Viasat’s Rick Baldridge to Retire 

Rick Baldridge. Photo: Viasat

Viasat’s former CEO Rick Baldridge is retiring from his role as vice chairman with the completion of the Inmarsat acquisition, and will remain on the company’s board of directors. 

Baldridge is a longtime executive at Viasat and served as CEO for about a year and half while founder Mark Dankberg stepped away from the role. He joined Viasat in 1999, and has served in senior executive roles, including many years as COO. He has been vice chairman since July 2022, when Dankberg returned to the CEO role. 

“It has been my privilege to have worked with the three co-founders to further a culture of innovation and meritocracy,” Baldridge commented. “It is bitter-sweet as although we have grown a great company, the best is yet to come. I look forward, as a member of the board, to continuing to see the fruits of the combination of the ViaSat-3 constellation and the integration with Inmarsat come together.”

Viasat credited Baldridge with leading the deal for the Inmarsat acquisition for the last two years, as well as leadership in the Link-16 divestiture to L3Harris. 

“In his more than 20-year career with Viasat, Rick has been integral to the evolution of the company — supporting our approximately 50x revenue growth from a subsystems technology manufacturer to a global industry leader in satellite communications services, systems solutions, and space and ground products,” Dankberg said. “All of us at Viasat are grateful for his dedication, insight and leadership.” 

There have been a number of leadership changes at Viasat and Inmarsat with the close of the acquisition. Inmarsat CEO Rajeev Suri has stepped down and will serve on Viasat’s board of directors. Dankberg will lead the combined company as chairman and CEO, with recent hire Guru Gowrappan as president.