Dish Network has named Hamid Akhavan as CEO and said he will continue as CEO of sister company EchoStar.
EchoStar and Dish have agreed to merge. The transaction is still being reviewed by the government, but the company expects it to close by year-end.
Akhavan has been designated to be the CEO of the combined companies.
Dish laid off 500 people after reporting “astonishingly bad” third quarter financial results, including a $139 million loss.
Dish president and CEO Erik Carlson left the company after 28 years earlier this month.
“Hamid brings a unique set of skills to Dish building off his experience in the technology, telecom, private equity and investment sectors,” Dish co-founder and chairman Charlie Ergen said. “An engineer by background, he's financially astute and a seasoned manager. He currently serves EchoStar, Dish's sister company, as CEO and will lead both companies in order to hit the ground running once the merger with EchoStar is complete.”
Before joining Dish and EchoStar, Akhavan was a partner at Twin Point Capital, an investment firm, and a founding partner of Long Arc Capital LLC. He held a variety of executive positions including CEO of Unify Inc. (formerly Siemens Enterprise Communications), chief operating officer of Deutsche Telekom and CEO of T-Mobile International.
“There is tremendous opportunity at Dish, and even more so once it's combined with EchoStar,” Akhavan said. “This appointment will enable me and the teams to get a headstart in preparing to run the combined business of the companies.”
