Chris Tarry

Chairman and Consultant, CTAIRA

Biography

Chris Tarry worked outside the City of London for a number of years. In 1984 he became an engineering analyst, focusing first on Aviation and was voted the UK’s leading aerospace analyst for the years that there was a separate FTSE grouping, before switching to focus wholly on transport and particularly airlines, a sector he has followed professionally since the early 1980s. In this period Chris was also regularly ranked in the top three European transport analysts and led a number of major international share issues.

In December 2002 he established CTAIRA to provide research, consulting services and advice on and to the transport and aviation industries in the areas of business planning, including strategy and strategic development; industry and market forecasting and performance measurement and evaluation. These services are provided to a broad and growing spectrum of clients; airlines, manufacturing companies, airport owners, government bodies and banks and other financial institutions, covering a wide range of strategic, financial and market related issues. He is and has been an advisor to government departments and the UK Parliament on aviation issues including the review of air transport arrangements for the Royal Family and senior Government ministers; he was a member of the UK CAA’s advisory group in respect of the charging regime for the UK’s regulated airports.

He has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in economics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, a member of the Securities Institute and a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators.

He also holds a private pilot’s licence. He lectures at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford and the London School of Economics and is a Visiting Senior Fellow in the School of Management at the University of Surrey.

He writes a monthly column for Airline Business and regularly writes and comments in other media on industry issues as well as presenting and chairing conferences across the world.

Andrew Lobbenberg

Analyst, Airlines & Airports, RBS

Biography

Andrew Lobbenberg is an equity research analyst based at RBS in London, covering European airlines. He has ten years work experience in the air transport industry having worked in strategic planning at Delta, as a lecturer teaching a Masters Degree in Air Transport Management at Cranfield University, as an aviation regulatory specialist with the US law firm Wilmer Cutler and Pickering and as an airline economist with the UK Civil Aviation Authority. He has been an equity research analyst for three years, having worked previously with JPMorgan and Flemings. He has a BA Hons in Politics Philosophy and Economics from Balliol College Oxford and an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Rigas Doganis

Chairman, European Aviation Club, Non-Executive Director, Easyjet

Biography

Professor Doganis has acted for many years as aviation consultant and strategy adviser to numerous airlines, airports, banks and governments around the world.

He is a non-executive director on the Board of Directors of Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. in southern India and of easyJet Plc., one of the largest European “low-cost” airlines. Until the end of March 2006 he was also a non-executive director of South African Airways. He is Chairman of the prestigious European Aviation Club in Brussels.

Rigas Doganis served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Olympic Airways in Athens from February 1995 to April 1996 and successfully implemented a major restructuring programme which produced Olympic’s first profit in 18 years.

He was Head of the Department of Air Transport at Cranfield University from 1991 till October 1997. He established this Department as the pre-eminent academic centre in Europe for post-graduate teaching and research in air transport. He is now Visiting Professor at Cranfield.

From 1975 to 1990 Professor Doganis was Visiting Professor in Air Transport at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila.

Professor Doganis is a well-known author in the field of airline economics. An updated second edition of his latest book, The Airline Business came out early in 2006. In 2002, a new enlarged edition of his classic book Flying Off Course: The Economics of International Airlines was published. This has become the basic text in its field. Professor Doganis is also the author of The Airport Business. Japanese and Spanish editions of all three books have been or are being published. He has written numerous articles and papers on airline and airport economics and management.

Rigas Doganis graduated from the London School of Economics (LSE). He carried out postgraduate studies in air transport at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the LSE. This was followed by a Masters degree in Transport Economics and then a Doctorate in Air Transport also at the LSE. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Howard Millar

Deputy Chief Executive Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Ryanair

Biography

Howard Millar was appointed Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Chief Executive on January 1, 2003, having previously served as Director of Finance of Ryanair since March 1993. Between April 1992 and March 1993 he served as Financial Controller of Ryanair. Howard was the Group Finance Manager for the Almarai Group, an international food processing company with 2,700 employees in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 1988 to 1992..

Howard is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Certified Accountants and has a B.Sc Mgnt., (Hons) degree from Trinity College, Dublin.

Tim Jeans

Chief Executive, Monarch Airlines

Biography

Tim, whose career in aviation has spanned over 20 years, joined Monarch in 2004. He previously held the position of commercial director for no-frills airline Ryanair for seven years, and was responsible for driving its European expansion, including the establishment of their first continental bases at Brussels and Frankfurt.

