The Chairman, like the Vice-Chairman and past Chairman is appointed by members for a period of one year. They are mandated by the Board to formally represent the Association in high-level meetings along with the Secretary General. They further supervise the work of the Association, on behalf of the Board. The Chairman Emeritus is a personal appointment in recognition of Mr. Giuliano Berretta's contribution to the sector and to the work of ESOA.

Chairman: Eric Beranger

Mr. Eric Béranger is CEO of Astrium Services, one of the three Business Units of Astrium. the space division of EADS. He has a background in engineering, and structured finance. Since starting his career in 1988, he has held management positions in engineering, operations and finance at France Telecom, Société Générale, and Matra Marconi Space (now Astrium Satellites). At the inception of EADS in 2000, he became Senior Vice President Marketing for all space activities.

In 2002-2003 he successfully led the negotiations of the Skynet 5-Paradigm secure satcoms PFI project with UK Ministry of Defence, and was subsequently appointed CEO of Astrium Services at its creation in 2003.

Under his leadership, the company has grown its revenues and workforce 10 fold from 2003 to 2009 - and achieved major successes with contracts including Skynet 5 (UK), ASTEL S (France), MilSat Services (Germany), and Yahsat (UAE).

Born in 1963, he is a graduate engineer from the Ecole Polytechnique and Telecom Paris. He is married with two children. His interests include flying - he holds a pilot's licence, sports and science. In 2006, he was awarded the prestigious Chevalier de la legion d'honneur for his accomplishments in developing space activities.

Vice-Chairman: Cato Halsaa

Cato Halsaa, Vice President and CEO, Telenor Satellite Broadcasting AS (TSBc) – joined TBSc in 1999 and has served as CEO since June 2001. He has been instrumental in managing the growth of TSBc beyond the Nordic region. In the past few years 1°West, from which TSBc operates has become one of the fastest growing broadcast platforms, delivering services to nearly 17 million households throughout Europe. TSBc operates four satellites from its satellite control center at Fornebu (Thor2, Thor3, Thor5 and Thor6). Cato Halsaa was also Chair of the Board of T-VIPs AS of Oslo from 2006-2010.

Before joining Telenor, Mr. Halsaa served as Senior Vice President Satcom Division at Nera ASA. He was Managing Director for EB Communications (PTE. Ltd.) in Singapore from 1985-88.

Mr. Halsaa received his Master of Business Administration from University Erlangen-Nürnberg 1970 and Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School in 1983.

Past Chairman: Christodoulos Protopapas

Mr. Protopapas is the Managing Director of Hellas Sat Consortium Ltd, the first satellite operator in Greece and Cyprus. He has been in the satellite business since August 1994 when he was appointed from the Board of Ministers of the Government of Cyprus as Member of the Cyprus Space Committee. In that position he represented the Cyprus Administration at International Meetings and Conferences. He has participated in many professional seminars, presentations and conferences regarding Business, Communications and Informatics.

Prior to joining HellasSat, Mr Protopapas held positions as Director General of 'O Logos' Radio and TV Channel (which he himself designed, built and installed) and Technical Advisor to Alpha TV Group in Greece. In 1995 he established 'Logos Net' which was the First Internet Service Provider in Cyprus.

Born in 1961 in Limassol, Cyprus, Mr. Protopapas graduated from the Electrical Engineering Department of the 'National Technical University of Athens' with Honors. His Interests include Satellite Communications, Management Information Systems and Networking. He is the author of a number of international academic publications in Intelligent Systems and he has participated in a number of Seminars and Lectures in Cyprus and aboard presenting new technologies in Communications and Information Systems. He is married to Dr. Panayiota Constantinou and has three children.

Chairman Emeritus: Giuliano Berretta

Mr. Giuliano Berretta was CEO of Eutelsat Communications, one of the world’s three leading satellite operators until November 2009. The Group reported consolidated revenues of €829.1 million in 2007 from the operation of its 24 communications satellites in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Mr Berretta was also a Board member of the Spanish satellite operator, Hispasat S.A., another ESOA member.
 
Mr Berretta joined the Eutelsat international organisation in 1990 as its first Commercial Director. Prior to joining Eutelsat Mr Berretta worked at the European Space Agency's headquarters in Paris and its technical centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands where he was instrumental in the design of Europe's pioneering communications satellite programmes. Before ESA, Mr. Berretta spent seven years with Italian industry (Telettra, Selenia) in the field of military and civilian radio links and television broadcasting.
 
Mr Berretta was elected 'Satellite Executive of the Year 2000' by Via Satellite, a leading publication in the satellite sector. In June 2002 he was one of 50 European businessmen recognised as a “Leader at the Forefront of Change" by Business Week Europe. Mr Berretta holds a degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Padua (Italy) an Honorary Doctorate in Management Engineering from the University of Bologna (Italy) and an honorary Professorship from the University Ricardo Palma of Lima (Peru). He is a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur of the French Republic and a Cavaliere del Lavoro by the Italian Republic.

Former ESOA chairmen

2002 - 2003 Mr. Romain Bausch, CEO of SES
2003 - 2004 Mr. Giuliano Berretta, CEO of EUT
2004 - 2005 Mr. Dan Goldberg, then CEO of New Skies Satellites, now CEO of Telesat (Canada)
2005 - 2006 Mr. Enrico Saggese, then CEO of Telespazio, now President of ASI (Italian Space Agency)
2006 - 2007 Mr. Michael Butler, then COO of Inmarsat, now Independent consultant
2007 - 2008 Mr. Christodoulos Protopapas, CEO of HellasSat & Present ESOA Chairman
2008 - 2009 Mr. Giuliano Berretta, CEO of EUT & ESOA Chairman Emeritus
2009 - 2010 Mr. Romain Bausch, CEO of SES & ESOA Past-Chairman
2010 - 2011 Mr. Christodoulos Protopapas, CEO of HellasSat & Present ESOA Chairman