SES Americom announced that its board of directors appointed Edward Horowitz to be the president and CEO of the company. He also will serve on the executive committee of SES Global. His appointment is effective as of May 2.

“We are delighted to have Ed on the SES team,” SES Global President and CEO Romain Bausch said in a prepared statement. “I am extremely excited about his leadership, vision and commitment to excellence. With his background in cable, satellite and media, he will add tremendous values to the SES group in general and to SES Americom in particular.”

Horowitz most recently founded EdsLink LLC, a venture fund providing strategic financing, operational and technology consulting services. Prior to forming EdsLink, Horowitz served as executive vice president for advanced development of Citigroup and founder and chairman of e-Citi. On the satellite side, he served as strategic advisor to the CEO of Cablevision‘s Rainbow DBS satellite service division. Horowitz in his career also served as senior vice president of Viacom Inc. and chairman and CEO of Viacom Interactive Media.

Roger Rusch, president of consultancy TelAstra Inc., viewed the hiring of Horowitz as a positive for SES Americom. “The business of SES Americom is heavily weighted to providing distribution services to the cable industry,” Rusch said. “Good understanding into the cable business would be an excellent background. He may well have the kind of insight that could be valuable to SES. Satellite people typically are pretty ‘inwardly focused.’ A manager with an outside perspective could be in a better position to understand customer needs and satisfy them.”

For more on the hiring of Horowitz, please see the April 18 issue of Satellite News.