Tim then moved to MyTravel as MD of MyTravelLite. A spell as chief operating officer at MyTravel Airways preceded his appointment at Monarch.

Rigas Doganis

Chairman, European Aviation Club, Non-Executive Director, Easyjet

Biography

Professor Doganis has acted for many years as aviation consultant and strategy adviser to numerous airlines, airports, banks and governments around the world.

He is a non-executive director on the Board of Directors of Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. in southern India and of easyJet Plc., one of the largest European “low-cost” airlines. Until the end of March 2006 he was also a non-executive director of South African Airways. He is Chairman of the prestigious European Aviation Club in Brussels.

Rigas Doganis served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Olympic Airways in Athens from February 1995 to April 1996 and successfully implemented a major restructuring programme which produced Olympic’s first profit in 18 years.

He was Head of the Department of Air Transport at Cranfield University from 1991 till October 1997. He established this Department as the pre-eminent academic centre in Europe for post-graduate teaching and research in air transport. He is now Visiting Professor at Cranfield.

From 1975 to 1990 Professor Doganis was Visiting Professor in Air Transport at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila.

Professor Doganis is a well-known author in the field of airline economics. An updated second edition of his latest book, The Airline Business came out early in 2006. In 2002, a new enlarged edition of his classic book Flying Off Course: The Economics of International Airlines was published. This has become the basic text in its field. Professor Doganis is also the author of The Airport Business. Japanese and Spanish editions of all three books have been or are being published. He has written numerous articles and papers on airline and airport economics and management.

Rigas Doganis graduated from the London School of Economics (LSE). He carried out postgraduate studies in air transport at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the LSE. This was followed by a Masters degree in Transport Economics and then a Doctorate in Air Transport also at the LSE. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Howard Millar

Deputy Chief Executive Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Ryanair

Biography

Howard Millar was appointed Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Chief Executive on January 1, 2003, having previously served as Director of Finance of Ryanair since March 1993. Between April 1992 and March 1993 he served as Financial Controller of Ryanair. Howard was the Group Finance Manager for the Almarai Group, an international food processing company with 2,700 employees in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 1988 to 1992..

Howard is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Certified Accountants and has a B.Sc Mgnt., (Hons) degree from Trinity College, Dublin.

Tim Jeans

Chief Executive, Monarch Airlines

Biography

Tim, whose career in aviation has spanned over 20 years, joined Monarch in 2004. He previously held the position of commercial director for no-frills airline Ryanair for seven years, and was responsible for driving its European expansion, including the establishment of their first continental bases at Brussels and Frankfurt.

Tim then moved to MyTravel as MD of MyTravelLite. A spell as chief operating officer at MyTravel Airways preceded his appointment at Monarch.

Patrick Murphy

Former Chairman, Ryanair

Biography

Patrick Murphy is Chairman of the Aviation Group at Performance Consultants International, a major provider of advisory, coaching and mentoring services to many industries around the world.

Patrick has over thirty years experience in the airline industry. For the past five years he has been a consultant and advisor to a number of airlines specialising in transformation, becoming low cost, establishing frequent flyer programmes and managing ancillary revenues.

He was on assignment to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for the previous five years where in addition to advising member airlines he was responsible for the acquisition of a number of publications outsourced by Member airlines; establishing e-commerce in IATA; overseeing all business planning activities; establishing project management systems and controls; and transforming the Tariffs function within IATA.

Prior to this Patrick was Director and Chairman of various air transport sector companies including Ryanair, Aer Turas, Datalex Communications, and Allied Management Systems. As Chairman of Ryanair in its formative years he was responsible for its transformation from a traditional full-service regional airline into the low-cost airline that it is today.

Between 1987 and 1992 Patrick was Managing Director of Irish Continental Group, the largest ferry and container ship operator in Ireland. There, he oversaw the rapid and profitable growth which followed the acquisition of this state-owned shipping company, the merger with another shipping company and its subsequent launch on the Irish stock exchange as an IPO.

Patrick’s early career was with Aer Lingus where he managed commercial activities including research, government and industry affairs, interline agreements, pricing, marketing and sales. In the mid-eighties he became General Manager of Strategic Development and was actively involved in new business development, consultancy and ancillary activities.

