Patrick K. Brant has been named president of Loral Skynet, the satellite operating business unit of New York-based Loral Space & Communications, succeeding Terry Hart, who is leaving after seven years to pursue a career in academia.

Here’s a twist: Brant recently accepted an offer to become a key executive at Iridium Satellite LLC but he ended up turning it down to rejoin Skynet in the top position.

This leadership transition is occurring at a critical time in Loral Skynet’s history as Loral prepares to file a plan of reorganization that should allow it to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection before the end of the year.

Brant started at subsidiary Loral Cyberstar in 1999, rising to president and CEO and then participating in Cyberstar’s integration into Loral Skynet last year.

Loral Skynet owns and operates four telecom satellites that, when combined with its hybrid VSAT/fiber global network infrastructure, provide video broadcasting, broadband data transmission, Internet services and other value-added communications services to commercial and government customers.