Markus Payer will join SES Astra in Luxembourg as Vice President Media Relations. In his newly created position, he will report to Ferdinand Kayser, President and Chief Executive Officer of SES Astra, and Alexander Oudendijk, Senior Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer of SES Astra. He will take up his position on 15 September.
Ferdinand Kayser says about his new hire: "Having Markus on board with SES Astra will allow us to strengthen and deepen our relationships with the press and media in Europe. We have interesting and challenging times ahead, and Markus will be instrumental in helping to position our company as the leading satellite-centric network services provider in the EMEA region."
Markus has many years of professional experience in the media industry and as a journalist. From 1999 to 2004, he was Spokesman, Head of Media Relations and Vice President Media Relations at Bertelsmann AG and RTL Group SA, Europe's leading broadcasting company. In these positions, he was based at Bertelsmann's Corporate Center in Guetersloh, Germany, and at RTL Group's headquarters in Luxembourg.
Between 1993 and 1998, Markus worked as reporter and editor at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) in Frankfurt, and at Reuters, also based in Frankfurt, reporting on the international media and advertising industry. Since 2004, Markus has been responsible for global media relations at one of the world's largest agrochemical companies, Syngenta AG, based in Basel, Switzerland.