Patrick was born in Ireland and lives in Switzerland. He graduated from University College Dublin with a degree in Commerce and an MBA. He has lectured extensively and has consulted on airline start-ups, marketing, corporate planning, privatisation, business transformation, mergers and acquisitions.

He currently is an advisor and mentor to a number of airline CEOs and senior management and is a regular presenter, moderator and chairman at many airline conferences around the world.

Patrick Murphy

Former Chairman, Ryanair

Biography

Patrick Murphy is Chairman of the Aviation Group at Performance Consultants International, a major provider of advisory, coaching and mentoring services to many industries around the world.

Patrick has over thirty years experience in the airline industry. For the past five years he has been a consultant and advisor to a number of airlines specialising in transformation, becoming low cost, establishing frequent flyer programmes and managing ancillary revenues.

He was on assignment to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for the previous five years where in addition to advising member airlines he was responsible for the acquisition of a number of publications outsourced by Member airlines; establishing e-commerce in IATA; overseeing all business planning activities; establishing project management systems and controls; and transforming the Tariffs function within IATA.

Prior to this Patrick was Director and Chairman of various air transport sector companies including Ryanair, Aer Turas, Datalex Communications, and Allied Management Systems. As Chairman of Ryanair in its formative years he was responsible for its transformation from a traditional full-service regional airline into the low-cost airline that it is today.

Between 1987 and 1992 Patrick was Managing Director of Irish Continental Group, the largest ferry and container ship operator in Ireland. There, he oversaw the rapid and profitable growth which followed the acquisition of this state-owned shipping company, the merger with another shipping company and its subsequent launch on the Irish stock exchange as an IPO.

Patrick’s early career was with Aer Lingus where he managed commercial activities including research, government and industry affairs, interline agreements, pricing, marketing and sales. In the mid-eighties he became General Manager of Strategic Development and was actively involved in new business development, consultancy and ancillary activities.

Patrick was born in Ireland and lives in Switzerland. He graduated from University College Dublin with a degree in Commerce and an MBA. He has lectured extensively and has consulted on airline start-ups, marketing, corporate planning, privatisation, business transformation, mergers and acquisitions.

He currently is an advisor and mentor to a number of airline CEOs and senior management and is a regular presenter, moderator and chairman at many airline conferences around the world.

Julian Carr

Commercial Director, bmibaby

Biography

Julian Carr is currently Commercial Director of bmibaby, the low fares airline which is part of the bmi group. Prior to this role, which he commenced in May of 2008, he spent two years working for IATA in Montreal, Canada where he was responsible for marketing and business development opportunities within the airline sector. His initial entry into the airline industry however was with Jet2.com, where he was involved in the business planning and launch of the airline. After a term as Business Development Manager for Jet2.com, he moved to MyTravelLite as Head of Marketing and Development, though soon took over as Managing Director of the airline. Julian was instrumental in changing the business model of MyTravelLite from that of a pure low cost carrier, to that of a ‘quality low fares leisure airline’.

Prior to entering the airline industry Julian had 10 years of management experience within the entertainment industry, working with both Virgin and Blockbuster. He holds an MSc in Air Transport Management from Cranfield University, and is also a qualified private pilot.

Sian Foster

Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility Manager, Virgin Atlantic Airways

Biography

Sian graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in International Studies with French, having specialised in EU policy. After starting her career at the International Air Carrier Association (IACA) in Brussels in 2000, she joined Virgin Atlantic's Government and External Affairs team in 2003, where she was responsible for parliamentary liaison, consumer affairs and CSR. In late 2006 Sian moved to the newly-formed Business Sustainability team at Virgin Atlantic, which is tasked with developing and embedding sustainability objectives throughout the airline. She is now Head of Business Sustainability, and leads Virgin Atlantic’s work on a wide range of projects relating to aviation, climate change, renewable fuels, local environmental issues and community investment.

Dr Karlheinz Haag

Head of Environmental Affairs, Lufthansa

Biography

Dr. Karlheinz Haag, born on November 26th, 1954, has been Head of the Group Environmental Concepts at Deutsche Lufthansa AG since 2002. As such, he is in charge of all environmentally relevant issues concerning the Lufthansa Group and furthermore is responsible for the implementation of concepts within the frame of the climate and environmental engagement of the Group. Under his direction the department of Environmental Concepts develops trend-setting environmental projects, aims and methods. Haag reports to the Head of Group Politics, Thomas Kropp.

