Speakers

Luis Gallego became International Airlines Group’s chief executive in September 2020, joining from Iberia where he was chairman and chief executive from January 2014 having been appointed chief executive in March 2013. IAG is the parent company of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and...

As the Airport general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport—the world’s busiest and most efficient airport—Ricky Smith leads one of the most critical aviation and economic hubs globally. He is responsible for the overall governance, strategic direction, and operational...

Eddie Wilson joined Ryanair in 1997, a then fledgling airline with just 20 aircraft that was unheard of outside of Ireland and had yet to transform European short-haul aviation and the lives and travel habits of hundreds of millions of Europeans. His initial role was Head of HR, but given the...

Jennifer Aument is Chief Executive Officer of The New Terminal One, a private consortium developing a world-class international terminal that will anchor the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s $19 billion redevelopment of John F. Kennedy Airport. The New Terminal One’s $9 billion first...

Appointed Chief Executive Officer in April 2025. Director of the Aviation Security Company Limited Board. Holds a Master of Business Administration from Southern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Computer Science from The State University of New York. Mrs Cheung is an alumnus of Stanford...

John Rodgerson joined the company in 2008 as one of its co-founders and has played a key role in its development over the past decade. Under the leadership of David Neeleman and John Rodgerson, Azul has become Brazil's largest airline by number of cities, serving more than 160 destinations in...

Karanja Ndegwa is an accomplished leader with over 25 years of experience in the aviation industry, 15 of which have been in senior leadership roles. A graduate of Economics and Statistics from the University of Nairobi and a Certified Public Accountant, he combines financial acumen with strategic...

Mr. Dimitris Gerogiannis was born in 1961 in Edessa, Greece. He joined AEGEAN in 1999 and served as general manager of AEGEAN since 2001 and CEO since 2007. Before joining AEGEAN, Mr. Gerogiannis worked in the US, Germany and Greece. From 1989 to 1997, he held various engineering positions at...

Max Kownatzki started his career in 2002 at the strategy consultancy Oliver Wyman in New York and Munich. Until 2013, he advised clients from the airline industry as Senior Partner with a special focus on strategic alliances and commercial airline topics. In 2013, he was appointed Chief Strategy...

Eric Pateman is the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at YVR Airport in Vancouver, Canada. With a vision to redefine hospitality in the airport environment, Eric oversees all aspects of the guest experience at YVR. This includes managing the airport’s commercial portfolio...

Heike Birlenbach is the Chief Commercial Officer at Swiss International Airlines in Switzerland since January 2024. She manages Brand and Product Experience, Network Management, Revenue Management, Sales, and Marketing for the airline. Previously, Heike held the position of group-wide responsible...

Marc-Philippe Lumpé is the Chief Operating Officer at Air Transat, a position he has been in since 2022. With over 20 years of professional experience in the aviation and defence sectors, Marc-Philippe oversees all aspects of the company's operations, ensuring that strategic vision and...

Julio Toro is the Chief Information and Technology Officer at Copa Airlines, a leading Latin American provider of airline passenger and cargo services and a member of the Star Alliance network.  In this role, Julio has led the digital transformation of Copa, including its successful adoption of NDC ...

Expertise in business strategy, marketing and branding,He has extensive experience in the airline and financial businesses. Joined Japan Airlines in April 2000.Mainly engaged in business planning and marketing/branding strategy. Especially, he had been in charge of marketing strategy, developing...

Piervittorio Farabbi is the COO of Tirana International Airport (TIA), the fastest growing airport in Europe in 2024 (source ACI Europe). At TIA, supported by a professional and diverse team, he oversees airport operations, facility management and infrastructure development, with a key focus on...

Antti Kleemolab. 1980, M.Sc. (Econ), Chief Digital Officer as of 10 September 2024Mr. Kleemola has previously worked as the Finnair's Chief Information Officer from 2022 to 2024. Before joining Finnair, Mr. Kleemola worked as the SVP and CIO at Outokumpu from 2021 to 2022 and he has also held...

Quincy Hunte is an accomplished product management executive, known for his product-led approach, emphasizing the importance of curiosity, customer focus, and building high-performing teams. His strategies revolve around creating value for customers through innovative product solutions, advanced...

Dr. Manuel Fuentes is an Aerospace Engineer with an international Ph.D. in the field. With over a decade of experience in research, technological innovation, and business leadership, he has built a distinguished career focused on translating academic knowledge into impactful, real-world solutions. ...

Dr. Nejib Ben Khedher has 35 years of experience in the global airline and travel industry. His career began at American Airlines Decision Technologies, where he worked on pioneering innovations in revenue management and network optimization. Over the years, Dr. Ben Khedher has held key leadership...

