Miles Jamison 
VeriSign appointed Iridium Communications director and CEO Matthew Desch to its board of directors, effective Oct. 6. The appointment of the 11-time Wash100 Award winner expands VeriSign’s board to eight members.
Terms of Desch’s VeriSign Board Appointment
Desch will serve as a non-employee director and shall be entitled to an annual cash retainer of $50,000 and an annual equity award valued at $250,000, issued exclusively in restricted stock units. These amounts will be prorated per his service for a portion of the year. Furthermore, VeriSign will enter into an indemnity agreement with Desch, obligating the company to indemnify him against specific liabilities incurred in connection with his service and to advance expenses related to any associated legal proceedings.
Who Is Matt Desch?
Desch is a seasoned executive and board member with more than four decades of leadership in telecommunications and satellite services. He has led Iridium, a satellite-based voice and data services provider, since 2006. He currently serves on the board of Unisys and AOPA, and has been a member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee for over 14 years. His previous roles include chairman of Airspan Networks, CEO of Telcordia Technologies, board member at SAIC and president of Nortel Networks. He began his career as a supervisor at Bell Laboratories.