Dr. Karlheinz Haag graduated from the Technical University Aachen with a major in aerospace technology in 1981. He carried on research in this field at the university until he received his Ph.D in 1988. He then transferred to the German Center of Aerospace, where he occupied different positions in the Management. He was lastly employed as the Program Director Aviation supervising the Management of the aviation research program before he transferred to Lufthansa in 2002.

Andy Kershaw

Manager, Environmental Policy, British Airways

Biography

Andy Kershaw is Environmental Policy Manager at British Airways and has led development of the company’s climate change programme since 2003. Andy holds a Masters degree in Environmental Economics from Imperial College London and has contributed to research into multilateral climate policy for aviation, competitiveness impacts of emissions trading, sleep disturbance from aircraft noise and noise-reducing flight procedures. Andy is chairman of the Association of European Airlines Climate Change Committee and is programme manager of the Aviation Global Deal Group.

Julian Carr

Commercial Director, bmibaby

Biography

Julian Carr is currently Commercial Director of bmibaby, the low fares airline which is part of the bmi group. Prior to this role, which he commenced in May of 2008, he spent two years working for IATA in Montreal, Canada where he was responsible for marketing and business development opportunities within the airline sector. His initial entry into the airline industry however was with Jet2.com, where he was involved in the business planning and launch of the airline. After a term as Business Development Manager for Jet2.com, he moved to MyTravelLite as Head of Marketing and Development, though soon took over as Managing Director of the airline. Julian was instrumental in changing the business model of MyTravelLite from that of a pure low cost carrier, to that of a ‘quality low fares leisure airline’.

Prior to entering the airline industry Julian had 10 years of management experience within the entertainment industry, working with both Virgin and Blockbuster. He holds an MSc in Air Transport Management from Cranfield University, and is also a qualified private pilot.

Angus Walker

Partner, Bircham Dyson Bell

Biography

Angus Walker has been a lawyer at Bircham Dyson Bell since 2000 and a partner since 2007, specialising in the authorisation of major infrastructure projects. He has particular expertise in transport projects and on compulsory purchase issues. He co-edits the Compulsory Purchase Procedure Manual sponsored by the Department for Communities and Local Government. He is one of the authors of the first book on the new regime for authorising nationally significant infrastructure projects under the Planning Act 2008 (Butterworths' Practical Guide to National Infrastructure Projects), and maintains a popular blog on the implementation of the Act.

Mohammed Al Bulooki

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC)

Biography

Mohammed Al Bulooki was recently promoted to General Manager of Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS), a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC).

Previously at ADAC, Mohammed was the Vice President of Airline Marketing and Aeronautical Revenue. In his role, Mohammed oversaw aviation business development strategies for the airports of the Capital of the UAE. His responsibilities included overseeing all existing and potential airline route development as well as developing sustainable and profitable strategies to optimize aeronautical revenue streams.

Mohammed joined ADAC in 2008 as Director of Marketing & Communications having previously worked for Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, as the Corporate Planning & Strategy Manager.

Before joining Etihad, Mohammed worked at Royal Jet as Sales Manager where he was responsible for the targeted sales revenues of the company as well as its asset management. Prior to joining Royal Jet, Mohammed spent 6 years at GAMCO/ADAT as an apprentice Aircraft Engineer and held a variety of other roles including marketing.

Mohammed’s experience in the aviation industry is extensive, ranging from roles as head of corporate sales and business development from the airline’s London office, to airline corporate planning and strategy department and duties including network planning, fleet planning, and Etihad project management for Abu Dhabi Airport’s new Terminal 3.

Mohammed holds a Bachelors degree (BEng) in Air Transport Engineering from City University London and a Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Technology from Abu Dhabi Men’s College in conjunction with Brunel College (UK).

Mike Forster

R3 Director, BAA

Biography

Mike was appointed to BAA’s Executive Committee in September 2007 initially as Strategy Director, responsible for leading the development of BAA's short, mid and long-term strategy. In 2008 he added the responsibility for Regulation and Planning but following the Government announcement in January 2009 is now focused on the delivery of the third runway at Heathrow.

In his previous role as Strategy and Development Director at Heathrow, he developed the transformation strategy including the replacement of Terminal 2 with Heathrow East, the refurbishment plans for the existing terminals, the masterplan for the regeneration of the central terminal area, and potential airport expansion through additional runway capacity.

