Palmer has replaced Ronald Spithout, who has led its Maritime business unit since 2014.
Inmarsat has announced that Ben Palmer OBE will be joining the company as President of its Maritime Business Unit on November 8, 2021.
Ben recently led Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems division in Europe. He brings 25 years’ experience of driving transformational change across technology-driven industries, including maritime, with a strong customer-centric focus and a track record of delivering results.
In a statement, Rajeev Suri, CEO of Inmarsat, said: Inmarsat is a company with growing momentum and I am delighted to welcome Ben Palmer to our executive team and as president of our maritime business at this pivotal time. Supported by our market-leading technology platforms, including the recently announced Orchestra and Elera networks, Inmarsat is driving a step-change in growth. Customer-centricity is central to everything we do and Ben is the ideal leader to support our maritime partners and customers as they navigate a rapidly changing world and embrace the benefits of digitalisation. I wish to pay tribute to Ronald Spithout for his long and distinguished career at Inmarsat and his years of service to our maritime customers and partners. His leadership helped make Fleet Xpress the success it is today and I am delighted to report that our maritime business continues to show enhanced performance which forms a solid foundation for the future. We wish Ronald every success in the future.
Ronald Spithout has been with Inmarsat since 1988 (including his time at Stratos, Xantic and Station 12) and his numerous career highlights as a leading voice in the maritime industry include the rollout of Fleet Xpress and the work he has done spearheading the digitalisation of shipping.
