Leadership

Thomas Kohler, CEO of Viaccess-Orca, was previously Chief Operating Officer (COO) at TOTEM, the Orange Group TowerCo subsidiary, where he was responsible for developing its growth beyond France and Spain, and improving TOTEM's operational efficiency. 

Before joining TOTEM, Thomas spent 5 years at BuyIn, the procurement joint venture of Orange and Deutsche Telekom in charge of Devices and Service Platforms, Digitalisation and Business Development (extension of BuyIn to Bell Canada, NOS and Proximus).

Prior to that, he worked in different management functions at Orange Group in London and Paris in the innovation, marketing, technical and financial areas.

Thomas started his career with Orange Switzerland as Chief Commercial Officer after working for several years in Strategic Management Consulting in Germany.

Thomas holds a PhD in Business Administration and Economics.

As Chief Commercial Officer at Viaccess-Orca, Arnaud Alvarez leads the company’s global commercial strategy, overseeing both sales and pre-sales teams across key regions, with main offices in Paris, Singapore, and Miami. 

With over 25 years of experience in the Digital Pay-TV, Telecommunications, and OTT sectors, his focus is on expanding VO’s customer base, increasing market share, driving revenue growth, and strengthening the company’s competitive position.

Arnaud’s leadership background includes senior roles at industry-leading companies such as Technicolor, Nagravision, and Philips/Pace (CommScope), where he managed global sales operations. 

His deep industry expertise and strong relationships with VO’s key partners are vital to forging new opportunities and partnerships. He holds a postgraduate degree in Management of Telecommunications, Telematics, and Television from Paris Dauphine University.

Sandrine Mazin is the EVP of Human Resources for Viaccess-Orca. Previously the Director of Employee Relations at Orange France, Sandrine brings 17 years of experience in Human Resources, having alternated between HR roles within the parent company and its subsidiaries in multi-cultural environments. Before joining Orange France, Sandrine served as the HR Director for the Globecast Group.

Gaëlle Kerlan is the Chief Financial Officer of VO. She brings extensive financial experience from her career within the Orange group, where she has supported international businesses and led organizational transformations.

Before joining VO, Gaëlle spent 10 years at Orange Middle-East & Africa (OMEA), starting as the Controlling Director at Orange Jordan and later becoming CFO of the newly acquired Sierra Leone operation, where she led the company’s integration into Orange. She then worked on several OMEA Finance projects, including establishing OMEA’s operational headquarters in Casablanca and implementing the Max it App for retail customers.

Prior to her time with OMEA, Gaëlle held leadership roles within Orange’s B2B affiliates and served as Finance Director, then Sales Administration Director, for Orange’s International Wholesale division. She began her career at Orange as a finance auditor at Orange.

Alain Nochimowski is the Chief Technology Officer at Viaccess-Orca. Alain is responsible for leading VO’s innovative initiatives and on a broader scope, fostering an innovative mindset across the company. Prior to this position, Alain led business development activities, first at Orca Interactive, and following the merger with Viaccess, at the new entity Viaccess-Orca.

Alain was responsible for leading VO’s entry strategy into new markets and ventures, and for creating a supportive industrial ecosystem for VO’s new products and technologies.  Before joining Orca Interactive in 2009, Alain held various business development and technical strategy positions successively at Orange, Viaccess, and SanDisk, in New York, Paris, and Tel Aviv.

Throughout his career, Alain initiated and successfully lead multiple innovation projects that notably resulted in dozens of issued patents and strategic sales to large content service providers. Alain graduated from Ecole des Mines de Paris.

Kari Kärkkäinen is the Vice President of TV Apps Business and the Managing Director of VO Finland. He is responsible for applications development for Viaccess-Orca globally, and for managing the Viaccess-Orca entity in Tampere, Finland. Kari has over 25 years of experience working in the software and mobile devices industries in various roles, including engineering, program management, sourcing and leadership. He has lived and worked in Finland, USA and Germany, and his past employers include Nokia, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Sandvik and PacketVideo. In 2014, Kari founded BigHill Companies Oy, a software company focusing on applications development, which was subsequently acquired by Viaccess-Orca in December 2016. Kari graduated from California State University Bakersfield (USA) in Computer Science and also holds an MBA from University of Durham (UK) and an LLM (IT & Telecommunications Law) from University of Strathclyde (UK).