Mike joined BAA in 1997 and was appointed Design Director in 1998. Prior to this he was a partner at Sheppard Robson Architects where he led projects including the £500m Glaxo Welcome Medicines Research Centre at Stevenage, the Welcome Trust Genome Campus at Hinxton, Cambridge and a number of research related projects.

He was appointed Terminal 5 Development and Design Director in 2002, where his role was to develop the vision for Terminal 5, capture the requirements of BAA and all stakeholders in the project brief and to ensure these requirements are delivered. During that time Mike also held the position of Group Development and Design Director.

Key dates

2009 – present R³ Director, BAA
2008 – 2009 Strategy & Regulation Director, BAA
2007 – 2008 Strategy Director, BAA
2007 - present Member, BAA,Executive Committee
2006 – 2007 Strategy and Development Director, Heathrow Airport
2005 – 2006 Business Strategy Director, Heathrow Airport
2002 – 2005 Terminal 5 Development and Design Director, BAA
Group Development and Design Director, BAA
1997 – 2002 Design Director, BAA
1987 – 1997 Partner, Sheppard Robson Architects
1980 – 1987 Architect, Sheppard Robson Architects

Other directorships/memberships

Member, CBI, London Council

Chris Tarry

Chairman and Consultant, CTAIRA

Biography

Chris Tarry worked outside the City of London for a number of years. In 1984 he became an engineering analyst, focusing first on Aviation and was voted the UK’s leading aerospace analyst for the years that there was a separate FTSE grouping, before switching to focus wholly on transport and particularly airlines, a sector he has followed professionally since the early 1980s. In this period Chris was also regularly ranked in the top three European transport analysts and led a number of major international share issues.

In December 2002 he established CTAIRA to provide research, consulting services and advice on and to the transport and aviation industries in the areas of business planning, including strategy and strategic development; industry and market forecasting and performance measurement and evaluation. These services are provided to a broad and growing spectrum of clients; airlines, manufacturing companies, airport owners, government bodies and banks and other financial institutions, covering a wide range of strategic, financial and market related issues. He is and has been an advisor to government departments and the UK Parliament on aviation issues including the review of air transport arrangements for the Royal Family and senior Government ministers; he was a member of the UK CAA’s advisory group in respect of the charging regime for the UK’s regulated airports.

He has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in economics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, a member of the Securities Institute and a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators.

He also holds a private pilot’s licence. He lectures at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford and the London School of Economics and is a Visiting Senior Fellow in the School of Management at the University of Surrey.

He writes a monthly column for Airline Business and regularly writes and comments in other media on industry issues as well as presenting and chairing conferences across the world.

Julian Brazier MP

Shadow Minister for Transport, Conservative Party

Biography

Julian was born in 1953. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, Brasenose College, Oxford (MA Hons), and the London Business School. He is married.

Julian was a project manager with HB Maynard (management consultants) and he still carries out occasional freelance consulting assignments. He is also parliamentary adviser to the British Security Metals Association.

His personal and political interests include defence and foreign affairs, economics, industry and technology, law and order, family issues and green policies.

Julian is a practising Christian (RC) and a strong supporter of Christian Unity and President of the Conservative Family Campaign. He has published two papers on family issues.

He enjoys philosophy, sciences and cross country running.

Julian was elected as Member of Parliament for Canterbury and Whitstable in June 1987.

He was Chairman (formerly Treasurer) of the Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) in 1974. In 1982 he was selected as PPC for Berwick and contested Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1983. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mrs Gillian Shephard, at the Treasury, the Department for Employment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1990-93.

Julian has been a Member of the Defence Select Committee; a vice-chairman and former Secretary of the Conservative Backbench Defence Committee and has published four defence policy papers; former Secretary of the Backbench Treasury Committee and published papers on fiscal causes of adult unemployment and on fiscal disincentives to save; former Joint Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Maritime Group, served on standing committee of Copyright and Patents Bill, and a Member of the Social Security Support Group (to shadow Ministers).

In September 2001, he was appointed an Opposition Whip. In July 2002, he was appointed a Shadow Minister for Work & Pensions. In June 2003, he was made Shadow Minister for Home Affairs. In November 2003, he became Shadow Minister for International Affairs. Since May 2005, he has served as Shadow Minister for Transport.