With two decades of experience at Icelandair, Helga has embraced a variety of roles that have shaped her career. Having embarked on her journey, she now holds the position of Director of Customer Experience & Loyalty, working cross functional within Icelandair leading the end-to-end customer...

Paul Puopolo serves as Executive Vice President Innovation, Enterprise Data & Analytics at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. He leads both DFW's Innovation and Data & Analytics functions to identify, assess, and drive the collaborative development of new solutions and business...

Dina Doder is the Director of E-commerce & Digital at Norwegian Air, where she oversees the airline’s digital strategy, spanning UX, CRO, SEO, and product management. She has been instrumental in building Norwegian’s digital department, establishing a strong UX environment, and introducing a...

Christian Baillet is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Paximizer, bringing years of experience in airline data strategy and digital transformation. Passionate about helping airlines make smarter use of customer data, he focuses on enhancing personalization, optimizing operations, and...

Fernando Rocha brings over 30 years of expertise in Information Technology, Corporate Digital Strategy, and business transformations. With extensive technical and functional knowledge, Fernando has successfully led IT teams on a global scale. Currently, Fernando serves as the Sr. VP of IT and CIO...

Phil Douglas is a highly respected industry leader with over 45 years of experience in airline IT. He began his career in the late 1970s at Australian Airlines (now Qantas’s domestic operation) before joining Unisys Airline Division, where he played a pivotal role in delivering key projects for...

Vijay Dheap, Chief Solutions Officer at RozieAI, spearheads efforts to enable organizations to deliver AI-driven personalized experiences at scale. With over two decades of experience, including roles at IBM, an MBA from Duke, and a software engineering background from the University of...

Natalija Kuzmina is a seasoned airline executive with expertise in customer experience, competitive strategy, and digital transformation. As Vice President of Customer Experience and Insights at airBaltic, she leads strategic initiatives that enhance the passenger journey, ensuring a...

Nicolas is responsible for the Business Intelligence department at Eurowings Digital (a daughter company in the Eurowings / Lufthansa Group). His team is responsible for enabling the Eurowings Group to leverage data, to increase data driven decsions and use advanced data techniques/model to...

As Chief Process Officer at TestSolutions GmbH in Germany, Florian Fieber is responsible for the test process management of the entire organization as well as the training area with the TestSolutions Academy. He has been working in the area of quality assurance of software systems for almost 20...

As Chief AI Scientist at IAG, Ben Dias leads a community of talented cross-functional AI teams maximising the RoI of the Group’s investments in AI. Previously having worked at easyJet, Royal Mail, Tesco and Unilever, Ben has over 20 years’ experience in using AI to solve real-world problems in an...

Director, John Strickland, is a graduate of the University of York and has held senior positions including network planning and revenue management with a number of airlines including British Caledonian, British Airways, KLMuk and Buzz.  He was instrumental in the decision by KLM to establish the...

As chief marketing officer at UATP, Wendy L. Ward is responsible for developing and implementing all marketing, communications, brand and promotional activities. The marketing department drives efforts by UATP to increase brand and product awareness, grow membership and develop strategic business...

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joostvandersande/  

Surain Adyanthaya joined PROS in 1993 and serves as President, Global Industries. In this role, Adyanthaya leads the customer advisory boards and oversees a team of PROS thought leaders and subject matter experts across B2B, Travel and AI. Under his leadership, this center of excellence drives...

André Valera is a seasoned aviation technology and media executive with extensive experience in inflight entertainment, connectivity, and content distribution. As VP of Business Development at Conetic, he oversees strategy, sales, partnerships, and innovation for Touch, Above, and Oxygen, driving...

As Chief Revenue Officer at Data Clarity, Paul is dedicated to helping airlines unlock the power of data to drive revenue, improve operations, and enhance the passenger experience. With over two decades of travel technology experience, Paul has worked closely with multiple airline...

Suzanna is the Head of Amadeus Ventures, the start-up investment program of Amadeus IT Group.  Amadeus Ventures focuses on finding early stage start-ups sitting at the crossroad of technology and travel.  The program not only provides funding but also customer reach and industry expertise. Suzanna...

Mr. Dunsky has been the Senior Vice President for Global Business Development at PASSUR Aerospace since 2021. Prior to that, he held a number of other positions at PASSUR Aerospace, including Senior Vice President of Marketing; and Vice President and General Manager, Worldwide Airports and...

Sumati Sharma is Partner at global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman.  Prior to joining Oliver Wyman in early 2021, Sumati qualified as a Chartered Accountant with EY in 2001 before moving on to join Virgin Atlantic for 16 years – where she took on a variety of roles at Virgin across...

