Thales, 1Kosmos and Unico strengthen leadership teams for growth

A former chief executive of Airbus will be taking over the reins at Thales’ North American operations from next week.

Thales is appointing Robert Geckle as CEO of Thales USA and Thales North America, effective July 1. “This is an exciting time for Thales,” Geckle says.

“With a 130-year legacy in North America, and more than $5 billion in annual global R&D investment driving our innovation, we have a powerful platform for continued growth and investment in the region.”

Long‑serving chief executive Alan Pellegrini will retire after nearly two decades with the company. Pellegrini will step down from the CEO role on June 30 but will remain a senior executive through the end of 2026 to support the transition.

Geckle served as Chairman and CEO of Airbus U.S. Space & Defense from July 2021 to May 2026, according to his LinkedIn. He will lead Thales’ strategy and operations across the U.S. and Canada, with these being key regions for Thales’ global strategy, says Patrice Caine, CEO of Thales Group.

“Rob’s experience across advanced defense platforms and government-focused markets will be instrumental in driving further growth in North America,” Caine says.

Thales credited Pellegrini for overseeing significant growth and diversification of Thales’ North American business over his tenure, strengthening its market position across aerospace, defence, digital identity and cybersecurity. Thales USA is responsible for mobile driver’s licenses across the U.S.

Pellegrini has guided the organization through major transformation and expanded its regional footprint, the company said.

The leadership change is one of the most significant executive transitions for Thales in the region in recent years, as the company continues to scale its North American presence. Thales says Geckle will focus on innovation, customer mission support and continued expansion in both markets.

1Kosmos hires Roger Hale as CISO

1Kosmos has appointed cybersecurity veteran Roger Hale as Chief Information Security Officer to support the company’s expansion in verified identity and passwordless authentication.

Hale was formerly VP and CISO at Informatica with prior roles at BigID, Agora and Veritas/Symantec. He will oversee security, compliance and customer trust. CEO Hemen Vimadalal said Hale’s CISO‑level experience positions him to guide the company as enterprises rethink identity assurance.

Hale said attackers increasingly exploit account recovery, device enrollment and privileged access, making verified identity essential beyond onboarding. 1Kosmos aims to reduce impersonation and account takeover by binding access to a verified identity across high‑risk workflows.

Unico names Cassio Vaquero to lead global alliances

Unico has appointed Cassio Vaquero as Strategic Alliances Director, tasking him with expanding the company’s partner ecosystem, with a strong focus on the U.S. market.

Vaquero brings 25 years of international channel and business development experience, supporting Unico’s push to scale its digital identity technology, which processes over one billion authentications a year.

He will drive the Unico Partnership Program, aimed at helping partners integrate the company’s identity and fraud‑detection capabilities. Unico said the hire is a key step in its global go‑to‑market strategy as it targets high‑growth sectors in a digital identity market projected to reach $50.6 billion by 2034.

Unico is Latin America’s largest digital identity network and is headquartered in São Paulo. The company’s identity verification transaction volumes grew 84 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, and is growing particularly fast in Mexico. Unico opened a new global headquarters in Menlo Park, California, in April as it pushes to expand beyond Latin America.

Article Topics

1Kosmos  |  appointments  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  Thales Digital Identity and Security  |  Unico