Chris Tarry

Chairman and Consultant, CTAIRA

Biography

Chris Tarry worked outside the City of London for a number of years. In 1984 he became an engineering analyst, focusing first on Aviation and was voted the UK’s leading aerospace analyst for the years that there was a separate FTSE grouping, before switching to focus wholly on transport and particularly airlines, a sector he has followed professionally since the early 1980s. In this period Chris was also regularly ranked in the top three European transport analysts and led a number of major international share issues.

In December 2002 he established CTAIRA to provide research, consulting services and advice on and to the transport and aviation industries in the areas of business planning, including strategy and strategic development; industry and market forecasting and performance measurement and evaluation. These services are provided to a broad and growing spectrum of clients; airlines, manufacturing companies, airport owners, government bodies and banks and other financial institutions, covering a wide range of strategic, financial and market related issues. He is and has been an advisor to government departments and the UK Parliament on aviation issues including the review of air transport arrangements for the Royal Family and senior Government ministers; he was a member of the UK CAA’s advisory group in respect of the charging regime for the UK’s regulated airports.

He has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in economics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, a member of the Securities Institute and a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators.

He also holds a private pilot’s licence. He lectures at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford and the London School of Economics and is a Visiting Senior Fellow in the School of Management at the University of Surrey.

He writes a monthly column for Airline Business and regularly writes and comments in other media on industry issues as well as presenting and chairing conferences across the world.

Edmond Rose

Director, Commercial and Revenue Planning , Virgin Atlantic

Biography

Edmond Rose is Director Commercial and Revenue Planning at Virgin Atlantic Airways, responsible for fleet and network planning, alliances, pricing, revenue management and strategic business development.

Edmond spent 11 years as a British diplomat, including postings in India and China, before joining Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1998 to work on regulatory matters. He moved to British Airways in 2001 as Head of Regulatory & Political Affairs. In 2002, Edmond set up the European office of GCW Consulting, working for clients ranging from low cost carriers to Asian airport hubs. He returned to Virgin in 2005 and took up the position of Commercial Director in April 2008.

Greg Thomas

Chief Executive, PrivatAir

Biography

Greg Thomas joined PrivatAir in 1994 as General Counsel, handling the company’s regulatory, contractual and legal affairs and acting as Secretary of the Board of Directors. In 1998 he became a Member of the Executive Committee of the Board, and was appointed Chief Operating Officer in December 2000 and Chief Executive Officer in February 2003. Greg is also one of the Board directors of the International Geneva Airport and a member of the EBAA Board of Governors.

Before joining PrivatAir, Greg trained and qualified as a solicitor with Messrs Wilde Sapte, a large City of London law firm specialised in banking and finance. During this time, he was seconded to NatWest Markets and also to DG XIII of the European Commission in the Electronic Data Interchange section.

Greg obtained his LLB in European Law from Warwick University and studied for his Law Society Finals at the College of Law, Chester. He is British, lives in Geneva, Switzerland, and holds a private pilot’s licence.

Peter Davies

Managing Director, Air Southwest

Biography

Peter Davies is managing director of low fare regional airline Air Southwest (www.airsouthwest.com), based in Plymouth, England, which is wholly owned by the Sutton Harbour Group, a transport and regeneration company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Peter joined Air Southwest in February this year from Caribbean Airlines in the West Indies where he was chief executive and has more than 27 years’ experience in aviation including chief executive of SN Brussels Airlines. He also held senior posts with DHL Express Systems in the UK, Belgium and North America for 12 years.

Vera Kriel

Head of Corporate Strategy and Business Planning, South African Airways

Biography

Vera is the head of Corporate Strategy and Business Planning at South African Airways. She was instrumental in the development of the SAA restructuring plan and facilitated the delivery of R2.5billion by year end March 2009.

Before joining SAA, she was a director and business leader for the management consulting services at Simeka BSG, a public listed company. Vera joined Simeka from Deloitte Consulting. During this time she spent two years in the New York office focussing on strategy and business optimisation projects for clients. In the consultancy field she gained extensive experience in strategy design and implementation, led large scale transformation projects and implemented the entire mergers and acquisition (M&A) cycle. She was a part-time lecturer in total quality management and is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa with experience in labour and corporate law.

Vera has a BCom (majored in accountancy and law), LLB and MCom (Strategic and Business Management).

