New board of directors to take SSC to next level

A high-powered board of directors has been appointed by the company behind plans to bring the space industry to Shetland. 

Chairman of Shetland Space Centre will be Chris Phillips, who is non-executive chairman of Hadleigh Waymoth, an independent advisory and fund management business, while the former government minister Brian Wilson will be vice-chair.

The original team behind SSC, Frank Strang, Debbie Strang, Scott Hammond and Bill Gibb, will also be on the board. 

Non-executive directors will be Todd Ruppert, founder and CEO of Ruppert International, who has 40 years’ experience in financial services, and Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland. 

SSC has already signed a memorandum of understanding with Lockheed Martin and Shetland Islands Council and further agreements with other major players in the space industry are in the pipeline. 

The aim is to develop an all-encompassing space centre in Unst that can launch satellites into space in small rockets and capture data from existing satellites. 

Mr Strang said: “This is a major step forward in the evolution of Shetland Space Centre and with the wealth of experience in a wide range of fields on this board we are sending a strong signal of positive intent about building a brand new industry in Shetland.”