy and its positioning as a key player worldwide.
During the 9 years as a Director with EUMETSAT (Technical and Scientific Department), I was developing the scientific and technical teams and their skill base to make the organisation ready for growth. Beyond this, I strongly contributed to define and implement the organisation´s data and services strategy and its positioning as a key player worldwide.
Responsibilities - Positions held
- Lead Engineer in charge of Realtime SAR / MW /VIS /IR algorithms, Data processing, system engineering
- Project Manager on several large projects
- System Engineering Team Leader in Aerospace Industry
- System Manager of major Space Programme (Eumetsat Polar System /Metop) from user requirements to operations
- Exploitation of all EUMETSAT Missions as Head of the Engineering and Maintenance Division in Operations
- Director of the Technical and Scientific Department at EUMETSAT (270+ Staff, 560+ FTEs)
- Member of the EUMETSAT Management Board for 9 years
- Leading role in defining and implementing the organisation´s strategy regarding Infrastructure, cybersecurity and Big Data/data services. This included the coordination e.g. with EU on Copernicus WEkEO DIAS and Destination Earth
- Management of all suppliers contracts for maintenance, engineering, communications, security support, system evolutions, scientific studies and prototyping, etc…
Missions and Systems
- Synthetic Aperture Radar systems: X-SAR, DO-SAR, ERS-1
- Geostationnary meteorological missions: Meteosat, Meteosat Second Generation, Meteosat Third Generation
- Polar Orbit meteorological missions EPS/Metop, EPS Second Generation
- Altimetry Missions: Jason-2, Jason-3
- Copernicus: Sentinel-3, Sentinel-4, Sentinel-5, Sentinel-6/Michael Freilich, WEkEO/DIAS
- Big Data Initiatives: European Weather Cloud, Destination Earth
“Anyone who sits on top of the largest hydrogen-oxygen fueled system in the world, knowing they’re going to light the bottom, and doesn’t get a little worried, does not fully understand the situation.”