Iridium Communications  announced that Kathy Morgan has been named its Chief Legal Officer . Morgan assumed this position effective January 1, 2022, succeeding former CLO Tom Hickey. Previously, she served as Iridium’s Vice President of Corporate Law.

Morgan joined Iridium in 2008 to assist with the company’s corporate development and financing activities that culminated in Iridium’s listing as a public company. She’s worked closely over the years with Iridium’s finance organization on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) matters, equity offerings, financings, investor relations, executive compensation, and human resources activities, led Iridium’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts and has supported Iridium’s Board of Directors.

“We’re very fortunate to be able to welcome someone with Kathy’s experience, expertise, and leadership abilities as our new CLO,” Iridium CEO Matt Desch shared. “With her involvement in a number of important Iridium matters during her time here already, I am confident Kathy will lead our legal, regulatory and security organization to even greater heights.”

“I continue to be inspired by Iridium’s mission and expanding purpose, which is why I am thrilled to embark on this next journey with the company,” said Morgan. “I am so grateful to continue my career at Iridium as Chief Legal Officer and to work with a dedicated team and network that continue to keep over 1.5 million customers connected everywhere in the world.”

Morgan graduated from the University of North Carolina with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with honors and received her law degree from Georgetown University. After law school she managed mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and securities law matters for clients of a private D.C. law firm before moving in-house to do corporate and securities work for the telecom industry, first at MCI, and then at Teleglobe. She also managed a team of lawyers at Teleglobe handling procurement of the company’s network assets as well as joint ventures.

During his more than 10 years at Iridium, Tom Hickey was instrumental in evolving Iridium’s legal function into an exceptional team and spearheading efforts to help create Aireon, gain regulatory approvals for Iridium’s Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) and launch the Iridium Certus^® service, among many other achievements.

In speaking of his time at Iridium, Hickey shared, “I have every confidence in Kathy as my successor and am pleased to leave the Iridium legal department in her skilled hands. Being Chief Legal Officer at Iridium was a great honor, and I look forward to watching Iridium’s successes in the years to come.”