By Robert Bell

I have rarely been prouder than I was on the night of March 17.  That’s when I stood on a stage with seven members of the Satellite Hall of Fame and helped introduce them to the Gala Benefit Dinner audience. 

Joining me were two good friends: Dianne VanBeber of Intelsat, our outgoing Chair of the SSPI Board, and Clay Mowry of Arianespace, whose company sponsored the Induction Ceremony.  Arianespace donated the awards we presented: gold replicas of the legendary Ariane 5 launcher.  But the honorees on that stage outshone the trophies by a few hundred watts.

It was my privilege to introduce three current members of the Hall: Dr. Dennis Curtin, inducted into the Hall in 2009, when he served as COO of XTAR; Edward Horowitz, who entered the Hall in 2011 after serving as CEO of SES Americom and now chairs two new satellite ventures; and Susan Irwin, inducted in 2013 after 30 years of contributions as an industry analyst and distance learning pioneer.

It was their job to introduce the remarkable people being inducted into the Hall of Fame that evening, including XT Vuong of Artel, Dirk Breynaert of Newtec, Mark Dankberg of ViaSat and Dave Thompson of Orbital ATK.  In the next editions of The Orbiter, we’ll use words and video to tell you about each of them and why they so richly deserve to be honored. 

It is people like these who make the Hall of Fame matter.  They are worthy followers of such members as Arthur C. Clarke, Dr. Harold Rosen, Rene Anselmo, John Puente and Steve Dorfman.  They are founders and builders, still driving our industry forward through innovation in technology and business practice, and still setting an example for the rest of us to follow.

If you weren’t able to join us for this inspiring evening, the next few issues of The Orbiter will be the next best thing.