We Are Our People

Our staff plays a key role in our success through their qualifications, motivation, passion, different cultural backgrounds and sense of collaboration. Our teams are multi-cultural with our employees coming from all over the world. We all bring together different experiences, approaches and perspectives that make us stand out as a truly international company.

Based on our core values – trust, integrity, participation and curiosity – we continuously improve our internal working environment (processes, practices, tools and organization) to focus on engaging and empowering our staff.

All together, we are around 400 staff members, representing an average of 25 nationalities. Our team includes seasoned, highly specialised professionals with up to 30 years' service under their belts, as well as recent university graduates.

Our staff is not only employed in our offices at Darmstadt and Gilching, but also at our client sites, ESOC, EUMETSAT, DLR and DFS.

We all share the passion for aerospace and are proud to be part of Telespazio!

Our Management

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Commercial Officer 

Chief Financial Officer

Chief Systems and Products Officer

Chief Technology & Innovation Officer

Sigmar Keller – Chief Executive Officer

What aspect of leadership gives you the most satisfaction? 

I put trust in our colleagues and empower them to a maximal degree, so that they can unleash their full potential. When the colleague is starting to shine, I feel deeply rewarded. 

What’s an ideal, productive day for you?

A productive day for me means working closely together with our teams on solving a business challenge. In our company, we share the same vision and passions, and such collaborations always lead to excellent results.

What do you do when you’re not working?    

I’m passionate about team sports, which has many similarities with my way of running our company. Furthermore, I love being in nature and with my family. Nevertheless, my work and private life is deeply integrated.

Zeina Mounzer – Chief Commercial Officer

What continues to surprise you in your role?

What characterizes my role is that it is diverse and always evolving. Whenever I reach a point where I think I have figured it out, I discover that there is something new to learn. That’s what I love about it! The one constant in my role is that it revolves around people, and people will never cease to surprise me!

What’s one piece of advice you’re glad you ignored?

A lot of the advice one typically gets, is based on what is generally expected and accepted (society, trends, peers, etc). I think life is too short for that, and much more interesting when one follows their own path. Most of the important decisions I made so far, have been against the advice I got. An example I can give: when I was deciding on what to study, I was advised not to choose Aerospace Engineering, and go for something less demanding instead… So glad I didn’t listen!

What kind of challenges are you best at solving?

I like challenges; they keep life interesting! I’m most motivated by challenges that lead to something better, an enrichment of sorts. I am best at handling situations that make sense to me; where I can see a logic to the solution. What I don’t like is having to solve problems that are unnecessary; I get frustrated when common sense or logic doesn’t apply. 

Michael Oestreicher – Chief Financial Officer

What were you great at during your childhood? 

I was particularly musical and could play melodies without notes. As a result, I had private lessons for five years and learned to play the accordion.

What’s one piece of advice you’re glad you took?

To do sports and thus, exercise regularly. Not only is this very healthy, but it helps me clear my head. Which in turn, reduces stress and balances my work life.

What three things could you never live without? 

  • Sports (jogging and cycling)
  • Cooking; therefore, good food 
  • Dogs, especially “Whippets”

Ivan Janes – Chief Systems and Products Officer

Who has been the greatest influence in your life? Why?

The greatest influence in my life has and is continuing to come from my wife and our children. They keep empowering and motivating me, not to mention keeping me on the ground and not letting me drift into outer space.

How do you define success? 

I would say that everyone has a slightly different definition of success and how it resonates with them. For me, success is finding the right challenges to keep you growing professionally and personally day in, day out.

What do you consider to be overrated?

One human trait is the desire to be right all the time. I believe this should not be our obsession and we should allow ourselves the freedom to learn and evolve at every possible opportunity.

Paulo Janeiro – Chief Technology & Innovation Officer

How would you describe your leadership style?

I tend to be flexible with people but inflexible when it comes to deadlines and goals. At the end of the day, I want to be growing the business while also growing the people around me.

If you could remove one thing from your daily routine, what would it be?

Non-optimized admin and bureaucratic processes (yes, I’m also talking to you expense reimbursement…!)

What’s something outside of work that you’ve been working to accomplish?

There is a significant difference between living and existing. I want to be living life every day, not just existing.