Four Leaders Join Global Eagle’s Executive Team, Focus on Media & Content and Connectivity

April 8, 2021

Global Eagle welcomes four new leaders to the company’s executive team, including one internal promotion. Three new executives include Nancy Walker as Senior Vice President, Commercial – Inflight Connectivity, Kate Santoro as Vice President, Legal and General Counsel, and Hope Groves as Vice President, Content Technology. Estibaliz Asiain has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Commercial – Media & Content.

Chief Executive Officer Josh Marks commented: "I’m pleased to welcome three talented new team members and make a well-deserved promotion, as we build our teams across Media & Content and Connectivity. We are refreshing our leadership team to support our customers and lead our global workforce.”

Nancy Walker, Senior Vice President, Commercial – Inflight Connectivity

Nancy Walker joins Global Eagle in a new role to the company, Senior Vice President of Inflight Connectivity, based in Melbourne, FL. Nancy will oversee Inflight Connectivity (IFC) commercial sales and account management. She is an engineer by education and training, with deep program and product experience at a technical level. Before joining Global Eagle, Nancy was Chief Commercial Officer at SmartSky Networks, and prior to that, she led launch and commercial account operations of IFC at LiveTV and Thales.

Kate Santoro, Vice President, Legal & General Counsel

Kate Santoro has been named General Counsel, based in Denver, CO. She will oversee all legal matters at Global Eagle. Kate joins Global Eagle from Janus Henderson, where she was Managing Counsel. She also served as Vice President of Curian Capital, and General Counsel of the US subsidiary of Old Mutual. She has practiced commercial litigation and securities law, and was a Deputy District Attorney for the State of Colorado.

Hope Groves, Vice President, Content Technology

Hope Groves has been named Vice President, Content Technology, based in Santa Ana, CA. Hope joins from The Walt Disney Company, where she was Director, Studio Technology. Prior to Disney, she was Universal Music Group’s Senior Director, Digital Supply Chain Operations. Hope has spent more than 20 years directing complex technology programs related to content processing and new technology implementation. Global Eagle’s Content Technology teams in London and Santa Ana will report to Hope.

Estibaliz Asiain, Senior Vice President, Commercial – Media & Content

Estibaliz (“Est”) Asiain has been promoted to SVP, Commercial – Media & Content, based in Madrid, Spain. Est manages all commercial and account management for Global Eagle’s Inflight Entertainment (IFE) business. She previously served as Global Eagle’s Vice President and Managing Director of Customer Success. Est has been in the IFE business since 1999, and at Global Eagle, served in customer-facing roles. Through 2018, she managed GEE’s Latin American region, adding Europe and Africa in 2019.