Melanie Delannoy is Vice President, Marketing & Communications for US-based SES Space & Defense.
AMCHAM: Please introduce yourself to our audience so they know who you are, what you have done and do, and understand the values you live by.
Melanie Delannoy: Melanie, born in Belgium, raised in the South of France, and studied in Scotland. And then I got my first job, in Luxembourg, working for an American holding company. My boss at the time recruited me directly from Scotland. She was Scottish herself and the Head of HR for the Group in Europe. A true inspiration, she made me grow so fast. At first, it was supposed to be a 6 month contract but the day I came to sign, I realized it was a permanent one.
I then moved on when I sensed she was going to leave and joined DCL Group (EuroDNS and Datacenter Luxembourg), working alongside Xavier Buck and Marco Houwen. Again, a great experience and my first steps into the ICT world. After a few years, I decided to join Fedil, one of Luxembourg’s business federation, where I interacted with entrepreneurs, which inspired me to start my own entrepreneurial adventure. I will always remember Fedil’s director at the time, Nicolas Soisson, who told me “That’s great news, you can stay with Fedil as long as you need, to finalize all your paperwork”. It gave me even more motivation and one month later, I was up and running.
Finding customers at the beginning was a little tricky and I struggled the first year. But thanks to mentors like Xavier Buck, I started supporting some Luxembourg-based IT companies, including Docler Holding (now Byborg). This mission was a real challenge. I managed to surround myself with a great team and management (Marton Fulop being the face of the company for many years) but their reputation on the market was not an easy one and many people had a negative and rejection type behavior. It took 4 years to get acceptance and recognition. Another organization I supported at the time was Cybersecurity Luxembourg (now Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity), led by Pascal Steichen. This was also a fun and disruptive mission. We launched a lot of meaningful events and activities for the local ecosystem.
In 2018, I decided to change industry and joined GovSat, a public-private joint venture between the Luxembourg government and SES. I worked there first as an employee and then a consultant. This was my first step into the Satellite communications, Space and Defense world. I also supported a startup that was active in the space and geospatial intelligence domain for two years. Last year, I joined SES Space & Defense – the US entity dealing with the Defense activities of SES but kept supporting GovSat as well as the European team.
During COVID times, as it wasn’t an easy period, I founded the “Marketing Chicks” platform, which lists and promotes Marketing and Communication independents.
I sat on a few boards but have kept only one at Datacenter Luxembourg. I chaired the American Chamber of Commerce’s Marketing Committee for five years and I am honored to have been given the mandate to launch the Space Committee.
Please tell us about Govsat and its objectives.
GovSat is a public-private joint venture between the Luxembourg government and SES, the world-leading satellite operator. Its mission is to provide secure, reliable, and accessible satellite communication services for governments and institutional users – addressing the demand for connectivity resulting from defense and civilian security applications.
What were the most important takeaways from the recent GOVSATCOM conference just completed in Luxembourg.
This 7th edition of the GOVSATCOM conference was a huge success.
1400 registered participants, of which 90% traveled to Luxembourg, 50 sponsors and partners and 45 speakers. All of this in only one day. And you have to remember that this conference started at SES with 50 people, so the jump is enormous. When we decided to make it a proper fair with an exhibition area and sponsors, and take it out of the SES campus, we gathered 250 people the first year. And for us it was already a big achievement. It was the start of bringing a community together in Luxembourg.
This year, the Luxembourg Minister of Defence, Yuriko Backes opened the conference, followed by NSPA’s GM Stacy Cummings and officials from the US DoD, UK MoD, Bundeswher, Italian MoD, NATO and EU institutions.
The Defense and space community is truly one of a kind and these events (like all events really) are important as they provide a meetup platform and help in enhancing collaborations and partnerships. The term often used by the US DoD of “allied by design” can be applied to a certain degree to the actors of this industry. They compete one day and the next they partner to support a country’s defense needs.
Were there any disappointments associated with this last event?
There are always some behind the scenes hiccups when you run an event of this scale. But at the end it all ran smoothly. Post conference feedback was also extremely positive from attendees and that’s what matters most.
Why is the annual GOVSATCOM conference moving to London next year?
The London event on September 10 & 11, called “Defence In Space” (defenceinspace.com), is actually a mirror to GOVSATCOM in terms of model, objectives and DNA. The difference is that it is fully independent and run by the industry, for the industry. The Steering committee is made of companies such as a Viasat, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, ITP, SES Space & Defense, GovSat, ST Engineering, RethinkPNT, Intelsat as well as the UK MoD. This committee helps in understanding the topics the audience is expecting and gather the right people in one place.
With GOVSATCOM, we wanted to open up to all: SMEs, startups, academia, students… hence, we dropped the idea of an entry cost. Sponsorships are also much more affordable than any conference of the kind. It has become a reference in the satcom, space and defense field and a start of year fixture for the community.
Defence in Space is also going in a similar direction.
It looks like you are spending a lot of professional time working in the USA for the moment. Please explain your perception of the similarities and differences in working style and mindset of Europeans as compared to Americans.
I do work fully for a US entity, and I am the only employee located in Luxembourg. This means quite a lot of travels and long hours due to the time difference. The team of three I manage and the people who manage me are all based out of our Reston office in Washington DC.
It is refreshing to work with such a different mindset and working style. The approach to the time spent at work and the vacations is radically different. They also have a strong “can-do” approach, enthusiasm, and they often challenge me, which is important. I have worked with really good professionals in both Europe and in the US. There is a culture difference obviously, but then again you find quality on both sides of the pond.
We have heard that diversity and inclusion is a hot topic of discussion in the USA. Please share your experiences with this topic.
I find diversity is as much a hot topic in Europe than it is in the US. SES has developed an entire program around diversity and inclusion both in Europe and the US, and employees are regularly sensitized.
In the near past, Space was a very hot topic. But now, the degree of enthusiasm appears to have diminished. Please share your experience with this.
I haven’t noticed any drop of enthusiasm from my side, maybe because I am fully involved in it. The Luxembourg Space Agency is still running some key space related events and activities for professionals but also for the larger public and the youngsters.
You have big players headquartered in Luxembourg such as SES and Intelsat and startups never stop coming in. But “Space is hard” and growth can be a bit strenuous at times for smaller companies within this industry.
