Satellite comms company OneWeb names former AA GC as new chief legal officer

Satellite communications network OneWeb has hired former AA legal head Nadia Hoosen as its new chief legal officer and group company secretary, with her appointment coming ahead of the company’s commercial services launch later this year. The chief legal officer position is a newly created role in the UK.

London-based Hoosen will be responsible for leading all legal and regulatory aspects of the business, as well as overseeing all transaction-related activity including M&A, risk and compliance, executive pay and general corporate governance. She will also serve as a member of the company’s executive committee.

Neil Masterson, OneWeb’s CEO, said: “It is really exciting to welcome someone with Nadia’s legal and regulatory leadership. Nadia will be an excellent role model and bring a broad range of sector knowledge and hands-on commercial experience as we continue to innovate and grow rapidly.”

Hoosen has two decades of in-house experience, including three years as head of legal at Carphone Warehouse before becoming group legal director and deputy company secretary of TalkTalk when it was spun out of Carphone Warehouse in 2010. She joined AA in 2018, first as general counsel and then later as chief legal officer and company secretary. During her time there, she led the legal and regulatory aspects of the public to private sale of AA to private equity firms Warburg Pincus and TowerBrook.

She said: “I’m looking forward to working with the whole OneWeb team as we continue to ensure its legal systems and regulatory processes remain at the highest standard.”

OneWeb didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of the company’s previous legal team.

OneWeb operates a network of low earth orbit satellites with the aim to provide high-speed internet connectivity across the world from space. It currently has 254 satellites in orbit, with a planned fleet of 648. It launched 36 satellites into orbit earlier this month, enabling the company to provide connectivity in the UK, Canada, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland and the Arctic region.

Last month, OneWeb secured an additional $500m investment from Bharti Global as part of an existing shareholder agreement that takes Bharti’s ownership of OneWeb to 38.6%. That investment also takes OneWeb’s total funding to $2.4bn. Global Legal Post