Spire Global, Inc., a leading global provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, has appointed Leo Basola as its new Chief Financial Officer, replacing Thomas Krywe who held the title of CFO for nearly five years and had previously served as a financial consultant. Mr. Basola is a seasoned global finance executive, having held senior leadership roles in large public and multinational companies across multiple industries for more than two decades.
As Spire’s new CFO, Mr. Basola will be focused on supporting Spire’s growth and leading the Company on its path to profitability as it anticipates to be free cash flow positive in the second or third quarter of 2024.
Mr. Basola joins Spire after serving as Senior Finance Officer of Equifax International for more than four years, where he provided financial oversight for 23 countries, led two acquisitions, and played a strategic role in growing data and analytics sales and improving margins. Prior to that, he was CFO at ChemTreat, a Danaher Operating Company, for five years. Leo also spent 16 years at General Electric and Genworth Financial (GE’s Insurance spin off). A Corporate Audit Staff and Financial Management Program graduate, he held CFO and Acting CFO titles at GE Intelligent Platforms, GE Consumer and Industrial in EMEA, and Genworth’s Retirement and Protection Long Term Care and Mortgage Insurance Europe divisions.
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“We’re excited to add Leo to our deep bench of leadership talent. Leo’s track record of working with public companies and, in his most recent role, financial oversight of operations in more than 20 countries across five regions tees us up for success during our next stage of growth. We are thrilled that Leo has chosen Spire to bring that experience,” said Peter Platzer, Spire CEO.
“We are grateful to Tom for his stewardship and role in leading our high-growth business and wish him well. Tom’s been an integral part of our team as we grew our business from $1 million to more than $100 million in revenue during his nearly six-year tenure,” Mr. Platzer added.
A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Mr. Basola received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the Argentine Catholic University in Buenos Aires. He is fluent in English and Spanish and proficient in conversational German, Italian and Portuguese.
“What drew me to Spire are the people and their mission to use space-based data to improve life on Earth by making it cleaner, safer and more sustainable. Spire’s footprint in the stars and around the globe is massive – a truly great asset – and my hope is that a decades-long history of working with multinational companies will prove beneficial in helping Peter and the leadership team build an even stronger business during this important inflection point in the company’s growth,” said Mr. Basola.
SOURCE: BusinessWire