The Board of Directors of Arianespace has named Stephane Israel Chairman and CEO of the company, effective Monday, April 22, 2013.

Stephane Israel, born in 1971, was appointed as a judge in the French Court of Auditors in 2001 after graduating from the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA). While in this position, he participated in missions concerning French space policy and the Ariane launch system.

He moved to the aerospace industry in 2007, first as advisor to Louis Gallois, Chief Executive Officer of EADS, then holding various operational management positions at Astrium Space Transportation and Astrium Services.

In May 2012, Stephane Israel was appointed chief of staff to the French Minister for Industrial Renewal.

On being appointed to this position, Stephane Israel said: "I would like to extend my thanks to the Arianespace Board of Directors for entrusting me with this position, and allowing me to carry on the excellent work accomplished by Jean-Yves Le Gall over the last ten years. It is indeed a great honor for me to be chosen to lead a company that is now the global benchmark in space transport."

Jean-Yves Le Gall, who had headed Arianespace since 2001 and on April 3 was named President of French space agency CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales), Arianespace's core shareholder, by the French Council of Ministers, added: "I am very pleased that our Board has unanimously accepted my nomination of Stephane Israel as Chairman and CEO of Arianespace. His broad experience in his previous positions make him perfectly qualified to meet the operational, commercial and financial challenges facing our company. In my new