Nichola Bates Managing Partner at Aerospace Xelerated and Head of Global Accelerators and Innovation Programs, at Boeing   Nichola joined Boeing following a decade-long career working with early stage and scaling startups, where she championed the role of the SME to government, particularly in...

Roberto Roselli Miele is an executive professional with over 25 years of experience in Business Development and Business Management. He is a CPA with an MBA in Finance and has dedicated his career to the Air Transportation Industry, with a focus on the commercial long-haul sector. Roberto...

Tomasz Pawliszyn is the highly motivated CEO of AirHelp with 20 years of executive leadershipexperience in complex and high-growth environments. Tomasz has driven major businesstransformation projects globally.He has led multichannel retailer Studio Moderna as Global Director of Operations and then ...

David joined IBS in 2010 tasked with the objective of defining strategy and leading product management for the IBS Passenger Service System (PSS), iFly Res. He is currently the head of IBS’ Aviation Passenger Solution business comprising of the PSS product and the new airline retailing...

Lorenz is an internationally experienced aviation leader, specialized in digitizing aviation. His main responsibility is driving the aviation digital strategy at Munich Airport including topics like AI augmented airport management or airside and terminal automation. Lorenz studied in Germany and...

Manuj is Head of E-commerce at Air India. He is a core member of the Air India transformation team. Prior to Air India he has worked at Tata Group Strategy team and McKinsey India. Over the last two decades he has been associated with strategic transformation of India’s aviation sector with...

My name is Susanne Kunkel, I am 43 years young and come from Frankfurt am Main. I started a commercial apprenticeship at Deutsche Lufthansa AG in 1998. Apart from a 3-year sabbatical, during which I completed evening studies and gained work experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers, I am still a proud...

Gabriella is Head of Communications at Aerospace Xelerated and Metta. At Aerospace Xelerated, she leads communications and PR to strengthen the accelerator’s global presence. At Metta, she supports programmes that advance sustainable and regenerative innovation. A Climatebase Fellow with a...

Sam Chamberlain, Chief Product Officer, has worked in the travel industry for more than 20 years, starting his career with several commercial roles at British Midland in the UK, including Pricing, Revenue Management, and Revenue Optimization Systems. He subsequently spent over 11 years at...

David Glantz was born and raised in Germany. After university’s degree he joined a management consultancy and specialized in the area of sales, marketing and CRM with a focus on customer loyalty. He supervised more than 35 successful loyalty projects. As an expert for loyalty, digitalization and...

As Head of Innovation at daa (Dublin Airport), Ruairí Kell leads the next horizon of the passenger experience, covering digital-first engagements and technology touchpoints, through to how these tangibly impact operational change. Ruairí was a leader in innovation at both Shipyard Innovation &...

Aras leads business development and industry engagement at Hitit, keeping track of emerging trends, technological enablers and cross-industry best practices for the benefit of 70+ Hitit partner airlines all around the world. He also facilitates strategic engagements with industry partners and...

With a robust track record in aviation operations management, my leadership at Icelandair as VP of Airport Operations has been marked by directing large teams and upholding the highest safety standards. Our team has successfully managed an average of 850 FTEs, demonstrating organizational...

Laura is responsible for driving innovation and digitalization at Munich Airport's T2, a joint venture between Munich Airport and Lufthansa. She manages the strategic direction and development of innovative projects inside the T2 ecosystem, mainly focusing on passenger-facing robotics and...

Özge joined Hitit in 2016 and currently works as a Senior Sales Manager. She is involved in partnership discovery and establishment as well as pre-sales Management, contributing to brand and account Management. Her earlier experience includes one of the world’s leading airlines, Qatar Airways where ...

Kristen is the Director of Below-the-Wing Strategy and Innovation at United Airlines. She oversees robotics and automation, resource optimization tools, and baggage scanning and recovery tools. She has been with United for 11 years, spanning various roles in that time. Prior to United, Kristen also ...

Chris is the Chief Customer Officer for Plusgrade, the global ancillary revenue leader in travel. Chris plays a pivotal role in spearheading the acquisition of new partners across the globe in the rail, air, and cruise industries. His leadership and industry thought leadership have been...

Juan Carlos Almanza is an experienced leader in the aeronautical industry, bringing over 15 years of expertise in flight and airport operations, data analytics, regulatory compliance, and customer service. As the Below The Wing Airport Director at Aeroméxico, he led a team of over 2,600 employees...

Chris Ford is Thoughtworks’ Technology Director for Aviation, Travel and Retail. In this role he brings Thoughtworks’ substantial global aviation and consumer experience to bear for the benefit his clients in Europe.He has a broad knowledge of the literature and practices in diverse areas of modern ...