Atika Boulgaz is EVP Global Communication at Viaccess-Orca. She has 360° communication vision and experience thanks to several positions within the Orange Group, notably at Wanadoo and Orange France. After three years in the Gaming Unit (GOA) of the Orange Content Division she became expert in Press Relations, Event Management and Advertising. Atika joined Viaccess-Orca in 2010 and she is now managing the Marketing Communications and Internal Communication activities for the company. Atika graduated with a Masters degree in Communication and Advertising from INSEEC Paris.

Nicolas Delahaye is the Executive Vice President of Research and Development at Viaccess-Orca, responsible for managing R&D teams based in France and Israel with a focus on rolling out next-generation security and TV Platform solutions. Nicolas has 25 years of experience in OTT & IPTV video distribution and content services. He first started in the industry within Philips Broadcast division, leading the development of video encoding and decoding solutions for internet/PC and mobile devices, before spending five years as Product Manager developing a €10m per year business product line to tier one OEM manufacturers. Next, he took over the R&D Director position, managing multiple worldwide teams and guiding his team through two major transformations: the introduction of Agile methodology and a pivot from an OEM business to a Service Video Provider one. In 2014, Nicolas co-founded Squadeo, a software company distributing multi-platform secure player for broadcasters and operators, which was acquired by VO in 2017, where he took up his current position. Nicolas graduated from ‘Institute National des Sciences Appliqués en Informatique et Système” in Rennes and is passionate regarding IT technologies and the Internet of Things. 

As Executive Vice President Products and Services at Viaccess-Orca, Pierre-Alexandre Bidard plays a critical role in defining the company’s overall products, solutions and services strategy. He has over 20 years of experience in Telco and TV domains with major accomplishments in product launch for IPTV, OTT and mobile internet services. Prior to his current job, Pierre-Alexandre held senior level positions in global partnerships, product management, and project management at VO and Orange. He has a postgraduate research degree in Digital Telecommunication from Telecom Paris

Michael Froment is VO’s Executive Vice President of Customer Support & Operations, responsible for maintaining quality of service and ensuring that customer expectations are not only understood but exceeded.

He has 20 years of experience in the Telco and TV domains, beginning his career within the Altice Group managing system infrastructure for both B2B & B2C markets where major accomplishments included the launch of both VOD & OTT platforms. Since then he has worked in a variety of high profile industry roles.  He was Professional Services Manager at Anevia (now Ateme), building worldwide operational teams and improving the robustness of OTT products and operational processes; and in 2018, he joined the Canal+ Group, leading a quality improvement program for the delivery of OTT streaming, as well as building an in-house content delivery network dedicated to Canal+’s international regions.

After the successful operational launch of the Canal+ International CDN, he most recently worked for Huawei as European Executive Solution Manager for the EBG (Enterprise Business Group) division before joining VO, focusing on developing solutions for video service providers by aggregating storage, network, and application product lines.

Michael graduated from ESIEE-IT in Paris. 

Catherine Vergès is the EVP, General Counsel and Public Affairs at Viaccess-Orca. Having graduated with a Masters in International Commercial Trade from Université of Tours, she pursued a successful career in the legal departments of leading fashion and cosmetics brands. Gaining experience in France and abroad, as well as a post as a visiting lecturer at the Université of Tours on International Contracts and Intellectual Property Rights, she also worked as a lawyer before joining Orange as AMEA Legal Counsel in 2012. Following roles as Director Legal Department for Orange Réunion & Mayotte and Legal Business Partner at OrangeCyberDéfense, she first brought her extensive knowledge and expertise to VO as VP International Contracts in January 2022 before moving to her current position in April 2023.