Airbus Group and Safran on Monday said they have proposed Andre-Hubert Roussel, who currently runs operations at Airbus’ Defence and Space Group, to be the CEO of ArianeGroup, a joint venture between the two companies focused on the space launch business.
Roussel, 53, will take on his new role on Jan. 1, 2019, and will succeed Alain Charmeau, who will retire on March 31, 2019, after serving several months as a special adviser to Roussel. Roussel must be approved by the ArianeGroup board of directors.
Roussel has been Head of Operations and a member of the Executive Committee at Airbus Defence and Space since 2016 and since July 2018 a member of the ArianeGroup Board of Directors. He has also run the Engineering, Operations and Quality for Space Systems within Airbus Defence and Space and was the lead for Launcher Programmes at Airbus.
Charmeau, 62, has led ArianeGroup since 2015. Airbus and Safran stood up ArianeGroup, a 50-50 joint venture, to focus on developing a new family of launch vehicles to better compete for commercial and government business.
“Alain has done a tremendous job at ArianeGroup and before at Airbus and Aerospatiale,” Tom Enders, CEO of Airbus, said in a statement. “Since almost 40 years he has contributed much to the success of our defence and space programmes. With this succession, we bid farewell to a great colleague and one of Europe’s preeminent space industry leaders. Alain is not easy to replace but I am convinced Andre-Hubert with his impressive space and operations experience is the perfect choice to take ArianeGroup to the next level.”
In conjunction with Roussel’s pending move to ArianeGroup, Airbus Defence and Space has named Barbara Bergmeier, 50, as Head of Operations and a member of the Executive Committee effective Dec. 1.
Since 2014, Bergmeier has been chief operating officer of Germany’s Draxlmaier Group, an international automotive supplier. She has been in charge of 50 production sites in 20 countries.
“Barbara is a seasoned leader in complex industrial ecosystems,” Dirk Hoke, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space, said in a statement.
Before joining Draxlmaier, Bergmeier held senior management positions at the automotive company BMW Group beginning in 1990.