Danielle Brown is the Chief Marketing Officer, who oversees Data Science & Analytics, Brand & Content, and Partner, Product & Performance Marketing. She builds and leads happy, high-performance, profit-centric teams that drive growth. Danielle's expertise in change...

Ulrike Ziegler is President of impact on sustainable aviation e.V., a non-profit association founded in early 2022 by leading financiers in aviation. impact, the largest sustainability-focused aviation industry association with 35+ members, aims to support and promote decarbonization strategies in...

Marcelo Mota holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Warwick, England. With 30+ years of experience in the Energy, IT, Airports, Government, and Consulting...

Marcus Puffer is Vice President & Head of Loyalty Management Solutions at IBS Software. In this role, he is responsible for the loyalty product suite, a next generation platform with some of the most successful customer engagement programs in travel and transportation.  Before his tenure with...

Philipp Müller is the Vice President Global Operations - Airport Ground Operations at Swissport International. With over 20 years of international experience in operations, performance, and innovation, he also serves in IATA and ASA committees and various boards. An MBA holder and active community...

Datalex’s Chief Revenue Officer, Bryan Porter, is a seasoned commercial leader in the travel technology sector. Prior to joining Datalex, Bryan was Senior Vice President of Sales and Account Management at Accelya, Chief Commercial Officer at OpenJaw Technologies and an airline industry e-Commerce...

With 30 years of experience in the travel industry, Becky has held a variety of management roles both in the UK and overseas, gaining extensive expertise in crisis response. She has successfully managed a wide range of incidents, including natural disasters, security threats, aircraft...

Steve is a neurodivergent accessibility professional who has led accessibility and disability inclusion initiatives at several companies for fifteen years. After several years helping to advance equal access for Disney Parks, Experience, and Products, Steve moved to Seattle, Washington to join...

As a dynamic and motivated leader with a passion for exploring the emerging tech and startup landscape, Kevin is helping to drive change within the airline by exposing the company to new and emerging technologies that will help solve for the unique challenges that face the airline today and in the...

João Frias is the Head of Payment Strategy and Fraud at TAP Air Portugal, bringing over 18 years of expertise in the aviation industry.He specializes in optimizing payment ecosystems, enhancing customer experience, and implementing robust fraud prevention measures across global markets. João has...

Daniela Fantinati holds a bachelor's degree in Social Communication / Public Relations from PUC-Campinas and is a Specialist in Customer Experience Strategies from Columbia Business School. She has been working in civil aviation for 14+ years and is currently the Director of Customer...

Laurie is the global head of travel solutions at Worldline. Her interest in payments came from her understanding of the fulfilment and distribution processes in the commercial airline industry. During her 30+ years in the travel industry, Laurie has been responsible for building and delivering...

Co-founder of Beta-i, a collaborative innovation platform with global reach started in 2010 and the main builder of the startup ecosystem in Lisbon, experts in designing and managing projects for large corporations around the world from strategy to pilot testing & venture building. Our main...

Toreson Lloyd is the Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of APEXX, a pioneering payments orchestration platform he founded alongside Peter Keenan and Rodney Bain eight years ago. Under Toreson’s commercial leadership, APEXX has become a disruptive force in the payments ecosystem, particularly...

Thomas Sermon leads sales and demand generation for ZestIoT. Having previously worked for SITA and Honeywell, Thomas's expertise extends right across the aviation domain covering airports, airlines and ground handling. His focus is on empowering clients to extract maximum value and benefit from ...

Lead Revenue Management CoE and Pricing at Saudia Airlines.

ill Carleton brings over 20 years of expertise in providing superior service, driving innovation, and exhibiting leadership across large-scale and complex biometric, identity management, IT, and business systems. His experience spans the federal government, private industry, airports, and major...

  After many years working in international border management Annet co-founded/co-initiated the Aruba Happy Flow project in 2013 that created the world’s first seamless passenger facilitation uniting the public and private stakeholder at the airport in one identity management system using a single ...

A highly-driven, transformative leader in Aviation technology. Amit’s focus is to revolutionize aviation operations through the introduction of automation and digitisation. Starting in 2017 with a team of enthusiasts, Amit, now CEO and Founder, built ZestIoT into an innovative, disruptive...

Advocate for Innovation and Continuous Learning, Ranbir is a seasoned software engineering leader with a history of developing innovative solutions that enhance efficiency and performance. He expertly manages teams in web applications, BizDevOps, data engineering, and analytics. His professional...

Eng. Henry Mwendia Muchira is a dynamic and accomplished Innovation Lead with extensive expertise in innovation, project management, and sustainable Technical product development. As the Innovation Lead at Kenya Airways, he drives transformative initiatives, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to...