Alum Answers President's Call


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The White House announced the appointment of Matt Desch (BS in CSE, '80) to the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC).

Mr. Desch is the CEO of Iridium Communications Inc., an international satellite communications company offering voice and data communications coverage. This position is the most recent in a career that has always been in ascendancy. Before joining Iridium, Desch served as CEO of Telcordia Technologies, Inc., a supplier of software and services for the telecommunications industry. From 1987 to 2000, Desch worked for Nortel Networks, where among other roles he served as president of global service providers and was in charge of Nortel’s business in Europe and Asia.

This career began in Columbus doing software development with AT&T Bell Laboratories, which became Lucent Technologies, now Alcatel-Lucent. In addition to his B.S. in Computer Science from The Ohio State University, he earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Matt is excited about his new role commenting, "The NSTAC committee was created by Ronald Reagan in response to the threat of nuclear war on the nation's telecom infrastructure. It's served four Presidents since then, and while nuclear war might be possible, the threats to our infrastructure are even more diverse today - including cyber attacks, natural disasters, and terrorism. I'm pleased to be working with this committee at this time - it's also great recognition of the growing stature of Iridium and the importance of satellite communications as part of the overall telecommunications picture."