Luxembourg: SES, a global satellite operator, has announced a significant leadership change with the appointment of Elisabeth (Lisa) Pataki as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective June 16, 2025. Pataki will succeed Sandeep Jalan, who has served as SES’s CFO since May 2020 and will depart on July 31, 2025, following a transitional handover period with Pataki.
SES’s Board of Directors expressed gratitude for Jalan’s impactful tenure, highlighting his role in driving continuous improvement and transformation within the company. Under Jalan’s financial stewardship, SES strengthened its balance sheet, maintained a competitive cost of capital, and delivered robust cash returns to shareholders. Adel Al-Saleh, SES CEO, praised Jalan’s “steadfast leadership” over the past five years and welcomed Pataki, emphasizing her extensive experience in aerospace and defense sectors and her proven track record in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) finance integrations.
Lisa Pataki brings over two decades of progressive finance leadership at publicly listed multinational aerospace and defense companies. Most recently, she served at Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Company, where she played a pivotal role in expanding profitability by streamlining operations and prioritizing capital investments for sustainable growth. From 2020 to 2023, as Group CFO of the Comet Group, Pataki successfully drove an EBITDA margin expansion exceeding five percentage points. Earlier in her career, between 2005 and 2015, she held multiple finance roles at RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies Corporation), including leading the financial integration of Applied Signal Technologies, one of Raytheon’s largest acquisitions in 2011.
Commenting on her appointment, Pataki expressed enthusiasm about joining SES and collaborating with the team to deliver an exciting future. “I look forward to stepping into this new position and working with everyone at SES to jointly deliver an exciting future for the years to come,” she said.
Sandeep Jalan, reflecting on his time at SES, thanked the company and its employees for their teamwork and expressed pride in the company’s progress during his tenure. He conveyed his best wishes for SES’s continued success in the satellite industry.
Jalan’s career spans 30 years in financial and operational leadership across Asia and Europe. Before joining SES, he was CFO at Aperam, a global leader in stainless, electrical, and specialty steel. He also held senior roles at ArcelorMittal Group and Ispat Alloys Ltd, bringing deep expertise in finance, treasury, mergers and acquisitions, performance management, and strategic finance. He holds qualifications as a Chartered Accountant and Company Secretary and has completed executive leadership programs at London Business School and IMD Lausanne.
SES, headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on the Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges, operates a fleet of geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites. The company provides high-quality video distribution and seamless data connectivity worldwide, serving telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, broadcasters, and content providers. SES’s cloud-enabled network delivers connectivity solutions across land, sea, and air, supporting its mission to be a leading player in the satellite industry.
This leadership transition marks a strategic step for SES as it continues to strengthen its financial and operational capabilities to support growth and innovation in the global satellite communications market.