Paul Gretch

Director, Office of International Aviation, US Department of Transport

Biography

Paul Gretch is the Director of the Department of Transportation’s Office of International Aviation, which is responsible for the formulation and implementation of International Aviation Economic Policy in both its foreign relations and regulatory aspects.

Among Mr. Gretch’s achievements have been his role in formulating and promoting the United States’ Open-Skies Policy, which has resulted in 92 Open-Skies agreements for which he received the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award, and his central role in negotiating the ground breaking EU-US agreement in 2007.

He has consistently promoted more streamlined procedures in regulatory proceedings in order to relieve both the aviation industry and the Government of unnecessary, time consuming and expensive burdens.

Mr. Gretch was educated at Brooklyn College (BA), Harvard Law School (JD) and New York University Law School (LLM< International Law).

Mark Schwab

Senior VP, Alliances, International and Regulatory Affairs, United Airlines

Biography

Mark Schwab is Senior Vice-President, Alliances, International and Regulatory Affairs for United Airlines. He is based at the company's headquarters in Chicago.

Named to the position in April 2009, Schwab is responsible for the company’s international and domestic alliances, including the Star Alliance, where he serves on the Alliance Management Board. He is also responsible for United’s regulatory policy and serves as the company’s principal contact with foreign governments.

Prior to his current position, Schwab was vice president-Pacific, where he helped grow United into the largest U.S. passenger carrier in the region, making it a key component of United's international route structure. He also served as vice president-Pacific North from 2000 to 2003. Previously, Schwab served as United's country manager for Mexico and the United Kingdom. He originally joined United in October 1992.

Before joining United, Schwab served as US Airways' vice president-International, based in London, where he was responsible for the company's expanding trans-Atlantic market, as well as international point of sales revenue. He also served as regional managing director-Latin America for American Airlines in Miami. He began his aviation career in 1975 with Pan American World Airways, where he held numerous executive positions.

Schwab holds a bachelor's degree in Latin American affairs from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He is vice president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and past chair of the Board of Airline Representatives Japan. Schwab also is a director on the executive committee of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, governor of the Osaka-Chicago Association and the Tokyo American Club, trustee for the American School in Japan and a director of China Aircraft Services Limited. Additionally, Schwab serves on the board of directors for Galileo Japan K.K.

Emmanuelle Maire

Head of EU-US Negotiations, EU Commission

Biography

Emmanuelle Maire joined the European Commission as a civil servant in 2001 to work in the Directorate for Energy and Transport in Brussels. She first worked in the field of state aid, preparing the European Commission's decisions authorising or forbidding state aid to airlines (2001-2004).

She joined the EU aviation negotiating team in March 2004 and worked on the EU-US air services negotiations which were successfully concluded with a first-stage agreement signed in April 2007 in Washington D. C. by the European Commission's Vice-President Jacques Barrot, the Council's President and their US counterparts. She also assists the Director of Air Transport of the European Commission, Daniel Calleja, for the general coordination of European aviation policy.

Emmanuelle Maire graduated in political science and international relations from the Universities of Grenoble and Paris-Panthéon Sorbonne in France, studied political science in Germany and holds a European master degree with highest honours from the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium.

Will Whitehorn

President , Virgin Galactic

Biography

Will Whitehorn joined the Virgin Group as Group Public Relations Manager in 1987. Over the next several years he was responsible for presenting Virgin’s joint venture strategy and spent several months working in Japan and began to move into a more general management role. Will worked on the strategy to expand the brand into new areas such as financial services and telecoms. From 1995 onwards, Will became part of a team developing the Virgin branded venture capital model for global expansion. In 1997 he became a director of Virgin Rail Group and in 2000, he was appointed Brand Development and Corporate Affairs Director for Virgin. In 2004 he became President of Virgin Galactic. In 2007 he took on that role in an executive capacity and became a special advisor to Sir Richard Branson. He is also a trustee of the Virgin Unite social entrepreneurship and environmental not for profit foundation.

In addition to his Virgin involvement, Will was appointed as non-executive Chairman of Next Fifteen Communications Group plc, the global technology PR consultancy, in January 2004. He is also a member of the Development Board of The University of Aberdeen. In 2007 he was also invited to join the advisory board of the BNSC (British National Space Centre). He is also a member of the first Minister of Scotland’s “GlobalScot” business mentoring network.