SGAC is pleased to announce that Matteo Cappella has been selected as the SGAC Operations Manager

SGAC is pleased to announce that Matteo Cappella has been selected as the first ever SGAC Operations Manager, the second full-time employee of SGAC. After having announced and approved the creation of the position of Operations Manager, SGAC launched an open call and recruitment round to find the best candidate to support the organisation’s activities. Among all the candidates, Matteo Cappella – already supporting SGAC as Consultant – emerged as the clear choice to fill in this significant role.

Matteo has been working for SGAC since March 2019. His background includes an MA in International Politics and Economic Relations and research activities at the European Space Policy Institute, with publications on the European astropreneurial environment and on Spacepower-related studies. Matteo will officially take office with this new role in January 2020.

Matteo Cappella says “I’m honoured and thrilled to become SGAC’s first Operations Manager. I’m looking forward to helping SGAC to grow more and more in professionalism and to keep supporting the organisation’s amazing volunteers to nurture their passion and talents”. 

The SGAC Operations Manager will be accountable for supporting the management of SGAC operations.  This includes project planning, scheduling and managing, capacity and utilisation management, delegating work to meet deliverables, and tracking the status of outstanding work from the different SGAC teams. Matteo will work with different SGAC Executive Office Teams to ensure that communication is streamlined. He will be responsible for identifying process improvements that will lead to year-over-year enhanced operations, and making sure that all ongoing work is delivered timely meeting SGAC quality standards. Matteo will work with and report to the SGAC Executive Director. 

Clémentine Decoopman, SGAC Executive Director, says “I am very excited to continue working with Matteo as the very first SGAC full-time Operations Manager. I believe he is now ready to take on this important role. He is a humble and passionate young professional who demonstrated passion for SGAC and performed beyond expectations during his 8 months as a Consultant. He has been proactive in implementing new processes to support the team and new ideas to bring more professionalism to the organisation. I strongly believe the SGAC Operations are now in good hands!“

Matteo Emanuelli, SGAC Chair, says: “The hiring of a second paid person is for SGAC an important milestone. The need was evident for allowing the organisation to grow in a sustainable way. We went through a strict review and approval process at every level of the organisation, from NPoCs to Executive members, explaining the reasons, getting the feedback and the financial coverage. It was a real collective effort.“