WASHINGTON — The board of directors of the Satellite Industry Association has appointed telecommunications industry veteran Tom Stroup to serve as the advocacy group’s president, the SIA announced Dec. 9.
Stroup, who most recently was chief executive of Shared Spectrum Co., which develops spectrum intelligence technologies, succeeds Patricia Cooper, who left SIA in August to become vice president of government affairs and policy at satellite operator Intelsat. Cooper had led the Washington-based SIA, which promotes government policies that are friendly to the satellite industry, since 2007.
Stroup’s appointment, which follows what the SIA characterized as an extensive search to replace Cooper, is effective Dec. 15. Cooper’s reputation for effectiveness in influencing government policies affecting the satellite industry, notably in export reform, leaves big shoes for Stroup to fill.
“With his telecommunications, commercial business, and trade association expertise, Tom is ideally suited to position SIA at the forefront of the policy, regulatory and legislative environment in Washington,” Bill Weller, SIA chairman and vice president of sales and marketing at satellite builder Space Systems/Loral, said in a prepared statement. “SIA will continue to focus on the key issues that affect the satellite industry such as spectrum management, government smart buying initiatives, export controls and safe space operations.”
In addition to his industrial and entrepreneurial experience, Stroup, a lawyer by training, has spent time in the advocacy world. For more than a decade, he was president of the Personal Communications Industry Association, which represents wireless infrastructure companies, according to the SIA.
“Far too many take for granted, or don’t even realize, the benefits that satellites provide to government, defense, businesses and consumers — every single day,” Stroup said in a prepared statement. “Today however, many new technology companies, including some in Silicon Valley, are starting to more fully recognize those benefits plus the potential only satellites can deliver. On many levels, what is happening in the satellite industry reminds me of the revolution in personal communications that eventually led to the vibrant mobile marketplace that exists today.”
